{"id":27,"date":"2026-05-24T20:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/researchreadingrobots\/?p=27"},"modified":"2026-05-24T20:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:49:18","slug":"virtual-makerspace-mini-literature-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/researchreadingrobots\/virtual-makerspace-mini-literature-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Makerspace Mini-Literature Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making creates evidence of learning. – Doug Dougherty<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To recap from my last post, I am hoping to make a virtual makerspace for students at my school. The idea is to give them opportunities to build skills like collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking through passive programming that they can access when they have free computer time.<\/p>\n

I found several resources on makerspaces, and some examples of virtual makerspaces. However, information on virtual makerspaces is a bit sparse. While I did find some studies, they often defined \u201cmakerspace\u201d differently and were less relevant to my context upon inspection. Accordingly, I found resources that are written with physical makerspaces in mind but could apply to virtual makerspaces as well.<\/p>\n

I began with podcasts, and found several that I am still planning to listen to. One of my favourite education podcasts is Cult of Pedagogy, so a good place to start was \u201cWhat is the Point of a Makerspace<\/a>\u201d, a blog post and podcast episode in which Jennifer Gonzales interviews John Spencer. His definition is \u201csimply a space designed and dedicated to hands-on creativity\u201d, where a product (physical or digital) is created.<\/p>\n

A comment on Cult of Pedagogy led me to the Renovated Learning website and the post \u201cDefining Makerspaces: What the Research Says<\/a>\u201d. Here, Diana Rendina summarizes definitions from a number of different sources. Along the way, a few trends pop up: creativity, community, open-endedness, and giving students opportunities to make something.<\/p>\n

I also explored what my school and public libraries have to offer and found several relevant books at the Winnipeg Public Library. After briefly looking them over, my favourite was not focused on makerspaces but rather the broader maker movement: Free to Make<\/em><\/a> by Dale Dougherty (the creator of Make: magazine) and Ariane Conrad. Several chapters seemed very relevant to my virtual makerspace project, including \u201cThe Maker Mindset\u201d which went into some of the research supporting putting time and energy into making, as well as \u201cMaking is Learning\u201d. I read the latter chapter and particularly appreciated the quote \u201cmaking creates evidence of learning\u201d (p. 194)<\/p>\n

Dougherty also distinguishes between three kinds of projects: directed projects, guided projects, and open projects. He suggests that at least fifty percent of a maker program should be dedicated to open projects (p.189). This brings me back to the idea of passive or self-directed programming, like those described in the School Library Journal article \u201cDIY to the Rescue: 10 Librarian-Tested Passive Programs<\/a>\u201d. This article emphasizes that self-directed programs do not need to be elaborate. It discusses starting points, ways to assess the effectiveness of programs, and gives 10 examples of passive programs.<\/p>\n

I also found these two resources that provided me with questions to ask when developing my virtual makerspace:<\/p>\n