Education 4.0 is bringing education technologists and academics to work together looking for better ways to engage, attract, and retain students. Embracing and adopting different technologies in education is the way to move forward.
3D-printing (3DP) —and its industrial application referred to as additive manufacturing (AM)— is advancing innovation across every industry. According to a report, the global 3D-printing market is expected to grow and reach 15.3 million units of 3D-printers shipped by 2028.
The growing demand responds to prototyping applications from various industries including healthcare, automotive, and aerospace and defense, which are expected to drive global market growth.
In order to fulfill future demands, 3D-printing has to become a key element in all levels of academic and professional research; this will prepare students for a workforce that demands sharp critical thinking and collaboration skills. In the U.S. alone, 3D-printing technologies could create three to five million jobs in the next ten years.
Even though 3D-printing technology has not yet become standard in higher education, its adoption by some colleges and universities has recently been making big waves at a global scale.
Through 3D-printing, educators are able to design rich learning experiences for deeper theoretical constructs, bringing learning from computer screens into students hands. 3D-printing and design allow medical students to print organs, chemistry students can study 3D-printed molecules in detail, graphic design students can create 3D versions of their artworks, history students can print historical artifacts, architecture students can print 3D models of their projects, engineering design students can 3D-print prototypes, and dentistry students can safely advance their endodontics training by 3D-printing teeth to practice procedures like accessing the pulp chamber, root canal enlargement, irrigation, and root canal filling and sealing.
Colleges and universities can collaborate with 3D-printed platforms to advance demo prototypes for simulation classes using software and materials to enhance modeling and training.
Ways 3D-printing is used for higher education:
According to Formlabs, a 3D-printing platform for educators, researchers, and lab managers, there are seven ways that 3D-printing can be used by institutions to create hands-on learning environments, to empower creativity, to prepare students for the workforce, and to develop soft skills:
- Create a hands-on learning environment
- 3D-printing makes learning active, empowering students to use critical thinking skills when creating their models. Engaging students in a hands-on environment supports different learning styles: Both tactile and visual learners benefit greatly from 3D-printing
- Empower creativity and innovation
- Creative skills are paramount to the development of a successful student. Designing models and figuring out how to optimize the 3D-printing process takes students’ creativity to new levels, as well as triggering innovation. When 3D-printing is combined with Virtual Reality (VR) it opens up new avenues for innovation
- Facilitate real-world understanding
- It is important for educators to create opportunities for students to better understand how the skills they obtained can be applied to real-life professional work after graduation. 3D-printing offers an invaluable platform to create real models that allows visualization and touch, such is the case of performing root canal treatment on the samples of 3D-printed teeth models. This enabled remote dentistry education at home during Covid-19
- Prepare for post-graduate plans
- The growth in adoption of 3D-printers will continue to drive demand for 3D design skill sets. Research and Development (R&D), consumer product design, and jobs that involve biology from organs to prosthetics as well as architecture and construction modeling are just a few areas where post-graduates will rely heavily on 3D-printing for prototyping. By learning 3D-printing at school, their job preparedness improves
- Bolster digital engagement
- 3D-printing involves learning other skills other than CAD design and post-processing. Students can learn digital photogrammetry workflow, which involves deriving precise measurements from a set of overlapping photos and converting them into a 3D model using a number of computer algorithms
- Improve problem solving skills
- Students learn to solve problems in the real world. It was 3D-printing that solved the global shortage problem of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students learn how to move from an abstract idea to a 3D-printed object
- Leverage design thinking
- Collaboration is a fundamental component of design thinking. By using 3D-printing, students can collaborate with peers in assigned projects. In group projects, students learn from each other’s perspectives and their different working styles. 3D-printing also encourages students to improve designs based on previous results and feedback received
Formlabs offers free resources for educators to integrate 3D-printing into the classroom or lab.
For other articles regarding the future of higher education, see: