Not sure this is news worthy, but it does point to an interesting development.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/10738411.Ladybridge_teacher_aims_to_become_country_s_best_3D_printing_tutor/
Honestly, better software, better hardware, better design will eventually eliminate the need for a “tutor” in most cases. Marlin now has auto-bed leveling, and as soon as it’s a regular occurrence in kits, that’s suddenly another thing people don’t have to worry about.
@ThantiK Agree with you completely - I’m amazed and enthused by 3D printing and I’m doing plenty of research on what I can do with them in my particular niche… I’ve never really touched one; With services like Shapeways, Joe-Public (me included) has access the the best printers on the market and this kind of penetration and investment is only going to get better.
I think if he really wants to teach 3D printing then you just need to teach what’s possible, teach CAD skills and give kids money to go wild with it.
I still disagree that every home will have one in 10 years, unless you can print plastics, circuits, biologicals and food from a single unit, oh and it’s less than £1000… chances are??
@ThantiK @nathan_burley 3d printers are being put into UK classrooms and being used as part of the Materials side of CDT.
He’s only saying what the government are planning here.
I know this as fact as I work in education that’s what perked my interest in printing as this is being rolled out over the next 3 years.
@Nigel_Dickinson I don’t think that’s a bad thing that printers are heading for schools - far from it.
My issue is with the approach the UK government has taken to similar technology shifts in recent history (see ICT): it teaches kids how to be consumers and not producers. We were taught ICT at school as a standard, I had no opportunity to study coding until I was in A-Levels (17!). That put my way behind and made me think it had to be difficult. Perhaps it was the time I grew and things have changed (not according to Eric Schmidt among others mind). As of this approach, I was one of about 30 kids in my year of 250 who was capable of writing a macro for Excel as opposed to just using it to monitor my wages. A macro for crying out load, we’re not talking rocket science but the vast majority of kids in my year had, and likely still have, no idea what they are or how to use them.
I just hope they teach kids the skills to really use these printers (like CAD and engineering) and use them as a springboard to get them into engineering disciplines. That way, 10 years from now we might actually have a population who are generally capable of using 3D printers to design and produce their ideas with no more apprehension than today’s average teenager would have over bashing out a facebook post or youtube video.
…please tell me if I’m massively misinformed (for once I do hope I am. It would be great to know that kids today get a lot more focus on science and engineering in order to help them realise how amazing it really is!).
Well coding is now coming in to.
Thanks to Pi.
Things are changing but CDT teachers tend not to have support from TAs as they tend to be academics. Lol im the opposite.
And printers and Pi are across all ages. Kicks the big M in the nuts and kids will see there’s really opportunity to code like when I had my first computer the ZX81.