What DIY Means To Us?

Liam Burdett

DIY Thoughts

When I think of DIY learning, the first thing I think of is those "...for dummies" books from the bookstore. I always wondered as a kid why people who bought those didn't just ask their parents or friends for help, then I started living with roommates and I understood why they bought the books. There are plenty of times in our lives in which we can't wait around and ask for help, otherwise we'd be waiting around forever in most cases. With the world at our fingertips, we can pretty much DIY any simple to somewhat complicated task.

My Examples

In terms of hands-on DIY projects, my go-to is to YouTube search whatever I'm doing immediately. Whether it's changing my car headlight, replacing a kitchen faucet, or troubleshooting my computer, YouTube is always my first bet. DIY isn't just hands-on projects, as the process of acquiring knowledge through my own search terms for research essays is inherently a DIY process too.

Katherine Johns

My experience with DIY

During my undergrad, I used KhanAcademy to supplement my math courses. I would look up concepts that I had forgotten or that I did not fully understand from the course material alone. Was I DIY learning?

I have learnt recipes and crafts from YouTube videos. Was this DIY learning? Or was this a different, more general form of DIY?

What is DIY learning?

For me, DIY learning is learning on your own terms. You decide the subject and skills you want to learn. You decide the questions you want answered. You decide the mode you want to learn - video, text, games.

Learning a new skill, supplementing my courses - it is all learning on my own terms, and therefore with my definition, it was all DIY learning. To a small degree, I engage in DIY learning everyday.

Olivia Tarasewicz

What DIY learning means to me

• DIY learning means taking charge of what you want to learn and how you are going to learn it. It is learning on your own terms.

• I am fascinated by the counterculture attitudes and ethics of DIY movements. When the mainstream cannot provide what people need, people create their own opportunities and communities to learn.

• DIY learning is empowering, social, and fun!

My DIY experiences

• My DIY forays include learning arts and crafts, culinary skills, and life skills.

Mitchell Way

Proud DIY Accomplishments

• DIY Learning Teacher - Core curriculum in Design Thinking with more content than I could ever know. Students are great at learning to learn when good problems are put in front of them.

• Makerspace on steroids - I teach Robotics which is a discipline that involves 3D Printing, Laser-cutting, and learning how the systems that engineers have made to make our lives better function. People bring us things to fix and we research how to do it, and then fix them (most of the time). I am not an engineer (literally trained as a PE teacher) and so everything I do in my teaching life is DIY Learning.

• DIY Automotive - Replaced brakes, wheel bearings, and oil in a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix. Also did a front bumper repaint and replacement.

My thoughts on DIY learning:

• The ability to pull up a tutorial instantly and just-in-time to address a need is something that we have barely scratched the surface of. This coming generation has only every known a world where YouTube can literally teach them whatever they need as they need it. I'm excited for what this means as we may be training the most neural-plastic generation yet, albeit a group prone to distraction.