Inclusive Makerspace Conference | May 23 (pre-conference), 24 & 25, 2023
About
21st century learning means moving beyond the traditional constraints and confinements of a one-sized, teacher-directed curriculum towards developing a creative, divergent, and rigorous learning environment that is personalized and differentiated. The aim of a critical makerspace is to engage learners through authentic critical challenges and provocations. Through the act of making and tinkering, people are able to engage in real-world applications relevant to their own lives in a space that builds innovation, critical thinking, multi-literacies, communication, and collaboration skills.
The focus of this conference is the unequivocal implementation of equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, anti-racism (EDIDA) frameworks for the design of highly critical, responsive, and inclusive makerspaces that start with a culture that promotes equity and reduces disparities.
Makerspace
The maker movement, including the creation of physical or digital items utilizing no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech tools, is a recent phenomenon in education and corporations. Many educators and industry leaders do not know how to effectively infuse, implement, identify, and design curriculum content and/or innovate ideas and execute deliverables through Makerspace structures, particularly while ensuring the space and content are culturally relevant, responsive, and inclusive.
A Makerspace is a physical or digital space that allows individuals to tinker and make decisions to solve critical problems, ideate innovative solutions, and develop new ways of learning, knowing, and doing. Following the Inclusive Makerspace Conference, the MET team will be launching a brand new Makerspace at the UBC campus.
Schedule
Pre-Conference Celebration
Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Time: 3–6PM (PT)
Location: UBC Ponderosa Commons Ballroom, 6445 University Blvd. See map.
Main Conference
Date: Wednesday, May 24 + Thursday, May 25, 2023
Time: 9AM–4PM (PT)*
Location: UBC Faculty of Education, Neville Scarfe Building, 2125 Main Mall. See map.
*All-day event, exact times TBD.
Keynote Speakers
Hannah Kye
“People and Pedagogies in Inclusive Maker Education”
Hannah Kye, EdD, is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education at Rowan University. Informed by her background as an elementary science and maker teacher, her work explores culturally responsive and family-engaged maker education. In national and international forums, she presents and publishes on STEM education for young children and their teachers with a focus on access and diversity.
Dr. Maggie Melo
“Space Invaders: First-time Users Feel Like Trespassers in the Makerspace”
Maggie Melo, Phd, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research specialization resides at the intersection of critical making and the development of equitable and inclusive makerspaces. Her research is funded by an NSF CAREER Award entitled, “Equity in the Making: Investigating Spatial Arrangements of Makerspaces and Their Impact on Diverse User Populations.” Maggie is the Director for the Equity in the Making Lab, and the co-editor and author of the book, Remaking the Library Makerspace: Critical Theories, Applications, and Practices (2020).
Pre-Conference | May 23
FREE
Day 1 | May 24
$115 CAD
Day 2 | May 25
$115 CAD
Full 2 days | May 24 + 25
$200 CAD
Virtual Conference | May 24 + 25
$100 CAD
Registration
Registration deadline: April 28, 2023.
Cancellation Policy
Cancellation requests must be received by email to info.met@ubc.ca prior to April 21, 2023. A full refund will be issued, minus a $20 CAD processing fee.
Call for Proposals
If you’re a maker, expert, academic, student, or an industrial actor in education at any level and in any setting (e.g. Faculty, Staff, Students, Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers, Librarians, Instructional Designers, Community Workers), we invite you to submit a proposal!
Presentation Formats
- Creation Lab or Interactive Making Session
- Panel
- Poster
- Individual Paper
- Roundtable
Topic Suggestions
- Designing and implementing Inclusive Makerspaces
- Educational Research to Understand the Values of Making
- Supporting and Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- User Engagement, Curriculum Development, and Programming
- Emerging Hardware and Software Tools for Makers
- Game-based learning and Making
- Accessibility
Fees
All presenters will be required to register for the conference and pay the fee in order to attend.
Funding Opportunities
For MET degree students
If you are a degree student in the MET program you may apply to the MET Degree Student Travel Fund for funding to attend this conference. Applicants must be current MET degree students in good standing and must be first author and presenter of a paper, poster session, or workshop based on work arising from their participation in the MET program.
- Applicable expenses are limited to (a) travel to/from the conference and (b) conference registration. All other costs (accommodation, meals, ground transportation, etc.) are not included.
- Students may apply to the fund more than once, but the total funds available to students through the duration of their studies in MET, including both conference travel and open-access fees, will not exceed $1500 CAD.
For details on how to apply, see the MET Student Handbook.
For other graduate students
Because the MET program is part-time and professional, MET students are unable to apply for faculty-based or UBC travel funding.
However, graduate students in the Faculty of Education or other UBC faculties may be eligible for the Graduate Student Travel and Research Dissemination Fund that provides funding support of up to $500.
Faculty of Education graduate students may also be eligible for funding from the Faculty of Education. Please visit the Faculty’s Graduate Funding Opportunities page for more information.
Details
For more detailed information on presentation formats, topic suggestions, and preparing your proposals submission, please see the Call for Proposals document.
Deadline
Submissions will be accepted until March 1, 2023 at 11:59 PM (PT).
Proposal form
Sponsors
If you are a contributor to the digital and educational technology community, your involvement as a sponsor of the MET Inclusive Makerspace Conference would be an opportunity for your organization to create and strengthen community partnerships.
View the Sponsorship Information document for full details.
Reasons to be a sponsor:
- Gain exposure and reach with approximately 200 Ed Tech professionals
- Be among other leading Ed Tech organizations and coalitions supporting inclusive educational technology
- Be part of the first ever UBC makerspace design
- Contribute to knowledge sharing and best practices for using educational technology and digital tools
Sponsor benefits and levels of support:
met.ubc.ca/inclusive-makerspace-conference/sponsor-levels
Other ways to support:
- Purchase a vendor booth for the 2-day conference ($300 CAD) and run optional mini-workshops
- Provide give-aways and tech tools as prizes for the event
- Donate technology (software/hardware) or maker tools (no tech, low tech, high tech) to UBC’s Inclusive Maker Lab
Sponsor form:
Are you interested in being a sponsor? Fill out the form the via the button, below.
Deadline:
The deadline to submit the sponsorship form is March 17, 2023.
Questions
For any questions or concerns about sponsorship for the MET Conference, please get in touch with our Administrative Support contact, Nora Perry, at nora.perry@ubc.ca.
Contact
For any questions or concerns, please contact info.met@ubc.ca.