文章基本信息

标题：Understanding Equity of Access in Engineering Education Making Spaces
本地全文：下载
作者：Idalis Villanueva Alarcón ; Robert Jamaal Downey ; Louis Nadelson 等
期刊名称：Social Sciences
印刷版ISSN：2076-0760
出版年度：2021
卷号：10
期号：10
页码：384
DOI：10.3390/socsci10100384
语种：English
出版社：MDPI, Open Access Journal
摘要：The goal of our exploratory study was to examine how management and staff in engineering education making spaces are enacting equitable access amongst their users (e.g., students). We examined six different making space types categorized by Wilczynsky’s and Hoover’s classification of academic makerspaces, which considered scope, accessibility, users, footprint (size), and management and staffing. We reviewed research memos and transcripts of interviews of university makerspace staff, student staff, and leaders/administrators during two separate visits to these places that took place between 2017 and 2019. We inductively and deductively coded the data, and the findings suggested that equity of access was situational and contextual. From the results, we identified four additional considerations needed to ensure equitable access for engineering education making spaces: (a) spaces designed and operated for multiple points of student entry; (b) spaces operated to facilitate effective student making processes and pathways; (c) threats to expanded access: burdens and consequences; and (d) elevating student membership and equity through a culture of belonging. Together, the findings point toward a need for developing a more nuanced understanding of the concept of access that far supersedes a flattened definition of access to just space, equipment, and cost.