Makerspace has become an innovative strategy for welcoming creative thinking and collaborative problem-solving in today's classrooms. With the integration of OneNote Notebook from Office 365, students are offered a digital platform where they are able to gather, create, think, and learn. This offers access to their learning anytime and anywhere whether on a mobile device, or a desktop computer. Explore ways our teachers offer problem-based learning strategies including documenting the design process, collaborating and discussing, and organizing learning outcomes.
Makerspaces have evolved in this last decade since their first appearance in schools. Many will define them in various terms; Fablabs, Collaboratories, Creativity Corners. No matter the definition, these spaces are for collaborating, creating, thinking, designing, and building. Much research included on this poster points to the fact that while students collaborate, research, and build, the learning process should be the focus, not the final product. Collaboration, discussion, designing and documenting are all essential components of makerspaces in classrooms today. The tools of Office 365 can facilitate a classroom Makerspace to be a digital experience and exist as a "One-Stop Shop" for students and teachers.
Office 365 for Documenting, Discussing, and Designing
| Task | Traditional | Digital | Functionality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collect resources, images, photos for design | Index cards Journals, Printed images | Microsoft Edge, Sway, OneNote (Draw feature), Word, PowerPoint |
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| Sketch Ideas/Diagram designs of Prototype/Product | Notebook/ spiral | One Note (Draw feature) Word, Power Point Slides, Sway |
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| Organizing Ideas for Design | Binder Index cards | Make digital folders and sections using OneNote, OneDrive Search using Edge, Sway, PowerPoint |
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| Students are presented with an authentic problem to solve | Composition or Spiral Notebook | Problem presented in a Themed OneNote Notebook, Word doc. PPT, or Sway presentation Expert in the field could present it through Skype |
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| Students brainstorm or share ideas to examine problem | Composition/Spiral Notebook | Record notes using digital tools in OneNote, One drive, Word, Sway, Office Mix |
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| Students research, plan, and collect resources | Index cards Binder | Make digital folders, tabs with pages using tools such as OneNote, OneDrive, Sway, Edge, Spreadsheets |
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