[Student’s Name 2, Position]
[Student’s Name 3, Position]
[Student’s Name 4, Position]
Proposal
The purpose of our proposal is to request authorization to conduct a research concerning 3D printer, scanner and plotter usage in IRC: to suggest the practices of optimal equipment usage and staff assistance aimed to use equipment properly, to discuss the innovative interdisciplinary methods of technology usage.
Summary
On February 2, 2016, Dr. Mark McBeth, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letter, suggested us to conduct research regarding possible ways of new 3D modelling equipment usage in newly built Integrative Research Center, determine staff knowledge of 3D equipment usage benefits and their willingness to use such equipment in their everyday teaching practices, and present our implications to the College of Arts and Letters and the Univesity administration.
Currently 3D modelling equipment is not planned to be used in IRC. It is generally supposed that in case if such equipment is needed, it will be delivered to IRC on a leasehold basis. We are strongly convinced, that such approach is far from ideal, because, according to our preliminary studies, 3D printer, scanner and plotter will be used on a daily basis by a number of student groups from different Colleges in the University. Therefore, taking such equipment on lease will be not of economic benefit. Moreover, in this case company providing equipment may send us different models of 3D scanners, printers and plotters in different days. This will lead to significant difficulties for staff while learning how to use equipment properly. And finally, it is most important, that ISU students education effectiveness will significantly rise, because 3D modelling equipment will let them visually estimate the results of their studies.
Therefore, Dr. McBeth wanted us to determine the best approach to develop IRC in sense of making 3D modelling equipment available to the University staff and students. Specifically, Dr. McBeth asked us to determine, how such equipment is typically used by universities and colleges across the United States, assess staff’s knowledge of and attitude towards perspective of 3D equipment usage and establish criteria, by which we might choose variants of equipment suitable for our specific needs.
We propose to research possible 3D modelling equipment usage in IRC and present the results to Dr. Kandi Turley-Ames and Dr. McBeth. To perform this task, we would carry out multiple-part research, which would consist of the following issues:
determining general benefits of using 3D equipment according to equipment producers;
identifying best practices of 3D scanner, printers and plotters usage in educational organizations nationwide;
getting information on staff’s awareness with 3D equipment usage and necessity to conduct special training sessions on using equipment for them;
If this proposal is authorized, we would be able to start our research immediately, submitting a progress report to Dr. McBeth on February 25 and a final report with recommendations on March 10. The final report would include the details of our research and recommendations regarding 3D modelling equipment purchase and implementation into educational process.
Introduction
On February 2, 2016, Dr. Mark McBeth, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letter asked us to develop the best course of action for IRC development via purchasing 3D modelling equipment and its further implementation into educational process.
At the moment there is no intention to use 3D equipment on a regular basis in educational process. By default, any necessary equipment not included in equipment purchase plan (to be approved on March 15) will be delivered to IRC on demand on a leasehold basis. This situation is not ideal because we’ve already conducted preliminary study and discovered that, if available, 3D printer, scanner and plotter would be used on a daily basis by numerous student groups of the University. Thus, default equipment usage model is not of economic benefit. From the other side, approach agreed now will certainly cause difficulties in the educational process, because students and staff will have to allocate additional time on examining different models of equipment coming from suppliers (they are not obliged to provide the same models of equipment, when we need it). The most important reason to review approach to equipment usage is that students’ education effectiveness will significantly rise, because 3D modelling equipment will let them visually estimate the results of their studies. According to our preliminary survey, the new equipment will be most useful for Architecture and Furniture Construction Departments.
Therefore, Dr. McBeth suggested us to determine the best usage model of 3D equipment for College students and staff. We suggest to carry out three-part research examining the following problems:
determining general benefits of using 3D equipment according to equipment producers;
identifying best practices of 3D scanner, printers and plotters usage in educational organizations nationwide;
getting information on staff’s awareness with 3D equipment usage and necessity to conduct special training sessions on using equipment for them;
In the following sections we will provide additional details about the proposed tasks as well as our credentials and references.
Proposed tasks
With Dr. Kandi Turley-Ames and Dr. McBeth approval, we would perform the following three tasks to determine the best course of action for 3D equipment purchase and its successful implementation into educational process.
3D printer and scanner are machines that are interacting with computer 3D modelling software in order to perform rapid prototyping. The most common technology used for 3D printing is so called Fused Deposition Modelling (Zamiska, 2013).
There is a number of obvious general advantages of 3D printing and scanning equipment. In most cases researchers and users underline the following benefits:
a few time spent on transforming initial idea to prototype (Yakos, 2014);
reducing development costs (Dale, 2013);
gain advantage in a competition (Dale, 2013);
ability to create prototype in a real world and then transfer it to computer model thanks to 3D scanning (3DScanCo, 2013);
high degree of ready-made product quality control (3DScanCo, 2013).
mitigating risks – in a meaning that specific design can be precisely verified before investing in expensive molding tool (Yakos, 2014);
ability to test customers feedback on the product prototype (Yakos, 2014);
positive effect on ecology thanks to eliminating or almost eliminating generating waste during production (Tamarjan, 2012).
All of these advantages would be studied in details in our research in case of its approval.
3D printing and scanning has a huge potential for attracting more interest from people to studying in schools, colleagues, universities and any other educational establishments of any level. It is especially useful for the people studying STEM disciplines and any kind of modelling disciplines like Architecture, Industrial Design, Furniture Production, Geoinformation System and many others.
This technology generally opens new opportunities for learning, promotes problem solving skills, gives access to materials not available before and, last but not least, brings excitement to educational process (Studica, 2014).
And in such fields of study with high level of abstraction as Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry 3D printers and scanners can be used to vividly depict purely theoretical models in real life (Krassenstein, 2014).
We propose conducting survey among University staff and students, which contains of 5 simple questions about proposed 3D modelling equipment usage. Everyone will also be able to express their own ideas and comments on how such innovation can influence educational process and express possible need for additional training on new equipment usage. In case of our research approval the survey would be held next two weeks in verbal form in the University campus, via e-mail and using College pages in social media.
We would also like to propose organizing visit of staff and students from Architecture Department to the local office of three 3D equipment manufacturers. Such 3D equipment “test drive” is aimed towards further interest attraction to innovative educational methods from both professors and students. Such visits have already been prearranged with 2 out of 3 equipment producers available locally: visits are scheduled on February 19 and February 24 respectively.
Experience
We are students of the 3rd and 4th year specializing in Geoinformational Technology and Architecture with high level of academic performance and perfect understanding of 3D equipment necessity in educational process.
[Student 1 name], 3rd year student specializing in Geoinformation Technologies. Has already conducted three researches in GIS technologies, results of which were recognized as valuable by external assessors and are used now in studying water quality in the region.
[Student 2 name], 3rd year student specializing in Geoinformation Technologies. Has the best academic performance in his class. Last year had internship at 3DScanCo and therefore proficient enough in 3D equipment usage benefits.
[Student 3 name], 4th year student specializing in Architecture. Has several architectural projects completed and realized, one of which was developed with prototype created with 3D printer.
[Student 4 name], 4th year student specializing in Architecture, one of the best students in his group. Has numerous architectural projects developed in 3D modelling software recognized as valuable by industry professionals.
References
Dale, J. (2013, October 14). 6 Benefits in 3D Printing. HH Global: Global Marketing Services. Retrieved February 11, 2016 from http://www.hhglobal.com/blog/6-benefits-of-3d-printing.
How 3D Printing in Education Improves Learning. (2014, March 19). Studica. Retrieved February 11, 2016 from http://www.studica.com/blog/3d-printing-in-education-benefits.
Krassenstein, E. (2014, December 21). Why 3D Printing Needs to Take Off in Schools Around the World. 3DPrint.com. Retrieved February 11, 2016 from http://3dprint.com/27743/3d-printing-benefits-schools/.
Tamarjan, D. (2012, June 26). 9 Benefits of 3D Printing. Augmented Tomorrow. Retrieved February 11, 2016 from http://augmentedtomorrow.com/9-benefits-3d-printing/.
The Printed World (2011, February 10). The Economist. Retrieved February 11, 2016 from http://www.economist.com/node/18114221.
Who Can Benefit from 3D Scanning? (2013). 3DScanCo. Retrieved February 11, 2016 from http://www.3dscanco.com/about/3d-scanning/benefits.cfm.
Yakos, D. (2014, October 20). Top 10 Benefits in 3D Printing. Salient Techonologies. Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://salient-tech.com/3d-printing-technology-for-the-future/top-10-benefits-of-3d-printing/.
Zamiska, P. (2013, October 8). 3D Printer Literature Review. Saluki Engineering Company. Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://engr.siu.edu/ugrad/me495a/F13-3DPR/LiteratureReview.pdf.
