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Our Design & Technology Department has recently been awarded a £10,000
Enterprise in Schools Grant by Devon County Council. The central aim of this
initiative is to enable a wide variety of learners in Totnes and South Hams
educational establishments and communities to access modern, three
dimensional design modelling and manufacturing systems, to stimulate
newways of thinking about enterprise possibilities and commercial practice.
From Year 6 in primary schools, through to Post Graduate partnership work
within secondary schools, students and centres are working collaboratively,
to share expertise and innovative enterprise practice.
Through this venture, the provision of such shared facilities in a rural context
offers new opportunities, by becoming cost effective and viable. Suddenly
this liberates potential entrepreneurs, designers, innovators of the future
from the constraints of the geographical region in which they live. This has
personal individual benefits and wider community enterprise and economic
benefits. Central to this initiative, in the long term, will be the involvement
of local enterprise ambassadors to share their expertise and insight into
current practice and developments.
If you would like to have an experience of 3D CAD/CAM, or the opportunity to
explore the potential of 3D printing, whether an individual or organisation,
contact David Irish (Head of Design &Technology at the College).
email
:
phone
: 01803 869200 (ext 241)
Students in Year 7 have recently been set
the challenge of forming small companies
for the next termwhere eachmember of the
team has been allocated £1 investment.
This activity is being completed out of
class time either at lunchtimes and/or out
of school hours in and out of college.
Students have been given the task to
create as much profit as possible ethically,
and with the co-operative values that the
College has at its core in mind. Students
will need to keep accounts and will divide
their end profits with half for their year
group chosen charity (The Great Ormond
Street Children's Hospital) and half, once
they have repaid their £1 investment, split
equally between their team members.
Students are being encouraged to pursue
their entrepreneurial instincts in virtually
any direction; their successes will be
reported in the Summer term Courier.
Over the last three months the College has developed a new Fab Lab, in
conjunction with Devon County Council. This allows community members
of any age to access and learn about and use the modern and traditional
technologies available in the College Design & technology Department.
The event runs on a Tuesday evening in the D&T area of the Redworth site
between 6-8.30p.m.
Currently projects being developed include the design and creation of
a system to hold and rotate a camera underneath a flying professional
quadrocopter; an investigation into the spaces between bubbles - and
how these could be used to create material structures; explorations into
the use of laser technologies in leather work; plasma cut steel weather
vanes; bespoke computer monitor stands; architectural explorations;laser
cut acrylic constructions; 3D scanning and replication of handmade
components ready for 3D printing and commercial sublimation printing
products based on fractal patterns.
The Fab Lab's facilities have also been given a boost by Devon County
Council's £10,000 grant to provide five new 3D printers that encourage
innovation, enterpriseanddevelopa literacy in thesemodern technologies.
One member has benefited from the College’s partnership with Falmouth
University Sustainable Design Department and this has led to ongoing
dialogue, and an exciting personal development for the member.
Fab Lab is free at the moment, and the College and members hope it
can remain so through developing self-funding. It offers an opportunity
to have a play and to explore modern technology opportunities, with
support and guidance. Whether you are just an intrigued member of the
community who wishes to earn more and to see potential opportunities
for projects, or you are a company wishing to develop specific products
contact David Irish (see below). What has been really exciting at the initial
stages of the Totnes Fab Lab is the variety of projects being developed and
the sharing of ideas and expertise.We are keen to put on some events that
meet community needs so let us know your thoughts.
Fab Totnes Lab Ready to Expand !
Design & Technology Enterprise Initiative Grant Award
Fab Lab creations
Year 7 culturally inspired lanterns
Year 7 Enterprise
£1 Challenge
What can
YOU do
with £1?
Design & Technology
