What is Authentic Audience

This chapter uses an equity lens to examine learning in makerspaces with a focus on the role that literacies and technologies play in these spaces. The authors examine ways that makerspaces bridge formal and informal learning and serve as important contexts for community building and mentorship. This piece includes a review of the literature aimed at building a deeper understanding of the principles that underlie literacies practices, collaboration, and learning engagement. Critical perspectives address the need to center equity and inclusion at the core of these learning environments. The authors offer principles and recommendations for designing, organizing, expanding, and sustaining learning-through-making opportunities for all learners.