The Makerspace at King Library is a place of innovation and discovery. When you walk through the doors, you find yourself in an environment where questions are answered and highly transferable and marketable skills are taught. The hands-on learning experiences that the Makerspace provides can be accessed by any Miami student, regardless of their major or project. One unique way it operates is by welcoming classes into the space for instruction.
For the 85 first-year architecture students who recently utilized the Makerspace, the experience added an exciting dimension to their regular curriculum. May Khalife,
Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Interior Design, teamed up with Sarah Nagle, Creation and Innovation Services Librarian, to bring this opportunity to life.
“I remembered that we had this great facility that we don’t use and it’s relevant to what our students do,” said May. “I realized it’s such a missed opportunity.” First-year students often start with traditional, hand-drawn work, but May realized that utilizing the Makerspace would allow her students to incorporate the digital aspects of 3D modeling and building, giving them a leg up. While architecture students gravitate to the Makerspace individually to use the machines, this project marked the very first formal partnership between the Makerspace and the architecture faculty.
Sarah Nagle was thrilled by the proposal. Though hosting 85 students was a massive logistical undertaking, the Makerspace team jumped into action. “I appreciate when faculty come to us so early,” Sarah noted. “You’ve got a runway to work with. You can do some really incredible things.”
The students’ response was overwhelmingly positive. Beyond mastering their assignments, they completely fell in love with the space—eyeing the podcast studio and the sewing machines for future projects. The students’ presence brought the space to life. May remembers, “It felt like a beehive. If you were there, you would be like, ‘everything is buzzing’.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Some students struggled with the files they created, while others experienced technical difficulties with the 3D printers. In those cases, the Makerspace staff stepped in. Sarah added herself to students’ projects as an online collaborator to help troubleshoot the student models directly, and John Williams, Makerspace Technology Specialist, was essential in fixing the printers.
For any faculty looking to partner with the Makerspace on projects, May offers the following advice—reach out early to give everyone time to prepare and listen to what the Makerspace has to offer.
It was a challenging few weeks but rewarding,” said Sarah. “It was the type of busy we want to be. Educationally rich with great outcomes for students. That’s exactly the thing we wanted to be spending our time on.” Plans are underway to evolve and expand the collaboration, ensuring that the partnership between Architecture and the King Libraries’ Makerspace continues to build a creative future.