Collab Lab 23: The Innovators Next Door

There are a lot of folks in Milwaukee doing interesting things around technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the edges of K-12.  Here’s your chance to meet some of them.

Come explore some ideas with your colleagues at public, private, and charter schools from across greater Milwaukee.

Agenda

5:30 – 6:00 Grab something to eat and drink, say hello

6:00 – 6:30 Introductions

6:30- 8:30 Let’s explore some ideas

Food and beverage will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Guest Facilitator

We are delighted to have Marvin Pope join us to facilitate the session. Marvin’s passion is helping others share their passion through his BU brand. BU-Magazine provides in-depth interviews with individuals to explore their stories and the journey they took to become who they are now. BU-Fashion explores how individuals express themselves through clothing, and BU-Social provides a platform for individuals to connect with others around the passions and ideas that drive them.

Featured Organizations

Among others, you’ll have the chance to meet with

88Nine Labs

88Nine Labs was born from an idea from Radio Milwaukee’s digital director, Tarik Moody, after spearheading a hackathon in the fall of 2017. 88Nine Labs aims to gather people of all backgrounds, ages and professions who have a shared interest in tech to further the understanding of ways we can bridge creativity and technology. To that end, 88Nine Labs runs an ongoing series of hackathons and tech talks.

Brinn Labs

Established in 2013, the Maker Initiatives have helped the Museum become a national leader in the Maker Movement, and Brinn Labs will be home to these and other programs, projects and events:

The Google Making Spaces Hub program – as one of fifteen Google Making Spaces Hub institutions nationwide, Brinn Labs maker-educators works directly with a number of area schools to help them develop makerspaces, including staff training, space design and development, crowdfunding and ongoing programming support.

Maker-Educator Training – with funding from the federal Department of Education and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Brinn Labs has collaborated with the New York Hall of Science and other institutions to develop national training models for K-12 teachers and after-school program staff.

The Be A Maker Teacher Studio – this partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education’s Departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction is dedicated to sharing best practices in maker education.

The Commons

The Commons is a collaboration between a growing network of southeast Wisconsin colleges and universities, our local business community and the region’s entrepreneurs. The program blends student startup ventures with corporate innovation and layers on over 500 mentoring professionals to give students a truly unique, real-world experience.

The Commons is an opportunity for motivated and talented students in Wisconsin to get firmly planted in the region’s growing innovation economy. It’s a chance to apply skills on real-world projects, build professional networks and connect with the community. We run a variety of programming throughout the year and work with students of any school, any year and any degree.

Islands of Brilliance

Islands of Brilliance (IOB) is a learning experience developed specifically for children and young adults on the autism spectrum. Islands of Brilliance utilizes project-based learning which allows students to grow their intrinsic capabilities and practice communication, increasing their likelihood of independence as adults. IOB design workshops create a space for students to explore creativity through the use of technology, during which they learn technical skills and grow confidence in critical social and peer-to-peer interactions. Students are matched one-to-one with mentors—design field professionals—which not only changes public perception of this disability, it also paves the way for future higher education and employment opportunities. An experienced, licensed special education teacher, with paraprofessional support, oversees all workshops.

Kohl’s Innovation Center

The Customer Experience innovation team explores internal and customer facing opportunities to enhance the day to day work Kohl’s does and make for easier, more inspiring experience for our customers. Their approach follows a design thinking methodology that evaluates the problem space from the human perspective first and technology second.

The team crafts future experiences based on research, direct feedback from customers and informed speculation that comes from hands on exploration of technology and the building of testable prototypes. This approach allows Kohl’s to craft a narrative that reflects an accurate portrayal of the customer experience including the interaction model, the customer journey and the emotional state of our subjects.

MIAD Openlab

The openlab is MIAD’s center for emerging technology. It is a place where MIAD students, staff and faculty engage with technologies as they are develop. The purpose of the openlab is to help students learn how to learn to use technology to support their creative practice . All students have full access to the lab, regardless of course of study or discipline. The lab supports 3 types of digital making:

• Rapid Prototyping is the used of computer controlled machines to make three dimensional objects.
• Immersive Technology uses Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to create compelling user experiences through digital display. The openlab has all three of the major VR platforms present in the lab, as well as Microsoft Hololens, ambisonic microphones and 360 degree video cameras with stitching software.
• Physical Computing is the discipline of making interactive and dynamic physical objects using small computers.

UWM’s Immersive Media Lab

The Immersive Media Lab focuses on the technologies and mediums of the future. They’re looking at the emerging field of Extended Reality in connection with other academic disciplines. The lab is an interdisciplinary research space with a mindset that creativity is the denominator between the arts and sciences. Researchers from all over UWM can explore how these new options augment their research through the embodiment of their data, dynamic interactions with the information the data yields, and enhances their efforts through networked collaborative learning.