Contextual Background (50 words)
The 3D Workshop is open access; we are not course aligned and can be used by students from any course, year, or technical ability. Courses will brief students differently – some emphasize experimentation through process and some are only interested in final outcome, which affects students expectations of the space. (49 words)
Evaluation (100 words)
Our main need from students for them to access the space is to ensure they have completed their inductions, where we pass on crucial health and safety information, fire safety information, and outline what processes we have in the workshop. To get around the bottlenecks of fully booked inductions limiting access to the space, all our inductions have been moved to Moodle. This allows students to work through the information at their own time and pace, and translate what they might not understand, however some will still rapidly click through so it is hard to make sure that all information sticks. (101 words)
Moving forwards (350 words)
Our inductions are possibly too lengthy – students must first pass a health and safety induction, then additional inductions for each service, eg laser cutting, 3d printing, etc. It’s a balancing act between not wanting to overwhelm with information, vs giving them the max amount of info possible so they can plan their project.
I do think that there is the opportunity to simplify the inductions down – condensing information to just key points, as most students do need to talk through their questions when they come to the workshop anyway. For instance, instead of having 3 separate inductions for the 3 separate types of 3d printing, there could be one induction that gives an overview on the types of 3d printing, and then the detailed information about each printer type can be housed on ‘learn more’ pages.
However, despite the somewhat overwhelming amount of information and inductions students have to complete, we have received mostly positive feedback about it. These new Moodle inductions are interactive and full of visual examples, compared to our old inductions on ORB which were mostly text based. The changeover has been a bit confusing in terms of communication, with many students still being told by their tutors to complete the inductions on ORB which no longer exist. I think better communication between academic and technical could improve this going forward – this is beyond me as one technician but I think it should have been communicated better to academic staff so that they are able to pass on the correct information.
Finally, due to the confusion created by some workshops having in person inductions, we do still get a number of students asking for in person inductions. In my area – 3D printing – this would mostly consist of showing examples of 3d printed projects, and walking students through file setup. This is what we do during their booked timeslots, however if the nerves of turning up to a booking having never done something before is putting people off then I believe we could run a few trial in-person 3D printing inductions and see how successful they are. (350 words)