2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Learning Through Making Instrument (LMI) project: Current status and future directions [NSF RFE program]

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session II

This poster gives an update on the progress our team has made on the Learning Through Making Instrument (LMI) project over the last year. The project has been funded through the Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) program of the National Science Foundation. The goal of the project is to create and provide validity evidence for a survey instrument that allows instructors and administrators to evaluate and quantify the learning that students experience in makerspaces. The measures made possible by such an instrument would be useful to help administrators, managers, and staff of makerspaces in academic environments better understand how they are accomplishing their goals within their institutions and reveal areas that might need special attention. These areas might include what draws students to the makerspaces, what culture is developed in the makerspace, and what kinds of activities students engage with. Our project is currently structured in four phases: (1) Develop definitions for the constructs to be assessed; (2) Generate and refine survey items; (3) Validation and reliability studies for the instrument; and (4) Fairness studies and finalizing the scoring of the instrument. In our previous overview of the project, we reported the entire first phase of the project and parts of the second phase. We used the Learning Through Making Typology to guide the development process of our construct definitions and preliminary items, which were then reviewed and tweaked through a round of feedback from experts in makerspaces and instrument development. At the time of writing this abstract, we are finalizing cognitive interviews with students using our draft items. These cognitive interviews allow us to identify how students are interpreting our questions and refine them so that diverse populations understand the questions consistently, following our intention. Additionally, we are making preparations to start with data collection that will be used for studies in phase three. We anticipate that by the time of the conference, we will be getting close to finishing the third phase and starting on the last phase of the project.

Authors

Mr. Leonardo Pollettini Marcos Purdue University [biography]

Leonardo Pollettini Marcos is a 4th-year PhD student at Purdue University's engineering education program. He completed a bachelor's and a master's degree in Materials Engineering at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. His research interests are in assessment instruments and global engineering accreditation.
Dr. Melissa Wood Aleman James Madison University [biography]

Dr. Melissa Aleman (Ph.D. University of Iowa) is Professor of Communication Studies at James Madison University and has published research using qualitative interviewing, ethnographic and rhetorical methods to examine communication in diverse contexts. Sh
Dr. Robert L. Nagel Carthage College [biography]

Dr. Robert Nagel is a Professor and Director of the Department of Engineering at Carthage College. Dr. Nagel, a mechanical engineer by training, performs research on engineering student learning and engagement with a focus on interventions, pedagogies, and design methodologies. He seeks to gain applicable knowledge for increasing student engagement and reducing barriers in engineering, design, and making.
Dr. Julie S Linsey Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dr. Julie S. Linsey is a Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technological. Her research focus is on design methods, theory, and engineering education with a particular focus on innovation and conceptual design.
Dr. Kerrie A Douglas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2693-5272 Purdue University at West Lafayette (PWL) (COE) [biography]

Dr. Douglas is an Associate Professor in the Purdue School of Engineering Education. Her research is focused on improving methods of assessment in engineering learning environments and supporting engineering students.
Prof. Eric Holloway http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0343-1709 Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

Prof. Eric Holloway currently serves as a Professor of Engineering Practice in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. He also holds a courtesy faculty appointment in the School of Engineering Education. His research focuses on assessment development and the professional formation of students.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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