Finally, this is the last part. 🙂

Teachers from thirteen schools in rural area of Thailand attended a basic fabrication workshop for the first time in 2012.
(Workshop provided by team from DSIL FabLab@School, Bangkok.)

Conclusion

This paper has discussed the perspective of how people’s interaction in the FabLab learning environment clearly shows that we need new vision and attitude about the role and responsibilities of the teacher. Instead of focusing on content area and thinking of how to “deliver” it, the teacher should rather focus on having the right interaction and atmosphere which would have a better chance of triggering self-directed learning in students. The decentralization of power, freedom and knowledge requires teachers to “relearn” how to act differently in order to make the most out of such a “learning-rich” environment.

One of the major changes for teachers would be for them to become “learners.” This is not to demote the teaching profession but as Lave and Wenger(1991) suggest, “everyone can to some degree be considered a “newcomer” to the future of a changing community.” The existing world is so dynamic and involves so many rapid changes, I would argue that with the rich internet infrastructure and widely accessible knowledge resources, the role of the 21st century teacher is no longer to provide content, but rather to model the character of a life-long learner, who strives to grow in an ever-changing world. I would like to end this paper with a quote from Senge, Cambron-McCabe, Lucas, Smith and Dutton (2012) from a book called Schools That Learn:

“Throughout our lives, as we move from setting to setting, we encounter novelty and new challenges, small and large. If we are ready for them, living and learning become inseparable.” (p.4)

I wish to see a country that embraces the “making and learning” lab and sees it as an opportunity to make changes in the system in order to sustain such learning environments. I am convinced that would make going to school so much more appealing to students and teachers alike.

end of note.