Fab Lab and LRNG on KPBS

By Megan Burks At a maker space in the East Village called Fab Lab, a handful of people squeeze into a small room to watch a laser cut a diamond design from cardboard. It is a prototype for a pendant that will eventually be made out of acrylic. Skylar Pacheco-Rodriguez, 20, and her colleagues are learning to make necklaces for a lesson on modern manufacturing. “We took the things that we drew on paper, transferred it over to the computer, then sent the data to the laser, and it etched out our own image,” Pacheco-Rodriguez said. She drew a cartoon cat with one alien-like eye. “It says my cat’s name, Xochi. She doesn’t have one eye.” When Pacheco-Rodriguez is done with the 13-hour course, she will earn a digital badge — kind of like the ones you sew onto scout uniforms, but for her LinkedIn résumé or Facebook profile. Skylar Pacheco-Rodriguez shows off an etching of a cat named Xochi, March 7, 2017. It is part of an online platform called LRNG that connects people to informal learning experiences in their communities. Connie Yowell, the former director of education at the MacArthur Foundation, developed the concept and is launching the....