Collaborative Research: A Series of Workshops for Developing Shared, Adaptable Teaching Materials for Advanced Manufacturing

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Additive manufacturing, often called 3D printing, allows fabrication of three-dimensional products from computer-based models. These technologies make it possible to fabricate even complex, customized products at affordable prices. They also it possible to produce new products that only a decade ago were considered unproducible. For example, 3D printing with metals now allows engineers to create mesh-based items that weigh less than the same solid item. North Carolina State University, in collaboration with Iowa State University, aims to improve how engineers and technicians learn the principles and skills of additive manufacturing. This project will host a series of workshops to catalyze the creation of a central repository for state-of-the-art curricular materials to facilitate authoring, evaluating, and disseminating materials for advanced manufacturing education. The intention is to develop teaching materials that instructors can customize to meet the needs of their specific course and student population. It is expected that a repository of such materials could significantly reduce costs to students by limiting the need for text books. In addition, these materials may improve student learning outcomes by incorporating specific laboratory hardware and illustrations so that the training is more relevant to the local setting.The investigators have previously developed customizable materials for teaching additive manufacturing and shared them with colleagues. These materials will be used as the foundation for the repository. Each workshop will assemble groups of engineers, technologists, and faculty involved in manufacturing and/or manufacturing education to discuss the use and adoption of these materials. The workshops are intended to: 1) critique the proposed concept of these materials as user adaptable resources; 2) obtain buy-in for a repository from the manufacturing community; and 3) identify early adopters and developers to create a plan to build the repository. Each workshop will last about four hours. Three of the workshops will be held at existing meetings, including two at engineering professional society meetings and one at a technical educators meeting. The final meeting will be held at North Carolina State University and serve to consolidate what was learned from the previous workshops. The expectation is that results of this effort will contribute to increasing the quality and efficiency of advanced manufacturing education. The project focus on development of state-of-the-art curricular materials aligns with the goals of the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program, Engaged Student Learning track.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.