UMass Amherst School of Public Policy Professor Charlie Schweik and graduate student Dillon Coutinho recently introduced a group of visiting students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the “makerspace” concept of collective problem-solving following open source collaborative principles and technologies.
The students were part of the UAE Innovation Ambassadors Program, which has brought more than 40 female undergraduates studying STEM fields to the UMass campus for two weeks of intensive study. Schweik, a joint faculty member with the Department of Environmental Conservation, is co-teaching one of those classes, Implementing Ideas through Makerspace Principles, with two colleagues from the UMass Libraries, Sarah Hutton, head of undergraduate teaching and learning services, and Steve Acquah, digital media lab coordinator.
The seminar is based on Schweik’s Makerspace…
