Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Michigan Tech Prof Posts 3D Printing Course to Wikiversity

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/26/19

A professor at Michigan Technological University has just open-sourced his 3D printing course on Wikiversity. According to Joshua Pearce, an professor of electrical and computer engineering, the course is built around a set of "progressively more challenging exercises" intended to teach students how to work with free 3D design tools OpenSCAD, FreeCAD and Blender, "so they can solve just about any 3D printing design challenges."

The curriculum is being used in an engineering course taught to both undergraduates and graduates to help them understand 3D printing. The difference, according to Pearce, is that he expects the master's students to "do everything the undergraduates do," while almost improving on the do-it-yourself printers and publishing their mods.

Pearce reported that other universities that have adopted some version of the course have either made a 3D printer lab available to students, loaned out 3D printers or had them assemble their own using the JellyBox kit.

The course is openly available on Wikiversity, a Wikimedia project for making learning resources available to all.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Abstract tech background made of printed circuit board

    University of Kentucky Initiative to Advance AI Efforts Across the Campus and State

    The University of Kentucky has launched CATS AI (Commonwealth AI Transdisciplinary Strategy), a campuswide effort aimed at advancing AI across the institution's 17 colleges, libraries, research centers, and institutes; its academic and healthcare enterprises; and throughout the state.

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • top-down view of a collaborative team working on AI technology development

    1EdTech Launches K-20 Collaboration to Shape Responsible AI in Education

    The 1EdTech Consortium recently announced plans to lead a cross-sector collaboration "to define how AI can responsibly and effectively support teaching and learning."

  • abstract coding

    Anthropic's New AI Model Targets Coding, Enterprise Work

    Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.6, introducing a million-token context window and automated agent coordination features as the AI company seeks to expand beyond software development into broader enterprise applications.