Case Study: Massachusetts Institute of Technology elevates makerspace access for 2,800+ learners with Softr

How Softr has been instrumental in elevating MIT's hands-on learning experience

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) needed a more adaptable and user-friendly learning platform for Project Manus, its campus makerspace initiative. The original custom Ruby on Rails maker portal made rapid changes difficult because updates required a developer, so MIT turned to Softr and Airtable to create a more flexible portal for its makerspace community.

With Softr, MIT built a data-driven maker portal integrated with Airtable and the university’s SSO, serving makers, technicians, faculty, managers, and admins. The new Softr-powered app launched in under three months, now supports 2,800+ registered users, and replaced a custom-coded solution that had cost over $100K to build and maintain.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Oliver Thomas

Maker Digital Systems Architect