The following poster, created by Bill Derry, Leslie Preddy, and David Loertscher, is known as the uTEC Maker Model. It is an illustration of the path that many individuals and groups take from being users of a system/technology into the tinkering phase, on into the stage of serious experimentation, and finally into the building of an actual creation. 

Text from the poster*:

U for Using:

• Enjoying; Sampling; Engaging; Playing; Participate in or experience what others have created

We are all users and enjoy the creation of others from games to microwaves to cell phones to art and music and the automobiles we drive. We love new models and often want to be the first to own them but we trust the creative approach of the inventor and use the item as intended.

T for Tinker:

• Playing; messing around; Questioning; Researching: Making personal changes to others’ creation

We often become curious or dissatisfied with an invention and start messing around with its purpose or the way it works or we arrange the music or change the game. We might repurpose the item to use it in a different way than the inventor intended.

E for Experimenting

• Building; Trying/Failing; Repurposing: Modifying and testing theories; Learning from failure / success

At this level, we get serious about tinkering and begin experimenting with an idea, invention, musical sound, video technique as we wonder what would happen if… This requires much trial and error, record keeping of what we have tried, thinking, and rethinking..

C for Creating

• Inventing; Producing; Entrepreneurship: Novel product; Ideas; Inventions

The ideas have now come into focus and a product or new item appears as a prototype and ready to push out into the world of ideas, production and demonstration.

My Developing Dispositions:

• • Strategies: Work & Time - organization - Teamwork - Problem Solving - Persistence - Resilience 

  • Actions: Know - imagine - Inquire - Design - Collaborate

  • Roles: Presenter - Mentor - Coach - Communicator - Leader 

*Excerpt from: Loertscher, David V., Leslie Preddy, and Bill Derry. "Makerspaces in the School Library Learning Commons and the uTEC Maker Model," Teacher Librarian, vol. 41, #2, December, 2013, p. 48-51.