Home¶
Welcome to my Fabricademy journey... I am an artisan and educator focused on making and maker-centered learning programs and workshops that broaden access to makerspaces and inclusive STEAM learning experiences. Combining art and STEM through textiles and technology is my happy place. Fabricademy feels like coming home.
- Design portfolio: Educational User Experience Design — Maker Education, Universal Design for Learning, and Early Works for WGBH Educational Foundation
- LinkedIn: Kim Ducharme
Background¶
I spent the majority of my professional career designing educational experiences. At WGBH, a national broadcasting and production station (similar to the BBC), I led the Interactive Design Group in creating companion learning experiences for major national broadcast programs. As Director of Educational User Experience Design at CAST, an education research and development organization and pioneer of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), I led the experience design group to develop inclusive learning experiences and digital tools that proactively embrace learner variability.
I began sewing at age nine and have been doing art informally for years. I have degrees in Biology (BS), design (BFA), and education (M.Ed).
Motivation¶
One of my last projects at CAST was as a co-principal investigator (Co-PI) for the NSF-funded Multigen Makers project in affordable housing. Our goal was to create a sustainable, community-led model that empowers leadership from within and fosters local partnerships. I was responsible for co-designing and setting up the makerspace, and developing and running the program – from staffing and training to designing programming and facilitating maker activities to writing a how-to playbook. Here are two noteworthy outcomes of this work:
- Multigen Makers Playbook — guides like-minded communities in co-creating a makerspace program of their own
- Maker education: Access to creative learning and creative work — a paper I published in collaboration with Fab Lab’ers Santi Fuentemilla and Xavier Dominguez, plus Stephanie Santoso and Sam Johnston. Citation: Ducharme, K., Santoso, S., Johnston, S. C., Domínguez, X., & Fuentemilla, S. (2026). Maker education: Access to creative learning and creative work. International Journal of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. 1(2). https://doi.org/10.34874/PRSM.ijududl-vol1iss2.5945
It is the most rewarding, meaningful, and impactful work I have ever done. As such, I decided to leave CAST and turn to making and maker education full time. In 2023, I joined Artisans Asylum, a 52,000 sq ft makerspace wonderland in Boston.
I hope the Fabricademy program will catalyze my personal projects and open up more Maker Ed opportunities. Let’s go!
Fabricademy Units / Assignments¶
 Project management |
 Digital bodies |
 Circular Fashion |
| BioChromes |
 E-textiles |
 Computational Couture |
| BioFabricating Materials |
 Soft robotics |
 Wearables |
| Textile Scaffold |
Open Source Hardware |
Skin Interfaces |
In the Implications and applications week I will propose my final project.