Remote Learners, Home Makers: How Digital Fabrication Was Taught Online During a Pandemic

TL;DR

This study explores how digital fabrication courses transitioned online during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting new opportunities and challenges in remote learning environments.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of remote digital fabrication education during the pandemic, emphasizing the role of hobbyist equipment, social networks, and equity considerations.

Findings

Remote digital fabrication enabled more iteration and machine tuning.

Access to tools was less critical than opportunities for iteration.

Remote fabrication exacerbated student inequities.

Abstract

Digital fabrication courses that relied on physical makerspaces were severely disrupted by COVID-19. As universities shut down in Spring 2020, instructors developed new models for digital fabrication at a distance. Through interviews with faculty and students and examination of course materials, we recount the experiences of eight remote digital fabrication courses. We found that learning with hobbyist equipment and online social networks could emulate using industrial equipment in shared workshops. Furthermore, at-home digital fabrication offered unique learning opportunities including more iteration, machine tuning, and maintenance. These opportunities depended on new forms of labor and varied based on student living situations. Our findings have implications for remote and in-person digital fabrication instruction. They indicate how access to tools was important, but not as critical as providing opportunities for iteration; they show how remote fabrication exacerbated student inequities; and they suggest strategies for evaluating trade-offs in remote fabrication models with respect to learning objectives.