Kirsten Rassmus-Gröhn and Charlotte Magnusson from Lund University

Digital material and 3D-prints in education – separate or combined?

Guidelines and ideas for educational material

The move to digital technology in many aspects of life has also affected how school material is used and produced. In the lower classes, the high focus on visual design and hand-eye-coordination in learning apps (like spelling apps, apps for learning multiplication tables) excludes children with visual impairments. At the same time, although there are a lot of opportunities, and you start to see more and more applications of how to use 3D printers in society, it is as yet uncommon that they are systematically used for creating tactile materials for pupils in school.   

During 2015 Lund University together with the National l Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools, Sweden conducted investigations about the use of 3D prints and digital apps as curricular material in schools, particularly for children with visual impairment. The goal has been to collect knowledge about technologies per se and to generate ideas, examples, recommendations and guidelines. In both the cases with apps and 3D prints, it is not a matter of simply translating information – designing apps, 3D prints and exercises to work for visually impaired users. The non-visual modalities need to be included in the design right from the start.

The speakers will give you guidelines for creating 3D models and apps for education. They will show good examples of educational material: apps, 3D prints and combinations of physical/digital material. You will learn how digital information can be combined with 3D prints through apps, homepages and NFC tags.

Kirsten Rassmus-Gröhn, Design Sciences, Lund University
Charlotte Magnusson, Design Sciences, Lund University
Johanna Rydeman, Design Sciences, Lund University
Gustav Knape
Anders Eklund, SPSM