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How to Implement 3D Printing in Your Educational Institution

  • By Polar Cloud Academy
  • Published: Feb 22, 2023
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Outline

Don't have 3D printing yet in your school? It might seem overwhelming at first.. how many printers do I need? What type? What accessories? Will they work with our networking setup? Do I need a cart to make them mobile, or some sort of ventilation to keep the students safe? Once we have them, what will the students use them for?

To implement a 3D printing in Education, you need to consider the following steps:

Prepare a lesson plan

What students are going to do with a 3D printer? How often and for what classes? This information is essential for building a good schedule. You can make use of STEAMtrax lessons, or Tinkercad Projects.

Decide on the Number of Printers Needed

Size of your class and assignments involved could greatly contribute to the definition of this number.

Polar Cloud

Addressing Printer Needs - How Many?

When districts standardize printing across all schools by using the Polar Cloud, the Technology Admin is a key decision maker and usually comes in to help make sure there's a successful implementation; importing students, connecting printers, and ensuring ongoing reliability. **Through our years of working with K-12 schools and Universities, we've uncovered 4 key challenges:** Too much of the printing workload is on one person. Teachers do not know what to do with the 3D printers. Teachers were not trained on the printer software or found it difficult to use. Students do not feel like the printers are tools for their use. The Polar Cloud used this feedback to create Job Requests, which involve others and distribute the workload.. to create STEAMtrax NGSS 3D Printing Curriculum Modules, to make a object repository and slicer that's easy for everyone, and share cloud access to the printers!

Think about the type(s) of printers you need.

This largely depends on the lesson plan and type of classes where the printer will work. For example, workshops could use printers of several types of technologies because it gives students an opportunity to apply them together and benefit from each technology. For simple assignments, an FDM 3D printer could be enough as its prints usually have a good ratio of quality of the surface and high reliability.

Is the safety of your concern?

When it comes to little kids, it is important to carefully evaluate the safety level of equipment they will interact with. For example, if there are not enough teachers for the size of the class, an open printer could be a danger. Consider an enclosed building chamber, like the Flashforge Guider, Adventurer, or Dremel 3D45.

How Will Students Access?

Having a 3D printer is entirely different than having a 3D printing program. The Polar Cloud software and a School Site License help you get up and running, give the students access, and ensure continuity over the years, as students and staff come and go.