On November 21 some teachers from STEM Innovation Academy Junior High had the opportunity to tour some of Calgary’s Maker Spaces. The first stop was FUSE33, where we toured the front of house gallery, wood shop, textiles and electrical areas, as well as the office commons area upstairs. FUSE33 is a public Maker Space where members pay a monthly fee to use the space and tools available. Our host Shannon Hoover descibed the space as 4 walls, some processes and tools for making. I would add community to his list, as it seemed that a large part of the vision, and experience, at FUSE33 is about makers connecting and sharing as well.

Make Fashion is also housed at FUSE33 with many examples of garments in varying stages of production. We got to see behind the scenes in the creation of some LED props for an upcoming Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and flexible ski outfits for an Alberta Tourism commercial.

Our second stop was the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. They have created a Maker Multiplex that unites many different spaces in their beautiful new building. We started at the ‘Headquarters’ to tour their networked 3D printers. We then travelled past the E-Sports Gaming room with high end gaming PC computers where students compete worldwide against other teams. There were specific spaces for fabric and textiles, welding, music creation, AI drones, spray painting, wood work and more. Each of the spaces was curated, maintained and led by a technician who was able to support student work and keep the spaces functional and organized.

The Zetta area upstairs showcased their equipment and work with Augmented and Virtual Realities, as well as the Internet of Things room where students can test their ideas and prototypes for their Engineering Capstone projects.

Insights:
– Soft Skills are now being called “Professional Skills” and are essential for success in the Engineering Program.
– Showcasing what can be created with maker tools in maker spaces helps users imagine what is possible.
– There is some culture shock for new university students who may not be used to groupwork or collaboration.
– 4 Walls, processes, tools and community are the necessary ingredients for a successful making culture and space.