Sharing our learning from the Making Things Course

Aric Rindflesich, the Executive Director of the MakerLab, was invited to present about the innovative approaches to student learning at the Teaching with Technology Brown Bag Series sponsored by CITL and CITES . The session attracted educators and learning professionals from across campus, interested in learning about the interdisciplinary, team based and student led approach to learning by Making. The Making Things course is being offered the second time, and we look forward to some innovative solutions to every day problems from teams in this course. Find out more about what the students did last year and follow their updates from this year at the Making Things class webpage.

A video of the session is available below (it may take a moment to load)

MakerLab Featured in ICIC Webinar

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Earlier this week, MakerLab Executive Director Aric Rindfleisch gave a presentation titled, "3D Printing: The Next Manufacturing Revolution?" as part of ICIC's CEO Webinar Series. ICIC stands for Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, which is a nonprofit organization that promotes development of US Inner City Businesses. ICIC was founded by Professor Michael Porter (Harvard Business School) in 1994 and has helped foster over 750 new companies and over 75,000 jobs since 1999. This Webinar, which is available on the ICIC Website, provides an overview of 3D printing, discusses its potentially revolutionary impact on business and highlights some of the ways in which the Illinois MakerLab has enhanced the innovation activities of local businesses such as PikMoments. If you would like to learn how our Lab can help your business or help you start a new business, please stop by or contact us at UIMakerLab AT Illinois DOT edu.

MakerLab is Coming to Chicago

On Thursday, October 10, Aric Rindfleisch, Executive Director of the Illinois MakerLab will be visiting Chicago to discuss the 3D printing revolution and how the College of Business at the University of Illinois is taking a leadership role in this domain through the establishment of the world's first (and only) business school 3D printing lab, the Illinois MakerLab. For more information and to make a reservation to attend this event, just click on the announcement below. We hope to see you there.

Things we Learned at the 3D Printing Expo

The MakerLab (Aric, Danny, Ryan, and Vishal) attended the Chicago 3D Printing Conference & Expo at McCormick Place last week. Thanks to Hod Lipson, we were given the opportunity to speak at the Expo on Thursday, July 11 and share our story. We spoke about our Lab and the cool things that have been made there so far, such as Jeff's lightbulbs and Ben's wifi display. In addition to sharing our story, we had the opportunity to learn about recent advances in 3D printing from experts such as Bre Pettis (CEO, MakerBot, recently acquired by Stratysys), Scott Crump (Chairman and Founder, Stratasys), and Abe Reichental (CEO, 3D Systems). Here are some of the interesting things we learned:

--MakerBot's Digitizer 3D scanner is making nice progress and should be available by the end of 2013.

--3D Systems is beta testing a 3D printer that prints food from cartridges inspired by the Keurig coffee system. During the conference, they also announced a partnership with Deloitte to accelerate adoption of 3D printing.

--Stratasys has 3D printers that print over 100 different types of materials.

--Microsoft is placing a heavy emphasis on 3D printing and trying to make it as easy as 2D printing.

--Xerox (PARC Division) is working on technology for printing electronic circuits and new types of batteries.

--General Electric has over 300 3D printers. They are also encouraging open innovation with 3D design contests. The technology has significant implications for Aerospace.

--Disney has started a new initiative that allows children to print Barbie doll accessories at home.

View more photos from the Expo here.

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MakerLab draws crowds at Faculty Summer Institute 2013

The MakerLab team presented on a new approach to learning, Learning by Making, at the Faculty Summer Institute 2013. The conference attracts faculty from schools across Illinois, who are interested in new approaches in teaching and learning.  Dr. Aric Rindfleisch and Dr. Vishal Sachdev, gave an overview of the maker movement, 3D printing, the MakerLab and finished with a demonstration of 3D printing.  There was considerable interest in the new course we are proposing for Spring 2014, titled "Making Things". This course will provide undergraduate students with the knowledge and skills to become active participants in the emerging maker economy. Specifically, this course will bring students from Business, Engineering, and Art & Design into interdisciplinary teams and teach them how to conceptualize, prototype, produce and market these products/designs.

Join the Maker movement  at UIUC. Subscribe to our blog RSS feed to be the first to hear about events, new tutorials and other exciting news from MakerLab and Like our Facebook page.

MakerLab goes to Chicago

On March 1, MakerLab Executive Director, Aric Rindfleisch demonstrated 3D printing (by printing a bottle opener) to a group of marketing faculty from a number of Chicago-area universities, including DePaul, Northwestern, and UIC. This was their first experience with 3D printing and many expressed great interest in the potential of this new technology for both teaching and research. For more information, see: http://chicagoconsumerculture.com/Current.html