2. The Introduction of 3D Printing Technology into the Teaching Studio
Student centred learning and the importance of empowerment, as discussed in Weimer’s seminal work on changing the balance of power in the classroom in higher education [
2], is at the heart of bringing 3D printing into the Product Design studio. Fundamentally, 3D printing creates a direct link between a 3D-computer-based model and the formation of an accurate object from that model. Before anything else is considered, the direct linking of object making to computer based modelling immediately changes the relationship of the student to making.
For anyone unfamiliar with the technology, 3D printing developed from rapid prototyping into a range of processes technically known as additive manufacturing as they all build objects up in layers and are not dependent on preformed moulds or tooling. The desktop fused deposition modeller (FDM) in
Figure 1 is the most basic form of the technology. It extrudes an engineering grade polymer, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene at approximately 0.2 mm suitable for practical use. The polymer is heated to over 220 degrees Celsius (with the platform is heated to around 100 degrees Celsius) so that each successive layer adheres to the one before. Although it is a slow process, students are engaged by it. As an example,
Figure 2 shows a speaker housing that a first year student at Griffith University designed, modelled, and printed on a desktop FDM, outside of set assignment work, within weeks of learning the basics of the technology.
Figure 1.
‘Up’ desktop 3D Printer.
Figure 1.
‘Up’ desktop 3D Printer.
Figure 2.
Housing for functional speaker 3D printed by first year student, Troy Baverstock.
Figure 2.
Housing for functional speaker 3D printed by first year student, Troy Baverstock.
Learning by making has a long established history in design education as products have to be taken beyond concepts, through an iterative process of testing and development [
3] into a reality that can withstand the rigours of functional, as well as aesthetic roles once they are commercially manufactured. However, in recent years, workshop practice in higher education has been losing traction both with faculty because of high running costs and increased liabilities [
4], and with the students themselves because of a lack of enthusiasm for spending time in the workshop environment. For a generation that has predominantly been brought up immersed in a virtual world, where, in a single internet minute, there are around 609,800 gigabytes of data transferred, 204 million emails sent, 2.5 million searches undertaken, 3000 photographs uploaded, and 100,000 tweets [
5], physical workshops are likely to be more alien environments than for previous generations. For Product Design education, the corresponding rise in 3D-computer-based modelling to its current level of sophistication has added to that disconnect, with students drawn to the more familiar workspace. As 3D-computer-modelling has developed, the proportion of time the student spends in the virtual environment has increased, taking time away from the studio and from practical workshops. By linking a form of physical making directly to the 3D virtual environment, 3D printing builds on that computer confidence, rather than works outside of it. This has been observed in examples of practice at Griffith University. There is a contrast between first year visual, physical product design models built in modelling foam in the workshop (previously the only option for creating quick sketch models for design development for ergonomics for example), and the complex objects created with 3D printing, such as those shown in
Figure 3, created by first year students in 2013. Three-dimensional printing enables the students to realize the sophisticated models they imagine, based on their expertise in 3D computer-based modelling, not based on their skills in the traditional workshop.
Figure 3.
Examples of first year sketch models 3D printed in class that would be too difficult to sculpt in conventional model making foam (a) Matt Deshon (b) Dave Haggerty.
Figure 3.
Examples of first year sketch models 3D printed in class that would be too difficult to sculpt in conventional model making foam (a) Matt Deshon (b) Dave Haggerty.
Whilst this could be expected to further distance students from conventional workshop practice, this has not been the case [
6]. Reconnected to making, and with confidence in their ability to create physical objects from concepts, students are then able to be bridged into workshop practice through activities such as jig making, which engage them critically, rather than through conventional introductory workshop skills.
In the design studio, 3D printing fundamentally reconnects students to objects and the reality of their work, which is topical as one of the most significant issues for design in higher education over the last ten years has been the breakdown of traditional studio practice [
7] and the fragmentation of process. Design is an iterative process [
8] where students develop concepts through research, reflection, drawing, studio model making, and workshop prototyping. Workshops have been integral to design learning, as without hands-on experimentation as part of design development it is difficult for students to develop the understanding of material characteristics and behaviours necessary to translate concepts into reality. Although there are still exceptions, such as in Product Design studio practice at Stanford [
9], modularisation of the curriculum has tended to separate out workshop and studio. In addition, since the late 1990s, computer based 3D modelling software has grown in sophistication to a point where virtual models can be assigned material properties and tested. Concepts can, to an extent, be explored on a design level during 3D computer based modelling, and the opportunities afforded by techniques, such as generative modelling influence design thinking. Computer aided design (CAD) should therefore no longer be considered a documentation tool added to the end of design process, but rather be viewed as part of design development and integrated into it.
At Griffith University, in the first year design studio, a new workspace has been developed over the last three years that was formerly introduced in 2013, based on the idea of eMaking. The aim has been to reconnect studio, CAD and workshop but also to design a workspace that is based on designing now, as opposed to historical practice, with group work and Internet based communication essential and constant access to resources on the web and online learning content as a requirement.
Figure 4.
Combining studio practice, online research, 3D-computer-based learning and digital fabrication through 3D printing for iterative design process, and group work for design students.
Figure 4.
Combining studio practice, online research, 3D-computer-based learning and digital fabrication through 3D printing for iterative design process, and group work for design students.
Ramsden states, “A focus on collaborative, supportive and purposeful leadership for teaching is associated with a culture of strong teamwork and student-focused approaches” [
10]. By creating eMaking studio facilities as digital hubs, students can discuss and develop ideas on screen and through the physicality of form and structure more easily. By creating table space and floor space around the idea of a ‘digital pod’ (see first year Product Design students at work in the studio in
Figure 4), students can work seamlessly between drawing, sketch modelling, online research, computer modelling, and digital fabrication, in a learning cycle that moves their design thinking forward with more self determination. This new form of digital design studio places the student very much in the centre of their own learning with the facilities to work iteratively both on their own designs and in groups.
5. Conclusions
Since 2010, when online service providers began operating effectively, Griffith has introduced 3D printing into the product design curriculum, with the first desktop printers brought into the design studio in 2011. The printers initially appeared to have limited use and potentially very little impact on pedagogy. However, their impact at Griffith cannot be compared to adding the facility for a conventional technology, such as rotational moulding, as 3D printing has not remained as an isolated technology. The practical action research project, run during 2013 to explore changing practice in the design studio, through the introduction of an eLearning strategy based on eMaking, was as a specific response to the changing role of the product designer with 3D printing in conjunction with Web 2.0. Whilst there has been considerable educational research into the use of 3D printing as a visualisation tool in education, for example in the study of mathematics as illustrated by the work of Segerman on the visualisation of equations [
24], this study has demonstrated how the technologies support new educational approaches for student centred design eLearning both in the physical studio and as part of the broader design community.
According to Dee Fink, in his text on creating significant learning experiences; “When teachers want students to enhance their human interaction capabilities, they have to find ways to help them become more self-aware and other-aware in relation to the subjects being studied” [
25]. eMaking has been shown in this study to provide the lecturer with new ways to create appropriately significant learning opportunities for the current generation of students, to aid deep learning that changes their perspectives. For designers, creating proactive, lifelong learners is central because design involves applying process to practice in new situations with each new design brief. Graduates need to be able to scope a project through initial and self-initiated research, frame a design problem, construct a design brief and map a design development process fed by directed research that they themselves identify. Prescribed projects do not support the student in learning this approach. Shifting the balance of power, enabling proactive, lifelong learners–self-directed and self-motivated–is as vital in design education as is possible for any discipline.
As, fundamentally, 3D printing is being heralded as ‘Industrial Revolution 2.0’ [
21] due to its impact, not only on commercial design and production practices, but also on business practices and distribution - and education. Its applications are not limited to one discipline and, thus, the myriad of projects it affects are too numerous, and the speed with which its influence is spreading is too fast, for a lecturer to track. This study has found that students do bring new examples to the attention of their peers and the lecturer on a daily basis. The lecturer role shifts to facilitator in a studio environment where the responsibility for providing information to the group is shared by the students, where advances in the technology are news to the lecturer and student at the same time, and the student can fact check or supplement any statements made by the lecturer online.
Dee Fink [
25] challenges that a rethink of approach is required by faculty in response to the current realities of learning: “Making holistic, multidimensional changes in the way educational programs are created and supported, modifying traditional procedures related to faculty work and to the evaluation of teaching, establishing new centres for instructional development, and coordinating student development with faculty development will require time, energy and commitment” and argues for the benefits of creating additional and innovative learning opportunities: “When a teacher finds a way to help students achieve one kind of learning, this can in fact enhance, not decrease, student achievement in the other kinds of learning.” eMaking as part of an eLearning strategy will require the lecturer to operate differently than in conventional learning, but if designed with the aim to improve the wellbeing of students and lecturers has the potential to bring a range of learning benefits from changed practice. Rethinking learning with eMaking is not only driven by the development of making skills, or even design skills that stretch into systems thinking, but also transferable skills, such as cultural understanding and the ability to map and engage with proactive learning. Beyond that, it connects students to new developments that are radically rewriting their discipline and introduces it in an accessible way. Far more than for other areas of design, 3D printing and eMaking is providing the opportunity–even necessity–for a shift in practice that ensures the student is at the centre of their learning, in control of their learning, and a proactive partner in creating and supporting the learning environment.