November 30, Tsinghua News (Reporter WANG Lei)
On November 29, the opening ceremony of ‘Tsinghua Makers Day’ and the first ‘International Maker and Education Forum’ were both held at Tsinghua University. YANG Bin, vice-president of Tsinghua University, attended this event and declared the Tsinghua Makers’ Day official.
Yang Bin, vice-president of Tsinghua University, declaring the Tsinghua Makers’ Day official (Photo courtesy of: ZHANG Yu)
The Chinese phrase ‘Chuangke’ comes from the English word ‘Hacker/Maker’, which refers to anyone who endeavors to turn creativity into reality. The ‘Maker’ spirit highlights creation with open-source, collaboration with sharing, the focus on entrepreneurship with team-work and the emphasis of making dream come true At Tsinghua University, the education of the trio ‘creativity-innovation-entrepreneurship is referred to as ‘Three-creations’ and, in broad sense, participants in ‘Three-creations’ activities are all ‘Makers’. In order to promote the ‘Three-creations’ education, create the atmosphere for Makers, investigate issues and open discussions, lead the development of education, spread the Makers’ spirit, with the aim to benefit from Makers Culture in a broader and deeper way, the last Saturday of November of the year has been chosen to be the Tsinghua Makers’ Day.
A series of activities marked the opening of the first Tsinghua Makers’ Day, including an ‘International Maker and Education Forum’, an ‘International Maker Education Base Alliance Seminar’, the opening ceremony of the ‘Tsinghua University Maker Marathon’, ‘the Makerspace Experience’ and a roadshow of student works, all aiming at developing innovative education system through Makers practice, shaping the future for colleges and universities and further integrating the ‘Maker Culture’ into the university’s education system, by exploring and open discussions on the new educational models featuring innovation and entrepreneurship, the sustainable inter-disciplinary innovation, the flexible talent team building, as well as showcasing the students’ works in the projects.
At the opening ceremony, Mitch ALTMAN, sponsor of the global Makerspace movement said that the maker activities could bring about, not merely good, but radical changes to education. As innovative activities open for everyone to participate in, maker projects encourage innovations that turn creativity into reality, allow students to explore independently, stimulate their interest in innovation and cultivate their creative abilities, making up for the deficiencies of conventional education that ignored interests and hands-on abilities.
According to Professor SUN Hongbin, deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office of Tsinghua University and a prestigious teacher at the national level, the maker practice played an important role in the reform approaches of ‘three-in-one, learning-based, inter-disciplinary integration and diversified growth’. By introducing maker activity and maker concept to universities, maker culture was made closer and approachable to students and became one of the important forms of creative, innovative and entrepreneurial education for students to be part of in a developing process of original products with domestic and foreign top makers. He hoped that Tsinghua University would in the near future cultivate more and more talents full of innovativeness, creativeness and entrepreneurship to be the pillars of our nation of an innovative type.
Mitch ALTMAN, sponsor of the global Makerspace movement delivering a keynote speech at the International Maker and Education Forum
(Photo courtesy of: ZHANG ZhaoYu)
International Maker and Education Forum invited well-known makers from both China and abroad and experts in both teaching and practical fields to discuss the impact of the Maker Movement on education. Mitch ALTMAN, GAO Jian, Vice Dean of Tsinghua School of Economic Management, Berkman, professor of Harvard University, Louis FELIPE from the Center for Internet and Society, ZHANG Lin, associate Professor of the Department of Electronic Engineering and XIANG Fan, associate Professor of the Academy of Art & Design, spoke about global evolution of education and learning methods from the perspectives of society, science and technology, economic development trends, professional investigation of human behavior, electronic engineering education and integration of science, technology and art. Addressing the design of teaching scheme, FU Zhiyong (associate professor of the Academy of Art & Design), Benjamin BACON (professor at New York University Shanghai) and XU Luping (founder of Owl Lab) all shared how to design and implement campus-based learning activities based on Makers movement and how to combine them with the teaching system. WANG Hao, a 2010 graduate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and founder of Phantom shared his experience as a maker and spoke about how maker spirit influenced and inspired methods of learning and thinking.
FU Zhiyong, an associate professor at the Academy of Arts & Design delivering a speech at the International Maker Education Base Alliance Seminar (Photo Courtesy of ZHANG Yu)
There were a number of events prior to the official opening of the forum such as the International Maker Education Base Union Seminar, the announcement of the opening of ‘Tsinghua University Maker Marathon’, the Makerspace Experience and the roadshow of student works. The first International Maker Education Base Alliance Seminar was held at the Fundamental Industrial Training Center of Tsinghua University. Directors of the Engineering Training Centers from some 20 universities and members of the ‘Committee for Engineering Training, Teaching and Guidance of Ministry of Education’ attended the seminar and discussed the leading role played by maker education in engineering innovation. ‘Tsinghua University Maker Marathon’ initiated by the Qinghua Makerspace has become a sustainable mechanism for individual innovation, a stimulus for students’ participation as well as a main subject for learning and practice. Themed ‘Innovation & Remix’, this Maker Marathon event was to be held from December 12th to 14th. Through choosing from challenging and demanding social and industrial needs, integrating cutting edge technologies developed at Tsinghua labs and having design thinking and industrial value as driving force, it was supporting young makers in their pursuit of the dream of changing the world . The ‘Makerspace Experience’ showcased a collection of masterpieces by Tsinghua makers such as the ‘Neighborhood of Urban Trees’, winner of the the first prize and ‘Square Music Box’, team prize winner, in the first China-America Youth Maker Contest, the environmental themed ‘Smart Bird’ and many more.
Tsinghua Makerspace on-site experience (Photo by ZHANG Yu)
The forum adopted an original conference style of a flipped mode by which speakers and attendees were having theme-focused discussions online and offline one week prior to the forum, content of speeches were made available beforehand as videos for preview and attendees were able to gain understanding and ask questions on line in advance. Challengers were able to upload a minute long video of their questions. During the forum, each speaker, after delivering a 5-minute speech, began interacting with challengers close by on selected questions. Following the forum, attendees were able to exchange views both online and offline on topics they were interested in. The flipped mode conference style effectively promoted an in-depth interaction between speakers and attendees.
Forum on Site (Photo Courtesy of ZHANG Zhaoyu)
The forum was sponsored by the Academic Affairs Office of Tsinghua University, co-hosted by iCenter of Fundamental Industrial Training Center, Toyhouse of Industrial Engineering Department and D-Lab of the Academy of Art & Design. It received assistance from the Institute of Urban Visual Planning of the Academy of Art & Design, the publication Modern Education Technology by the Information Technological Center, Tsinghua Makerspace and TEDxTHU Association as well as support from the Management Committee of Zhongguancun Science Park.
