Facilitating critical reflection in online distributed maker workshops: Case studies

The global pandemic has brought numerous challenges for designers, researchers, and practitioners whose work involves children and new technologies. While many of us have found creative ways to address the obstacles of facilitating activities with children remotely, inciting critical reflection through making, which is already difficult in in-person settings, has become an even greater challenge in online distributed settings. This paper reports on the lessons learned from two two-week online afterschool maker workshops where participants in remote locations engaged in critical reflections on ethical implications of biowearable technologies through designing a biowearable device that benefits their own lives. The results showed preliminary evidence that participants were able to produce a prototype and engaged in critical reflection on the ethical issues of biowearables. We also found that while online environments offer limited social cues and flexibility, access to multiple communication channels enabled just-in-time and situated facilitation for critical reflection.