Anna Engelke connects learning, tech at BeAM
She was in the first cohort of the master’s program in educational innovation, technology and entrepreneurship at the UNC School of Education.
When Anna Engelke ’10, ’17 (MA) joined the inaugural cohort of the Master of Arts in educational innovation, technology and entrepreneurship program in 2016, she wasn’t just pursuing a new degree — she was seeking answers to her questions about technology and teaching. Today, Engelke’s work at Carolina’s BeAM makerspaces reflects the interdisciplinary mindset she cultivated in MEITE and now fosters in others across campus.
Engelke first discovered teaching could be conversational and relational when she interned at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, guiding groups through hands-on lab activities. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, Engelke became program manager for tinkering and technology education at the museum, where she developed technology-based programs for learners of all ages.
“I felt like I was very good at teaching, but I didn’t understand why,” Engelke said. “I knew some things worked; some things didn’t. I could iterate my way into it, but I needed more guidance. I needed more language.”
Almost on cue, a co-worker sent her a flyer for a new master’s program at the UNC School of Education — one that aligned perfectly with her interests in technology, educational research and design thinking. It was the combination of that flyer and her desire to better understand her intuitive approach to teaching that led her to MEITE.
“It was a very scary decision to make the leap and leave this place that I loved, my first real job,” Engelke said. “But the program was so exciting and interesting to me that I thought, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s try it.’”
An experiment in education
For Engelke, joining MEITE’s inaugural cohort was its own kind of experiment. She and her classmates explored their interests, shaped their own curriculum and helped lay the groundwork for the program’s future.
“I had been working until then and had a good sense of what my strengths and weaknesses were,” Engelke said. “I was able to work collaboratively with the faculty to ask, ‘How do I round myself out as a professional, as an educator? What do I want to learn from this experience?’”
She took classes at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and the College of Arts and Sciences’ computer science department as well as the UNC School of Education. She even went beyond the Carolina campus through an inter-institutional agreement with Duke University.
“The program gave me access to classes that were helping me understand the theoretical basis for why iteration and reflection were important in education.”
Creating spaces for collaboration
After graduating from MEITE in 2017, Engelke joined BeAM makerspaces, Carolina’s network of open-access creative spaces featuring technologies like 3D printers, laser cutters and digital embroidery. As program coordinator, she partnered with faculty across 30 departments to integrate design into courses, connecting subjects like classics and physics with technology and making.
The interdisciplinary skills she developed in MEITE gave her the foundation to thrive in a space where disciplines intersect every day.
“An element of integrating makerspaces into course design is recognizing that I don’t need to know everything about a subject,” said Engelke, now BeAM’s education program manager. “If I work with faculty in that field and draw on what I know about design, making and how people learn from the MEITE program, I can collaborate with them to create a high-impact project that helps students learn.”
