21st Century Students – Promoting Digital Manufacturing and Design (DM&D) in Schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

21st Century Students – Promoting Digital Manufacturing and Design (DM&D) in Schools

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

CONTEXT
As we embark further into the fourth industrial revolution, manufacturing companies are rapidly harnessing revolutionary digital design, fabrication, and automation technologies. Cutting edge & new manufacturing techniques and tools are continuously being introduced into industry, putting pressure on educators to remain agile & industry relevant. This gap between education & jobs is exacerbated by limited innovation in learning systems & inability to keep up with the pace of advances in industry. Without action, the next generation will be unprepared for the needs of the future, creating risks for both productivity & social cohesion.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), there is a growing disconnect between education systems & labour markets and many of today’s children will work in new job types that do not yet exist. Subsequently, they have launched the ‘Education 4.0’ initiative calling for all school’s stakeholders to take action in transforming primary & secondary education as a response to Industry 4.0. Moving forward we must focus on shifting the content of learning & the mechanisms by which it is delivered to more closely mirror the needs of the future, & upskill teachers as the key stakeholder whose adaptation has a multiplier effect on the next generation.The 21st Century students project is grounded on the premise that students of all abilities can improve their STEM skills through digital manufacturing & design (DM&D), in response to Industry 4.0, & in order to create young people who are ready for a digital-driven world of work. The project will foster the creativity and innovation skills of pupils through hands-on and technology-based digital manufacturing tools to drive STEM education in non-traditional ways. It will promote teaching experiences that are aligned to the modern workplace, by creating similar environments through the use of technologies and tools that are endemic to Industry 4.0.

OBJECTIVES
The primary target group for the project is Key Stage 3 (KS3) students (aged 11-14) and their educators. The objectives are to:
• Create a transnational network of 7 educators and digital manufacturing experts, working collaboratively to promote effective STEM learning in the schools sector, subsequently driving the skills and capabilities required to deal with industrial complexities.
• Prepare students for the Industry 4.0 revolution through the development of a 21st Century Students ‘Learner Academy’, focused on exposing school students to digital manufacturing environments and expert-led learning experiences on Digital Modelling, Fabrication and Automation.
• To develop an openly accessible ‘Digital Manufacturing Learning Lab’ to support the effective delivery of DM&D education both within & beyond the classroom learning environment, and provide a forum for supporting groups of educators to grow their craft in collaboration with one another.
• To strengthen the capacity all organisations working in schools education to instil quality STEM, enabling them to lead the way in Industry 4.0 education & meet the needs of an increasingly digital manufacturing sector.

ACTIVITIES
• Output 1 – 21st Century Students Learner Academy: a suite of taster teaching resources categorised in three thematic ‘mini-toolkits’: Digital Design, Digital Fabrication and Manufacturing Automation.
• Output 2 – Digital Manufacturing Learning Lab: an openly accessible platform to support the effective delivery of DM&D education & provide a forum for supporting groups of educators to grow their craft for STEM
education in collaboration with one another.
• Output 3 – Implementation Handbook: A how-to manual providing the nuts and bolts for implementing the ‘Education 4.0’ in the classroom.
• Output 4 – A professional development programme aimed at strengthening the technical & pedagogical skills for all those working in field of schools education, focusing on the use DM&D technologies as a tool to raise students’ interest in STEM subjects.

IMPACT
Through the creation and exploitation of our expert-led pedagogical resources, thousands of learners across Europe will be exposed to the latest Digital Manufacturing technologies, processes & learning resources to ensure they are ‘skilling today for tomorrow’. In the longer-term this is expected to have a positive impact on addressing embedded STEM challenges & enhancing the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector to cope with future industrial revolutions. Teachers will recognise the value of deeper & more diverse partnerships across education & industry to drive industry relevant learning experiences that create tomorrow’s future-ready workforce. For all organisations working in the schools education field, there will be greater availability of innovative pedagogical materials and resources for educators to successful instil quality DM&D education through virtual means, particularly those with a lack of resources or no access to facilitates.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 346895 Eur

Project Coordinator

SOUTH WEST COLLEGE & Country: UK

Project Partners

• DIETHNES PANEPISTIMIO ELLADOS
• FABLAB UDRUGA ZA POMICANJE DIGITALNE FABRIKACIJE
• SC Ludor Engineering SRL
• EUROPAISCHES INSTITUT FUR INNOVATION-TECHNOLOGIE EV
• Centro de Formación Somorrostro
• Platon M.E.P.E.