Authors: Zeng Mingxing, Ning Xiaohui, Zhou Qingping, Xu Hongzhi, Su Juan
The online learning space aims to promote the transformation of teaching and learning methods and the personalized application of learning environments. It is an important part of China’s “Three Connections and Two Platforms” project. The core concept of maker education is to cultivate practical abilities, innovation abilities, and innovative spirit through “learning by doing,” which meets the national strategic demand for innovative and entrepreneurial talents. The online learning space for university student makers is a virtual learning environment supported by a cloud computing center platform, which provides seven services: online course creation, virtual practice, maker resources, maker socialization, online services, display sharing, and learning management. Among these, online course creation and virtual practice are the core spaces, while the other five spaces mainly serve these two core spaces. In addition to the traditional functions of resource sharing, achievement sharing, interaction, and learning management, it also has practical functions such as self-directed course learning and virtual experiments, providing students with a virtual learning and creative environment unrestricted by time and space, effectively promoting knowledge internalization and cultivating students’ higher-order thinking skills.
Keywords: Maker Education; Online Learning Space; Online Course Creation; Virtual Experience; Virtual Development
Classification Number: G434 Document Identification Code: A
1Problem Statement
“The Three Connections and Two Platforms” was officially proposed in 2012 and has become the core goal and landmark project of educational informatization in China during the 12th Five-Year Plan. During the 13th Five-Year Plan, the country will further promote the construction of “Three Connections and Two Platforms” and comprehensively enhance the development level of educational informatization. The online learning space for everyone is an important part of the “Three Connections and Two Platforms,” aimed at promoting the transformation of teaching and learning methods. In September 2015, the Ministry of Education issued the “Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively and Deeply Promoting Educational Informatization Work During the 13th Five-Year Plan (Draft for Comments),” proposing to innovate the construction and application model of online learning spaces. In February 2016, the Ministry of Education issued the “2016 Key Points of Educational Informatization Work,” emphasizing the need to focus on promoting the online learning space for everyone and further expanding its coverage. Due to the government’s high attention, the construction of online learning spaces has achieved rapid development and widespread application. As of November 2015, more than 30% of schools nationwide had opened online learning spaces, increasing from 600,000 in 2012 to 42 million, with applications expanding from vocational education to various levels and types of education. However, online learning spaces face issues such as single functions, low student participation, and poor learning outcomes, and they mainly serve as public service platforms for the general public (including students, teachers, and management institutions), with fewer tailored for specific professional fields or special groups (such as student makers). Due to the uniqueness of different audiences or professional fields, the functional requirements for online learning spaces vary greatly, making it difficult to meet their specific learning needs.
The maker movement is sweeping the globe, and the Chinese government has successively issued a series of policy documents and measures regarding maker spaces. For example, on March 11, 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Developing Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Through Maker Spaces,” which for the first time deployed the construction of maker spaces from a national strategic level; on February 14, 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Maker Spaces to Serve the Transformation and Upgrading of the Real Economy,” encouraging research institutes and universities to create maker spaces around their advantageous specialties and fields. The introduction of these policies has created a favorable external environment for the development of maker spaces and maker education. Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Southwest Jiaotong University, Wenzhou University, Shenzhen University, and other universities have successively established maker spaces, among which Tsinghua University has about 16,500 square meters of maker space, the largest among global universities. Maker spaces are workspaces, network spaces, social spaces, and resource-sharing spaces, where workspaces mainly provide physical space, equipment, and tools for makers. Social spaces and resource-sharing spaces can mostly be realized through virtual networks, thus making network space an important component of maker spaces. However, the current construction of maker spaces focuses more on physical spaces and lacks attention to virtual space, especially the practical achievements of universities in constructing specialized online learning spaces for university student makers are relatively few. Moreover, traditional online learning spaces generally do not have the functions of course creation learning, virtual experience, and practice, making it difficult for university student makers to fully utilize fragmented time to learn course knowledge and conduct innovative training.
2Research on University Student Makers and Online Learning Spaces
(1) Makers and Maker Spaces
The term “Maker” originally refers to “a creator” or “a person who makes things.” This concept became popular with the establishment and publication of Maker Magazine in early 2012. Chris Anderson believes that makers are generally non-profit individuals who, driven by their interests and hobbies, use various digital, intelligent, and open-source tools to turn various ideas and inspirations into real products. Dale Dougherty, the editor of Maker Magazine, believes that maker spaces are places where creative individuals or communities share ideas, meet like-minded friends, and turn ideas into reality. Luo Liang and Zhu Zhitian believe that maker spaces are places for makers to gather, communicate, and collaborate in creation, serving as open and shared laboratories, machining rooms, and workshops. Typical maker spaces provide makers with digital manufacturing equipment such as 3D printers, engraving machines, CNC machines, welding equipment, laser cutters, Lego toys, circuit devices, and other materials, high-speed wireless networks, and Arduino open-source hardware and software platforms, as well as intellectual resources for creativity, research and development, production, and investment.
In short, maker spaces are places and workshops for makers to practice, gather, communicate, share, and collaborate in creation. Scholars have conducted extensive research on the concepts and components, origins and developments, values and significance, and typical cases of maker spaces, focusing more on physical spaces, while research on online spaces is relatively scarce, especially regarding how to construct online spaces for university student makers to enhance their practical and innovative abilities.
(2) Online Learning Spaces
The Oxford Online Dictionary defines the term “space” as a certain amount of empty or usable area or place. Learning spaces are environments that allow learners to access resources, participate in collaboration, and engage in open interaction. American scholar Brown defines learning spaces as various places where learning occurs, ranging from real to virtual spaces, or from classrooms to chat rooms. Virtual spaces, also known as online spaces, represent a new mode of decentralized social interaction. Online learning spaces are virtual learning environments based on the internet, which utilize information technology to construct comprehensive interactive learning environments for formal and informal learning, teaching and teaching, and learning and learning. Wu Zhongliang and others believe that online learning spaces are a virtual exclusive territory for teachers and students, functioning like blogs for creating, collecting, transmitting, and sharing learning resources and self-learning management, and like platforms such as Moodle and Sakai for collaborative learning and timely assistance. Yang Xianmin and others explain online learning spaces from both broad and narrow perspectives, with the former referring to virtual spaces that support teaching and learning activities running on any platform (MOOC platforms, famous teacher spaces, QQ spaces, WeChat platforms, etc.), while the latter specifically refers to virtual spaces supporting teaching and learning activities running on dedicated service platforms (National Educational Resource Cloud Service Platform, World University Town Network Service Platform, etc.). Although the spaces are primarily constructed with students at the center, their service targets are not limited to students but also include teachers, parents, and managers.
In summary, online learning spaces refer to virtual spaces constructed using modern information technology that support sharing, collaboration, interaction, and self-management of teaching and learning activities. Currently, research on online learning spaces mainly focuses on basic education and traditional professional education, while there is relatively little specialized research on how to construct online learning spaces for maker education.
(3) Value Demands of University Student Makers for Online Learning Spaces
In 2015, the number of university graduates in China reached 7.49 million, among which the total number of those who started their own businesses or participated in entrepreneurship was 423,000, accounting for 5.65% of all graduates, an increase of 6.8 percentage points compared to 2014. This shows that university students are an important force for innovation and entrepreneurship. Compared to middle and primary school student makers, university student makers are more physically, psychologically, and cognitively mature, have broader knowledge, stronger abilities, and higher qualities, and possess relevant professional skills, basic information technology application, and digital processing capabilities, with a stronger desire for innovation and creation. In contrast to social makers, university student makers lack social practice and experience, have weak competitive awareness, market awareness, and innovative awareness, and face significant disadvantages in obtaining ideas, production, and especially market development, making interdisciplinary and cross-professional skills cultivation and innovative practice even more important. The unique characteristics of the university student maker group determine their value demands for online learning spaces:
1. Cultivation of Innovation and Creation Abilities
The common trait of makers is innovation, practice, and sharing. The main issue for university student makers compared to social makers is the lack of social practice experience. Although offline physical spaces are the main venues for various practical activities, online virtual spaces primarily provide environments for resource sharing, achievement sharing, and interactive communication. However, many universities, limited by physical space conditions, find it difficult to provide personalized practical conditions for student makers from different majors, and the practical and experiential conditions provided may differ significantly from the real product development and manufacturing environment. Additionally, physical spaces are also limited by time and space conditions, which hinders university students from fully utilizing fragmented time for learning and training. Designing specialized online learning spaces for university student makers with functions for real practice and experience can effectively address these shortcomings. For example, constructing simulated experiments, virtual experiments, gamified experiments, computer modeling, virtual development, and 3D online printing environments allows university student makers to “learn by doing” in the network, experience the complete product development process, shape good mental models and physical schemas, construct, understand, and internalize knowledge, and ultimately cultivate innovative thinking and creative abilities.
2. Cultivation of Interdisciplinary Professional Scientific Literacy
Although universities are increasingly emphasizing maker education, some have offered relevant scientific literacy courses, such as the creative electronics maker course at Beijing Normal University. However, the development of many products requires knowledge across multiple disciplines (such as metallurgy, mechanics, ceramics, electronics, art, control, computer science, and humanities), necessitating makers to possess multiple skills and understand various technologies. Incorporating too many interdisciplinary professional courses directly into the main curriculum would significantly increase students’ burdens, and only a small portion of students truly possess maker potential. Therefore, most interdisciplinary scientific literacy courses should be arranged in the second classroom, meaning that online learning spaces should have the functionality for efficient learning of interdisciplinary professional knowledge.
3. Resource Acquisition and Personalized Maker Mentor Services
The learning and training process of university student makers is filled with complexity, non-linearity, and uncertainty, requiring good interdisciplinary learning resources and resources needed for product development processes, such as development tools, calculation tools, and virtual technologies. Additionally, they require timely personalized maker mentor services throughout the entire process, from identifying new demands to applying new technologies, design and development, virtual simulation, cost analysis, prototype production, trial production, and sales. They also need to communicate extensively with others through the learning space to establish various social relationships (strong and weak ties) or virtual communities, compensating for the inherent deficiencies in social experience and professional limitations, achieving seamless integration of product development and market demands, and ultimately realizing high-quality entrepreneurship.
3Model of Online Learning Space for University Student Makers
In the era of “Internet+,” students are transforming from consumers of knowledge to creators of knowledge. The fundamental purpose of constructing maker spaces in universities is to enhance students’ practical abilities, innovative abilities, and innovative spirit. As shown in Figure 1, makers go through a spiral evolution from knowledge acquisition to knowledge internalization to knowledge creation during the process of problem and demand acquisition, idea formation, design and development, prototype production, trial production, and product sales. The online learning space for university student makers can be a virtual space running on a cloud computing center platform, serving the entire process of physical product development innovation, or it can create a virtual development environment and resources that highly simulate the entire process of real enterprise product development, allowing students to experience and practice in a manner comparable to physical product development training. Makers can log into the online learning space to learn new knowledge of innovation and creation, conduct virtual product development and training, and engage in communication with peers or maker mentors, display learning outcomes, and reflect on their experiences. Maker mentors design and push teaching resources to the online learning space, participating in the training process of students and answering their questions. The online learning space for university student makers mainly includes online course creation, virtual practice, maker resources, maker socialization, online services, display sharing, and learning management (referred to as the “Seven Spaces”) cloud service space functions. Among these, online course creation and virtual practice are core spaces, while other spaces mainly serve these two core spaces.
(1) Cloud Computing Center Platform of Online Learning Space
The cloud computing center platform is a technical architecture and business model that comprehensively utilizes cloud computing, mobile internet, and other new technologies. It serves as a center for information exchange, storage and management, teaching resource development, and application, as well as the technical foundation for personalized service functions, such as the National Educational Resource Cloud Service Platform. Scholars Zhang Shiming, Xu Hexiang, Wu Zheng, and Hao Wenqing believe that the overall architecture of the online learning space cloud computing center platform typically consists of four layers: the infrastructure layer (IAAS), platform service layer (PAAS), software service layer (SAAS), and resource service layer (RAAS). It features cloud service functions such as personal space, cloud storage, cloud management, cloud email, cloud communication, cloud classroom, and cloud supermarket, among which personal space is a desktop application and terminal performance that can run on multiple platforms such as PCs, tablets, and mobile terminals; cloud storage services are located in IAAS; cloud management services are located in PAAS; cloud supermarket services provide free and paid educational resources such as electronic textbooks and electronic test questions for users like teachers and students, with some service functions located in RAAS, while cloud email, cloud communication, cloud classroom, and some cloud supermarket services are located in SAAS. The online learning space cloud computing center platform for university student makers mainly relies on modern information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mobile internet, with an overall architecture similar to the aforementioned architecture, which need not be repeated here. The “Seven Spaces” (or functional modules) can be deployed on the cloud computing center platform and packaged as “cloud services” to provide shared teaching resources for teachers and students.
(2) Functions of Online Learning Spaces
To meet the value demands of university student makers for enhancing innovation and creation abilities, cultivating interdisciplinary scientific literacy, acquiring rich resources, and providing personalized maker mentor services, online learning spaces should possess the following functions:
1. Online Course Creation Space
(1) Course Creation
Sun Jianfeng believes that course creation is a “comprehensive innovation project,” which includes six aspects: idea creation, design creation, textbook creation, teaching creation, reflection creation, and publication creation, meaning that any element related to course teaching can be called course creation. Yang Xianmin believes that course creation is a new type of course, with broad and narrow definitions. The broad definition refers to various courses aimed at cultivating students’ innovation and creation abilities, including electronic creative courses as well as traditional creative courses such as manual production, mechanical processing, and painting; it can also refer to “entrepreneurship guidance courses,” such as Tsinghua University’s “Face-to-Face with Entrepreneurship Masters” series. The narrow definition specifically refers to electronic creative courses characterized by the application of intelligent information technology, such as the Arduino creative robot course at Wenzhou Middle School. Course creation has three core features: interdisciplinary (mechanics, electrical engineering, art, automation control, computer science, etc.), intelligent (artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, VR/AR, wearable devices, interactive media, etc.), and a combination of hardware and software (CNC processing, etc.). The focus of course creation development is not on single knowledge memorization and understanding, but on the integration, transfer, application, and practice of multidisciplinary technologies and knowledge. Course creation is typically presented in various forms such as thematic activities, maker projects, and maker case studies, covering knowledge in creativity, design, manufacturing, production, and sales, characterized by contextualization, relevance to life, and engagement. Students complete the learning process through discussions, collaborative exploration, experiences, and experiments, stimulating their intrinsic creative potential.
(2) Online Course Creation Space
The online course creation space provides a networked, digital, and intelligent cloud learning environment for teachers and students. Course creation teachers can not only design and upload course creation resources through the online course creation space but also assign homework and stage tests, with the system automatically grading and recording, counting, and analyzing students’ learning conditions in real-time to achieve differentiated teaching. Students can independently watch course creation micro-videos to learn new course creation knowledge and conduct training through the online course creation space (SPOC course creation space), mainly addressing interdisciplinary and cross-professional scientific literacy issues to prepare knowledge for product development training.
a. SPOC Course Creation Space
Courses such as Scratch creative programming, Lego creative robotics, 3D creative printing, and other innovative courses that stimulate students’ creative potential, as well as humanities courses that cultivate entrepreneurial awareness and professional courses that integrate innovation, creation, and entrepreneurship knowledge, can be produced into course creation micro-videos according to MOOC requirements, supplemented with micro-courseware, micro-projects, micro-cases, and micro-experimental training resources, with micro-assignments as the main focus, supplemented by online testing, online discussions, online messaging, online Q&A, and online surveys as self-learning activities for feedback. Course creation micro-videos should be designed with embedded interactions, testing interactions, and other teaching elements, using various media formats to enhance the interactivity and attractiveness of the teaching process. Maker teachers can set login permissions based on the professional foundation and characteristics of the maker group, guiding makers to learn relevant course creation content and conduct training, testing, and practice, effectively transforming course creation from MOOC to SPOC (Small Private Online Course) applications. For example, Tsinghua University integrates and develops resources for challenge-based courses, maker marathons, and entrepreneurship awareness and practice courses through the online platform for maker courses, forming a continuously evolving maker course system. Makers can also quickly iterate and develop themes for challenge-based learning courses, maker project themes, or practice themes based on specific projects to enhance their technological innovation literacy.
b. Virtual Course Creation Classroom
The virtual classroom is a virtual teaching environment organized based on physical classrooms, facilitating various teaching activities between teachers and students over long distances through the internet. Scholars Zhang Lixia, Zhang Lixin, and others categorize virtual classrooms based on their relationship with real classrooms into three types: simulated real classrooms (synchronous live teaching, synchronous interactive discussions), extended real classrooms (asynchronous on-demand teaching, asynchronous interactive discussions), and innovative real classrooms (personalized learning primarily based on digital resources, team learning primarily based on online collaboration, and social learning primarily based on online group interactions). Many educational websites, space courses, and learning forums can be viewed as broad definitions of virtual classrooms, sharing the common feature of being teaching environments composed of digital resources and online activities, effectively supporting the teaching of teachers and learning of students. The virtual course creation classroom refers to the virtual environment provided for course creation teaching, supporting makers on desktop users and handheld terminals to achieve synchronous and asynchronous interactive learning, and supporting personalized learning and collaborative learning in the classroom. This classroom provides makers with learning situations similar to physical course creation teaching, allowing them to experience the culture of innovation.
c. Net-True Course Creation Classroom
Net-true technology is hailed as one of the top ten breakthrough technologies of the 21st century, including high-speed communication, spatial lighting, coding technology, ultra-high-definition video encoding, human engineering, display technology, human-computer interaction, target recognition and tracking, multi-channel voice coding, network intelligence, spatial audio, and architectural acoustics. The net-true classroom refers to a two-way visual interactive teaching scenario that uses net-true technology to present two or more remote classrooms in real-time panoramic view and integrate them with local classrooms. The net-true classroom provides real-time panoramic video of life-size and various immersion-enhancing technologies, breaking the spatial and temporal limitations of classrooms and transforming physically separated classrooms into logically, visually, and sensually unified classrooms. Compared to virtual classrooms, net-true classrooms are more intuitive and intelligent, allowing for real-time questioning and answering and other interactive teaching activities, enabling remote face-to-face experiences across distances. The net-true course creation classroom uses net-true technology to map remote maker workshops and other practical venues to local classrooms, connecting them through broadband networks to achieve an organic integration of theoretical and practical teaching, physical and virtual teaching, such as allowing students to observe, feel, and experience the real product or project development process of remote maker workshops during class, and share related entrepreneurship cases from remote maker lectures.
2. Virtual Practice Space
Virtual experiments and virtual development spaces provide makers with functionalities highly similar to real experiments and maker workshops, offering low-cost personalized learning environments unrestricted by time and space.
(1) Virtual Experiment Space
Virtual experiments refer to the use of multimedia, artificial intelligence, simulation, and virtual reality technologies (3D modeling, human-computer interaction, digital control, etc.) to create virtual experiments that replace traditional experimental projects, allowing users to experience or operate various experimental steps like a real experimental environment. Virtual experiments can authentically reproduce physical phenomena, sense and measure, integrate and locate, acquire and analyze data, and collaborate remotely, with experimental effects equivalent to or even superior to real experiments. They can reduce experimental costs and effectively share experimental resources, improving experimental efficiency. Incorporating gaming or entertainment factors into innovative experiments and organically combining technology with art creates a three-dimensional experiential virtual innovation space that integrates sound, animation, scenes, characters, and other elements. Maker teachers can design experiential teaching scenarios in this space, allowing students to enter the virtual space for real-time interaction, perception, and operation of various virtual objects in the virtual world, embedding knowledge in the social and physical contexts of virtual reality and gaining a sense of immersion while proposing their innovative ideas. For example, MOOC platforms like Udacity and edX provide virtual experiential environments and visualization control tools for students to complete experimental processes such as electronic circuit experiments or program running environment experiments; similarly, Zhang Xuejun, Tang Jiulei, and others developed a three-dimensional virtual chemistry experiment platform using Flash3D technology, allowing students to interact with virtual instruments and materials in a Flash3D environment, while also recording detailed experimental data and processes, integrating experiments, reports, and evaluations. Maker virtual experiment projects should be challenging, design-oriented, innovative, and research-based (rather than verification-based), with variable and combinable experimental processes and situations (rather than fixed procedures and patterns), conducive to cultivating makers’ divergent thinking and innovative creative abilities.
(2) Virtual Development Space
a. Definition
Product (project) virtual development, also known as virtual design and manufacturing for products (projects), refers to the use of computer simulation, virtual reality, and other technologies (integrating computer graphics, database technology, artificial intelligence, network technology, parallel technology, multimedia, and visualization technology) to achieve virtual development design, processing, manufacturing, assembly, testing, inspection, and evaluation of products (projects), using digital product prototypes or software in a virtual environment to replace traditional physical products. Only after the product’s performance is validated can physical manufacturing and sales occur. For example, Ford Motor Company was the first to use online parallel design technology to develop racing cars; Boeing used virtual development technology to develop the 737 passenger aircraft; Coventry School of Art and Design in the USA developed a virtual prototype manufacturing system that allows for the construction of virtual prototypes in computer systems for performance evaluation in the early stages of product development. Virtual development is a process of continuous iteration and evolution of product characteristics in a simulation environment, characterized by digitization, integration, automation, intelligence, parallelism, visualization, intuitive experience, and good interaction. It can shorten product development cycles, reduce development costs, and improve development quality. University student makers can design digital product prototypes in the virtual development space, conduct dynamic simulations and performance tests, and achieve comprehensive training throughout the development process.
b. Overall Framework
A complete product (project) virtual development system is relatively complex, typically comprising various factors from system architecture, including human-computer interaction interfaces, frameworks, environments, applications, data, protocols, software, and hardware. Based on the views of scholars Wu Qunbo, Chen Dingfang, and others, the overall framework for product virtual development is designed as shown in Figure 2. The product (project) virtual development space mainly includes product idea space, virtual design space, virtual manufacturing space, and virtual marketing space. The product idea space begins with market demand research and problem discovery, followed by market segmentation and positioning, proposing product concepts, forming product ideas, and conducting screening. This process is crucial for connecting design with the market. The virtual design space models the product outline formed in the previous phase, simulating, optimizing, evaluating performance, verifying processes, designing, and continuously optimizing manufacturing processes based on iterative design to enhance product design quality. The virtual manufacturing space primarily completes process planning, tool, mold, and equipment selection and design, virtual processing and simulation, and quality inspection, continuously optimizing manufacturing processes. The virtual marketing space completes the entire sales process and conducts logistics simulation, cost, and profit analysis. This product development model starts from market analysis and integrates the achievements of various development, design, and manufacturing units based on a collaborative Product Data Management (PDM) system throughout the entire lifecycle, integrating multiple application software into CAD/CAM/CAE systems to provide a complete virtual design and dynamic simulation process. It avoids the duplication and inconsistency of product parameters, geometric models, computational data, and facilitates sharing and communication among team members, reducing waste and solving a series of problems caused by information asymmetry.
c. Development Environment
The creation of the product (project) virtual development environment can utilize CAD, CAM, CAE tools, engineering knowledge bases, product libraries, and model libraries, applying computer simulation and virtual reality technologies to virtually generate new product concept prototypes, and conducting comprehensive presentations and evaluations through interactive simulation, optimizing the processing, manufacturing, production processes, and costs of virtual products. As shown in Figure 3, the product virtual development environment mainly includes virtual design environments, virtual simulation environments, and PDM systems.
4. Maker Resource Space
Learning resources are an important component of learning spaces. The maker resource space mainly provides resource services for online course creation spaces, virtual experiments, and virtual development spaces. It mainly includes:
(1) Learning Content Space. Learning content can be divided into two categories: one refers to pre-designed online resources for learning, such as textbooks, teaching aids, courseware, lecture notes, project libraries, case libraries, question banks, etc., related to innovation, creation, and entrepreneurship; the other refers to online resources dynamically generated during the learning process, such as course creation class records, achievement sharing, remote collaborative learning, virtual communities, topic discussions, thematic forums, online assignments, personalized learning plans, online Q&A, online evaluations, etc.
(2) Learning Tools Space. This mainly provides support for makers learning knowledge of innovation, creation, and entrepreneurship, including navigation tools, information search tools, interactive tools, real-time recording tools, online dictionaries, simulation tools, learning software, electronic backpacks, and personal learning spaces. For example, the Ai School cloud classroom developed by Tianwen Shumedia is a representative of electronic backpack terminal products that deeply integrates various online subject tools, assessment tools, and statistical tools with classroom teaching activities.
(3) Development Tools Space. This mainly provides virtual equipment and tool resources for makers to develop, design, and manufacture products, as well as open-source software resources. For example, Tsinghua University’s i.Center maker space not only provides physical processing and production resources for student makers but also offers commonly used design tools (CAD, CAM, CAE, etc.), analysis tools, calculation tools, and material resources as cloud desktop services to student makers. At the same time, it guides them to access global online design and manufacturing resources through service platforms, such as sharing problem demands, product ideas, product structures, performance indicators, manufacturing methods, manufacturing processes, model materials, online knowledge bases, and online project libraries, facilitating students’ participation in different levels of maker project training from shallow to deep.
5. Online Service Space
The core value of maker spaces lies not in providing practical venues but in providing innovative and creative services. The online service space mainly supports personalized online mentor services for online course creation spaces and virtual practice spaces, such as course creation guidance, cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial awareness, creation of an entrepreneurial atmosphere, market knowledge, development design, product knowledge, manufacturing processes, production technologies, enterprise management, investment financing, and intellectual property consulting. By selecting experts, entrepreneurs, and course creation teachers with different innovation and entrepreneurship experiences and professional backgrounds as maker mentors, a team of maker mentors is formed, creating a maker mentor database. University student makers encountering difficulties in course creation learning and virtual product development design can receive timely knowledge and technical online guidance services from different maker mentors based on their required knowledge areas, professional requirements, and the stages of product development.
6. Display Sharing Space
The display sharing space provides a platform for makers to showcase and share their product ideas, manufacturing plans, and products (or achievements). For example, university student makers can upload innovative design electronic patterns or 3D views to the display sharing space, fully showcasing products or achievements, sharing knowledge, innovative ideas, practical processes, and insights with each other, and conducting group interactive discussions to promote mutual communication among makers. On one hand, it can help makers identify problems and shortcomings in their innovation processes while discovering others’ strengths to make up for their weaknesses, achieving collaborative creation. On the other hand, through exchanges and collisions between makers and between makers and mentors, new knowledge, new technologies, and new ideas can emerge, and through repeated stimulation, evaluation, reflection, and correction, new knowledge can be constructed and created.
7. Learning Management Space
The learning management space serves as a platform providing management services for the aforementioned six spaces. By interacting and synchronizing with related spaces, sample data from maker learning and mentor guidance can be obtained, generating a learning process management database. Through automatic statistical analysis, it can help makers develop personalized learning plans. First, it involves self-learning management for makers, such as managing personal learning objectives, learning plans, electronic class schedules, learning processes, activity participation, maker practices, and growth process records and statistical analysis. Second, it involves management by course creation teachers or maker mentors regarding makers and the teaching process, such as managing maker activities, electronic student records, learning process management, and management of course creation resources, which helps teachers accurately grasp the learning needs of each maker and subsequently design personalized learning paths and the most suitable learning resources.
4Conclusions and Discussions
(1) Brief Conclusion
1. The online learning space for university student makers is a virtual learning environment supported by a cloud computing center platform, with seven service functions: online course creation, virtual practice, maker resources, maker socialization, online services, display sharing, and learning management. Among these, the cloud computing center platform consists of four layers: IAAS, PAAS, SAAS, and RAAS, with online course creation space and virtual practice space as core spaces, while the other five spaces mainly serve these two core spaces. All spaces are deployed on the cloud computing center platform and packaged as “cloud services” for users. Teachers and students work and learn in the “cloud,” reducing the requirements for terminal devices and lowering the costs of fixed asset investment and updates for schools.
2. The online learning space for university student makers differs from traditional online learning spaces. In addition to traditional functions such as resource sharing, achievement sharing, interaction, and learning management, it also has functions for online course creation learning, virtual experiments and experiences, and product virtual development. It serves not only as a self-learning space for course creation but also as a virtual practice space, a place for makers’ development training, knowledge internalization, and creation.
3. The online learning space for university student makers provides a virtual learning, virtual practice, and creative environment unrestricted by time and space, allowing makers to fully utilize fragmented time for learning and training. It is an extension of maker workshops into online spaces and an expansion of online spaces into practical fields, serving as a beneficial supplement to the lagging physical practical conditions in universities.
4. Product virtual development is a process of developing digital product prototypes in a virtual environment instead of traditional physical products. It is a process of continuous iteration and evolution of product characteristics in a simulation environment, fundamentally changing the traditional development model of design, trial production, modification, mass production, and maintenance. It can not only shorten product development cycles, reduce development costs, and improve development quality but also effectively cultivate university student makers’ practical abilities, creative abilities, and interdisciplinary scientific literacy in a virtual environment.
(2) Discussion
Despite the many advantages of product virtual development and the numerous successful cases in manufacturing enterprises with strong technical capabilities, it is a new trend in modern manufacturing for product development. However, as the system involves various aspects such as human-computer interaction interfaces, frameworks, environments, data, protocols, and software, the system architecture is relatively complex, and the initial investment is significant. Universities face some challenges in establishing virtual development environments that closely resemble real product development processes for practical training of university student makers: first, traditional educational research in universities is not highly integrated with actual product development in enterprises, leading to virtual development systems that are easily detached from practical enterprise needs; second, the technical requirements for virtual development systems vary greatly across different professional fields, increasing the difficulty of system construction; third, the complexity of virtual development systems means not all universities possess the relevant core technologies; fourth, the application of the systems is also complex, requiring a high level of information technology application skills from university student makers. Recommendations include: first, university leaders should place high importance on the construction of online learning spaces and increase investment; second, developing virtual development systems through deep cooperation between universities and enterprises to reduce technical barriers and improve system practicality; third, enhancing students’ information technology application abilities and levels from multiple aspects, such as strengthening course creation learning; and fourth, universities should plan overall and implement in phases based on their conditions, such as initially using digital desktop tools or virtual systems to design digital product models (digital DIY) and sharing design results in open-source communities, gradually expanding to simulations of manufacturing and assembly processes as conditions mature; collaborating with enterprises that have successfully implemented virtual development to develop relevant professional virtual systems based on successful cases, and gradually extending to other majors.
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Author Biography:
Zeng Mingxing: Associate Professor, PhD candidate, research direction in modern educational technology and learning environments.
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