The Maker Hub is set up to support Georgetown Faculty in a variety of ways. In the Maker Hub, faculty can enhance their curriculum through hands-on activities, tours, lectures, and tailored assignments designed to fit their students and their course material.
Integration Options
Tours (15-60 Minutes)
If you want to incorporate the Maker Hub into your course but don't know where to begin, a tour is a great place to start. During the tour, students and faculty will be given an overview of the equipment and resources of the Maker Hub, focusing on the areas most relevant to your course. Tours are often the most impactful at the start of a semester, while students are still in the planning stage of a class project or assignment.
Class Activities (30-120 minutes)
If you're interested in getting your students out of their heads and into the physical world, a custom activity may the way to go. The Maker Hub can help develop an activity tailored to your interests to add a hands-on learning component to your course curriculum. Activities can include team-building exercises, design thinking workshops, creative responses to readings, and more.
Assignments and Independent Student Visits
If a whole class visit to the Maker Hub isn’t feasible, the Maker Hub can work with you to develop homework assignments that require independent visits to the Maker Hub by students on their own time. This can often be arranged to take advantage of the peer-to-peer learning model the Maker Hub uses frequently with its student volunteers. Before giving students homework assignments that involve Maker Hub activities, please contact the Maker Hub to discuss relevant details.
Please contact the Maker Hub Manager, David Strout, at makerhub@georgetown.edu to learn more about the opportunities for curricular engagement with the Maker Hub.
Professors Share Their Experience
Daniela Brancaforte
MSB, The Business of Anthropology (BADM 101-10)
Students were asked to read articles pertaining to group dynamics and team management; at the Maker Hub, they were asked to complete activities related to the reading assignments: to build a team mascot and to build a vessel with the legos they were given.
"I took my First Year Seminar, The Business of Anthropology, to the Maker Hub, during the early part of the semester. Some of the learning objectives of my class involve building a sense of belonging and team cohesion among the McDonough incoming undergraduates. Don led the students through a series of hands-on activities that gave my students the opportunity to work together in an experiential manner outside the classroom; they were able to put into practice the theories we had discussed in class on team dynamics, diversity and inclusion and have a lot of fun in the process."
Clare Fieseler
SFS, The Science of Extinction & De-Extinction (INAF-180-05)
Students 3D printed replicas of fossils from 3D scans made by the Smithsonian.
"In the fall of 2018, I designed and taught a new non-majors science course titled "The Science of Extinction & De-Extinction." My goal for the class was to give students at least two immersive experiences in new technologies that scientists are currently using to study extinct species. Don was so very helpful in creating lectures and co-designing a multi-day lab activity for my students that exposed them to the methods and applications of 3D scanning and printing. After one tutorial in the MakerHub with Don, the students were able to successfully 3D print and compare the structure of real marine mammal fossils from the Smithsonian collection."
Jim Freericks
College, Mathematical Methods of Physics (PHYS 155)
A Student enrolled in UNXD456, the 1-Credit Maker Hub Extension created a 3D visualiztion of principles of quantum wavefunctions.
"The Maker hub brings ideas to reality. Use it in every class you can."
Andrew Herr
SFS, Hands-on Unconventional Weapons Technology (SEST 649)
Students were asked to modify Nerf Blaster dart guns using 3D printing to, at a minimum, fit a stock to the Blaster. Other modifications to make for easier use while in full chemical weapons gear were optional, but part of the overall project.
"Leveraging the Maker Hub is a seamless way to provide students access to 3D printing and other technologies so that these technologies can become a required element of the course. Exposing students to these technologies gives a much deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and it's been a pleasure working with Don and the team!"
Stephen Minnig
GSAS, Product Development in the New Digital Age (CCTP 806)
Students developed product ideas into prototypes as an optional part of a detailed product plan.
"The Maker Hub provides the students in my product development class the opportunity to prototype their product ideas through a positive, no-stress, hands-on experience. Don Undeen and his staff are a great resource for anyone using the Maker Hub; they offer a learning experience that can’t be easily duplicated in a classroom by helping my students bring their ideas to life."
Negar Nahidian
Art & Art History, Advanced Graphic Design (INAF-180-05)
Students were asked to create a vector graphic and use the laser cutter to make it into a 3D object
"It's great that students get to print their design on paper but even better to come to the maker hub and transfer the designs into laser cuts, buttons, stickers. For my advance class my students took a book making session with Noah and made a book."
J.R. Osborn
CCT, Remix Practices (CCTP-623)
Students designed "faces," which were laser cut and remixed in molds to create unique smileys/emojis.
"The Maker Hub allowed Remix Practices to move out of the screen--based digital realm and explore how remixing is increasingly possible with material and physical elements. This broadened the course perspective and helped students understand how online practices can be activated offline in the world and spaces we inhabit."
Matthew Pavesich
College, Writing and Culture (WRIT 015)
Students were given escape room props made in Prof Evan Barba's class, and their assignment was to craft an escape room narrative that would put those props to use in a context. Students also created additional props for their narratives and game design.
"The Maker Hub offers my students, especially the most curious and ambitious ones, the chance to pursue the most creative and impactful versions of their class projects. The community, culture, and -- yes -- the STUFF of the Maker Hub help students realize what they can do."
Libbie Prescott
SFS, BioDesign Studio (STIA 411)
Students were asked to create a physical manifestation of their ideas for submission to the BioDesign Challenge Competition. Both teams used resources from the Maker Hub but they were not required to do so.
"The Maker Hub was critical for my students to approach an open-ended question in a creative and self-directed way but still to see tangible outcomes. Unique opportunity to take something from theoretical to physical all in the span of a semester."