When I signed up for the course, I didn’t really have a concept of what Making was beyond the literal definition of producing something, or what Makerspaces were meant to be beyond a place to make something, or an area to build projects.

One of the key things I learned from the course is a sense of the maker mentality/mindset. While I think it would be difficult to bring a physical makerspace into my school, for space, budgetary and staffing reasons to name a few, I can certainly teach the maker mindset to my students and apply it in any of my courses going forward, working with other teachers to develop it in their students as well.

The new BC reporting order mandating proficiency scale for K-9 is a great way to work towards a failure positive mindset. With letter grades and percentages going away, the goal is for students to be proficient if they don’t succeed on the first try, they can try again to show proficiency, they haven’t failed any assignment or task, merely shown that they are still developing those understandings and skills. If we can develop the skills and mindset at this low-risk stage of their educational career they will carry it forward into the senior grades where percentages and letter grades are present and there is the risk of failure.

Another key takeaway from the course is the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization and Anti-Racism (EDIDA) frameworks, I was exposed to them in ETEC 511, but they were not as central to the course. I have gained a sense of what has been done to implement these frameworks and move towards greater accessibility and inclusivity, but more importantly I have developed an understanding of what a long road we still have to travel. Examining these frameworks and the work that needs to be done was not a comfortable thing to do, as all truly meaningful things usually are not, and implementing them more widely will likely be even more uncomfortable as we will need to need look inward as see how our own attitudes and actions need to change moving forward so that others may feel more welcome and included.