The Kickstart Guide to Making GREAT Makerspaces

Creating powerful learning environments

The makerspace phenomenon has taken education by storm, but many educators still have questions about how makerspaces can be created and used for deeper learning. Anyone can create a makerspace. This is the guide to creating a GREAT makerspace. Written by makerspace pioneer Laura Fleming, The Kickstart Guide to Making GREAT Makerspaces is filled with step-by-step, practical ideas that demystify the process of planning and creating a makerspace. Its workbook style ensures that by the time educators are done reading, they have a ready-to-implement plan personalized for their classroom, school, or district. Readers will find

• A wealth of examples of great makerspaces in action
• Activities and strategies for inspiring making across the curriculum
• Plenty of room and guidance for brainstorming and developing a personalized plan

Building on Fleming’s Worlds of Making, this guide will help educators plan and create a makerspace learning environment that students need, want, deserve, and value.

Laura Fleming has been an educator in the state of New Jersey for 17 years. She has been both a classroom teacher and media specialist in grades K-8 and currently as a Library Media Specialist for grades 9-12. Laura is a strong advocate of using New Media and Vanguard Techniques for Interactive and Transmedia (multi-platform) Storytelling. She has played a prominent role in education as a writer and speaker and has served as an educational consultant on next-generation teaching methods and tools. Laura has also consulted on Transmedia properties, working with producers to help maximize the value of their creations and toolsets for teachers and students. She is also the author of Worlds of Learning:  Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School (Corwin, 2015).

Laura’s goal is to create learning experiences that empower and equip students with necessary skills to effectively produce and consume content across multiple media platforms. She is also driven to enable educators and cohorts in applying these innovative methods and cutting-edge technology in their fields of expertise. She is an educational consultant, thought leader and speaker on education, librarianship, and technology.  

Recently, Laura created a digital badge-based professional development platform in which educators all over the world earn badges in acknowledgement of their informal professional learning. Her library Makerspace has garnered national attention and has served as an inspiration for schools across the country. She is also a recipient of the National School Boards ‘20 to Watch’ in Educational Technology Leadership for 2014.

Her goal is to create learning experiences that empower and equip students with necessary skills to effectively produce and consume content across multiple media platforms. She is also driven to enable educators and cohorts in applying these innovative methods and cutting-edge technology in their fields of expertise. Laura is an educational consultant, thought leader and speaker on education, librarianship, and technology. She is also the host of the BAM Radio Show "Movers and Makers."