With the MakerEDU project, we wanted to create opportunities throughout Europe to train educational professionals as multipliers in the field of making and maker education in order to pass on action-orientated media skills to children and young people. We wanted to develop learning and support programmes for educational professionals in rural areas so that they can work with children and young people in a makerspace in a practical way and without a great deal of preparation to carry out maker activities. The plan was therefore to develop a training manual for educational professionals and make it available digitally. As the number of existing makerspaces is often very low, especially in rural areas, the further plan was to create a catalogue of requirements with a space utilisation concept that would make it easier for stakeholders to set up their own makerspaces in the future. To support the concrete pedagogical work of the specialists on site in the makerspaces, the development of practical instructions on various topics in the field of making was planned, which were also to be made available digitally in several languages.
In an increasingly digitised world, action-oriented media skills are a key competence. It combines the practical with the theoretical acquisition of knowledge and is promoted above all in makerspaces in the sense of 'learning by doing'. Making activities offer the opportunity to actively promote creative skills, provide access to digital technologies and combine them with social interaction. Making thus promotes action-orientated media skills. Despite the boom in making activities, there are clear differences in the development of the maker movement in the EU. In addition to didactic methods, educational professionals in rural areas in particular lack practical teaching and learning materials as well as information on the premises and technical equipment required to set up a makerspace. Appropriate further training and handouts can therefore provide support. Maker education training for teachers in their role as multipliers is particularly important for the future development of rural areas, as otherwise there is a risk of disconnection from urban regions and the marginalisation of social groups.