AR & 3D
Design in Education
AR & 3D Design in the classroom
This workshop entailed completing tutorials and creating a final 3D design using Tinkercad. As alluded to by the reading that accompanied this workshop, the development of designs in the digital realm facilitates meaningful learning by increasing student control and appealing to multi-modal learning (Radu et al., 2010). In other words, empowering students through the incorporation of 3D design and augmented reality platforms into curricula leads to a more immersive learning experience for them.
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Through this workshop I learned how powerful a tool freely available AR & 3D resources are, and saw their potential realized for educational purposes. The 3D design I created is depicted below.
Initially I was thinking of doing the free choice activity, but I found the freedom a bit paralyzing, not knowing how to relate a YouTube channel to AR, for example. So in the end, I went with the 3D design offered, and I don't regret it at all. What a great piece of freeware! I love playing around with it.
The different physics of the space contributed to the learning curve mentioned as a limitation in our reading, but overall I found the tutorial very helpful an the controls very intuitive. Especially the undo redo options haha.
Giving shape to seemingly physical forms so easily really made me want to learn more about this and the bridge between this and reality - namely 3D printing. What a great skill for students! To be able to see a creation move from the conceptual to the real with no eraser marks, no wasted art material, is such a game changer in education.
As Radu et al. (2010) pointed out, it's true that the initial costs can be high (especially if you include 3D printers/materials), but Tinkercad is a great example of how the democratization of technology is lessening those costs, and the benefit to students and teachers alike are undeniable. The plethora of 3D design and AR platforms and technologies often freely available provide students with opportunities to observe and work with, to make real, creations the constituent parts of which the students might otherwise never have access to. More importantly, they engage students and satisfy their thirst for interesting experience by providing rich, contextually-relevant information (Radu et al., 2010).
References
Radu, I., Zheng, R., & Golubski, G., & Guzdial, M. (2010). Augmented reality in the future of education. CHI 2010. Boston, USA.
