Kerry Truman [Senior Technician]; Lee Bollard [Senior Technician];

Grant Baker [Senior Lecturer]; Arjun Singh Assa [Student Mentor]

School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment

Communities of craft*: engaging disengaged students through extracurricular group work

12 April 2017 2

What are ‘communities of craft’?

MAKE. SHARE. GIVE. LEARN

12 April 2017 3

NTU Maker Club: building communities of craft

12 April 2017 4

Making is fundamental to what it means to be human. We must make,create, and express ourselves to feel whole. There is something uniqueabout making physical things. Things we make are like little pieces ofus and seem to embody portions of our soul. [The Maker Movement Manifesto]

Why start the NTU Maker Club?

• explore and encourage a ‘MAKER’ attitude to engage staff and students from across the School within a practical workshop and laboratory environment;

• building confidence; technical mentoring; creating ‘less formal’ working relationships [between all peer groups]; establish a portfolio of extra curricular activities; collaborative community; add value to the student experience;

12 April 2017 5

‘Success for All’ and the NTU Maker Club

• Alumni Disbursement Fund application; £1500 to develop a collaborative and cross course community driven project within the workshop environment;

• support disengaged students; encourage engaged students; personalised learning;

12 April 2017 6

Assembling the NTU Maker Club team

• select and recruit a mentor support system;

• wide reaching skill set [practical and non practical]

• technical and academic staff;

• undergraduate and postgraduate students;

12 April 2017 7

How do you recruit low engaged students?

• Schools, Colleges and Community Outreach Team

• Dashboard metrics; identify students with low engagement from across the School

• make contact with the students through NTU ‘email’ system

and then wait for the replies to come rolling in….

12 April 2017 8

What do you do when that doesn't work?

• personal interventions; mini presentations; academic support and tutorial access; community delivered engagement; NOW presence

Grant Baker [NTU Maker Club Mentor, Senior Lecturer, SADBE]

‘face to face conversation with the students….’

12 April 2017 9

Does the NTU Maker Club approach work?

Lee Bollard [Technical Mentor, SADBE]Arjun Singh Assa [Student Mentor] Grant Baker [Academic Mentor, SADBE]

12 April 2017 10

What is next for NTU Maker Club?

• what happens to the XCarve project now it is built and working?

• continue to expand upon the portfolio of extra curricular sessions currently offered by the NTU Maker Club

• raise the profile of the work being done by the Maker Club; look to involve staff/students from outside of the School

• monitor the impact of the Maker Club

12 April 2017 11

QU

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12 April 2017 12

#NTUmakerclub@kerry_truman

12 April 2017 13

• discover what happens within the NTU Maker Club; why it was started; and meet some of the team involved

Session Overview

• suggest how the Maker Club ‘communities through craft’ approach fits within the Success For All strategy here at NTU

• demonstrate examples of good practice; discuss the recent staff-student collaborative project

• reflect upon our journey so far; consider the impact of the NTU Maker Club on staff and students

• questions and answers; [maybe a brief discussion?]