TY - GEN
T1 - SUSTAINABLE PROTOTYPING CHALLENGES IN DIGITAL FABRICATION DESIGN EDUCATION
AU - Georgiev, Georgi V.
AU - Milara, Iván Sánchez
AU - Soomro, Sohail Ahmed
AU - Casakin, Hernan
AU - Nanjappan, Vijayakumar
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education: Responsible Innovation for Global Co-Habitation, E and PDE 2023. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Education in digital fabrication design involves an active learning environment where ideas are transformed into prototypes. The way design activities are carried out and the kinds of outputs are all impacted by this environment. Knowledge concerning sustainability practices and how it affects students’ learning and skill acquisition is scarce. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to examine and evaluate learners’ sustainability practices and educational experience in a digital fabrication class. A seven-week first-year university course covered the fundamentals of design and digital fabrication, including electronics design, embedded programming, 2D design, and 3D design. Students were encouraged to create and implement their own ideas by designing and building a physical prototype that interacts with its surroundings. They worked in teams and were required to document their process on a weekly basis. The documentation and the final design prototype were the main deliverables of the course. Sustainability requirements were integrated as evaluation criteria, including the use of sustainable materials, reusing components, building instead of buying, and easy-to-reuse project components. Data collected from student documentation, surveys, and prototypes were analysed to identify sustainable practices and learning aspects. Findings showed that sustainability as a process and sustainability about the final prototype should be addressed differently. This requires timely actions on sustainability by both students and instructors. Intervention programs should be aware of sustainability issues in digital fabrication without compromising design education, iterative prototyping, and learning.
AB - Education in digital fabrication design involves an active learning environment where ideas are transformed into prototypes. The way design activities are carried out and the kinds of outputs are all impacted by this environment. Knowledge concerning sustainability practices and how it affects students’ learning and skill acquisition is scarce. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to examine and evaluate learners’ sustainability practices and educational experience in a digital fabrication class. A seven-week first-year university course covered the fundamentals of design and digital fabrication, including electronics design, embedded programming, 2D design, and 3D design. Students were encouraged to create and implement their own ideas by designing and building a physical prototype that interacts with its surroundings. They worked in teams and were required to document their process on a weekly basis. The documentation and the final design prototype were the main deliverables of the course. Sustainability requirements were integrated as evaluation criteria, including the use of sustainable materials, reusing components, building instead of buying, and easy-to-reuse project components. Data collected from student documentation, surveys, and prototypes were analysed to identify sustainable practices and learning aspects. Findings showed that sustainability as a process and sustainability about the final prototype should be addressed differently. This requires timely actions on sustainability by both students and instructors. Intervention programs should be aware of sustainability issues in digital fabrication without compromising design education, iterative prototyping, and learning.
KW - Digital fabrication
KW - FabLab
KW - makerspaces
KW - prototyping
KW - sustainability practices
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85185723798&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - منشور من مؤتمر
T3 - Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education: Responsible Innovation for Global Co-Habitation, E and PDE 2023
SP - 229
EP - 234
BT - Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education
A2 - Ordonez Pizarro, Isabel
A2 - Sustersic, Paolo
A2 - Buck, Lyndon
A2 - Grierson, Hilary
A2 - Bohemia, Erik
T2 - 25th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, E and PDE 2023
Y2 - 7 September 2023 through 8 September 2023
ER -