My job is to facilitate the work of makers on our campus - be that help with solid modeling, choice of 3d printer material, or recommended settings for the laser cutter. Next year I will also supervise student workers in our more traditional shop area.
A scratch-built hams radio transmitter when I was 13 years old.
Laser cutter because of the speed and versatility to do art (engraving) and structure (vector cutting). Arduino because it replaces so many hard-to-troubleshoot circuits with a defined low cost architecture.
Becoming proficient in SolidWorks. I'm still working on that. It's like the old joke about "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" (Practice, practice, practice)
Recognition that stuff you make with your hands is more important than stuff you buy in the store.
It's too early to tell. There's a big "social entrepreneurship" push as well and I hope the two work together.
The curriculum is already full in most majors. To add serious skill in tool use, something else has to come out. Nobody on the faculty will vote to delete their favorite course from the curriculum
We're at the point in tool development where non-engineers can do some serious and worthwhile product design. This will bring ideas to the forefront that were previously ignored because the prototypes look incomplete or amateurish.
Get a 3d printer and some modeling software, and start to play.