The economics of classroom 3-d printing of open-source digital designs of learning aids

Authors

Nicole Gallup, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Joshua M. Pearce, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-29-2020

Department

Department of Biomedical Engineering; Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics; Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Abstract

While schools struggle financially, capital for purchasing physical learning aids is often cut. To determine if costs could be reduced for learning aids, this study analyzed classroom-based distributed digital manufacturing using 3-D printing of open-source learning aid designs. Learning aid designs are analyzed in detail for their economic viability considering printing and assembly costs with purchased components and compared to equivalent or inferior commercial products available on Amazon. The results show current open-source 3-D printers are capable of manufacturing useful learning aids and that doing so provides high economic savings in the classroom. Overall, the average learning aid would save teachers 86% when fabricating it themselves. The results show that the average design evaluated was downloaded over 1,500 times and the average savings per year per open-source learning aid design was USD 11,822. To date, the 38 learning aid designs evaluated in this study saved over USD 45,000 each and the total of all of them saved the international educational community over USD 1.7 million. It is clear that investing in the development of open-source learning aids for students provides a return on investment (ROI) for investors hoping to improve education, on average, of more than 100%.

Publisher's Statement

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.3390/designs4040050

Publication Title

Designs

Recommended Citation

Gallup, N., & Pearce, J. M. (2020). The economics of classroom 3-d printing of open-source digital designs of learning aids. Designs, 4(4), 1-24. http://doi.org/10.3390/designs4040050
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14409

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Version

Publisher's PDF