IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i10p384-d655078.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Equity of Access in Engineering Education Making Spaces

Author

Listed:
  • Idalis Villanueva Alarcón

    (Department of Engineering Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA)

  • Robert Jamaal Downey

    (Department of Engineering Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA)

  • Louis Nadelson

    (College of Education, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR 72035, USA)

  • Yoon Ha Choi

    (Biological Sciences, STEM Transformation Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA)

  • Jana Bouwma-Gearhart

    (College of Education, Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR 97331, USA)

  • Chaz Tanoue

    (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Idalis Villanueva Alarcón & Robert Jamaal Downey & Louis Nadelson & Yoon Ha Choi & Jana Bouwma-Gearhart & Chaz Tanoue, 2021. "Understanding Equity of Access in Engineering Education Making Spaces," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:384-:d:655078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/384/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/384/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jana Bouwma-Gearhart & Yoon Ha Choi & Cindy A. Lenhart & Idalis Villanueva & Louis S. Nadelson & Estefany Soto, 2021. "Undergraduate Students Becoming Engineers: The Affordances of University-Based Makerspaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-25, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Georgi V. Georgiev & Vijayakumar Nanjappan, 2023. "Sustainability Considerations in Digital Fabrication Design Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoon Ha Choi & Jana Bouwma-Gearhart & Cindy A. Lenhart & Idalis Villanueva & Louis S. Nadelson, 2021. "Student Development at the Boundaries: Makerspaces as Affordances for Engineering Students’ Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-23, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:384-:d:655078. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.