3D Printing

Hey Heeweon, Great post! I agree with Evan that Lehtonen's passion for this venture is clear. After checking out 3DBear's website, they detail that the product is aimed at capitalizing on the 'Maker' movement, whereby students can plan, design, and create their own products using 3DBear's lessons and AR design templates found within their app/software. The uniqueness of implementing 3D printing into their venture is innovative and the global demand of which Lehtonen speaks shows great market potential for 3DBear. His drive to continuously learn and innovate speaks to his character as a potential role model for future or would-be entrepreneurs, as evidenced by ensuring his plastic recycler for 3D printers is open source. His product pitch focuses on improving the quality of education for youth, and well as making it more interactive and fun. The Ultimaker 3D printer showcased in their promo video retails for approximately $4-8K depending on the model. With the advance in 3D printing technology and availability, hopefully the cost of the 3D printers declines such that they can become more widely adopted in learning environments such as those Lehtonen describes. I'm left wondering if their software/app is compatible with any 3D printer...or is limited to a certain brand or type? For the teachers in the group - do your schools currently have 3D printers? Have they been successfully integrated within the school's curriculum/teacher lessons? Thanks again Heeweon for the great read! -Reg

One of the main practical applications that I can see for something like Magic Leap is for simulations in specialized training programs. Other than that, I think that it may be some time before this type of technology becomes widely used for educational purposes. I find it interesting that on the one hand, we have this type of augmented reality, while, concurrently, options for more concrete/tactile fabrication are also multiplying through the growth of 3D printing, etc. For students to access and investigate multiple dimensions of a given object or structure for example, will a holographic version that they can "manipulate" in mid-air win out over, perhaps a miniature version of that same object or structure that they can "print" and hold in their hand? I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts on this.

@courtneyoc, ruddy28 & aviola - Missed your comments at first because they were below the divider on this page. Thanks for your reviews and suggestions for improvements to our OER. We have made the changes as suggested: rearranged the text and video for 4D printing, removed the asterisk in question 2 and justified the alignment of the paragraphs for a more professional look. Courtney, I'm like you in that I did not pay that much attention to 3D printing initially even though I knew it existed. This group project is beneficial for me personally and professionally because it is an eye-opener. Colleen, I agree with you that 4D printing is quite terrifying. The video looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, yet it is real. Thanks, Angela, the Educause site on Makerspaces is very helpful and relevant.