eCraft2Learn

The maker movement is gaining momentum, leading to an ever-bigger amount of people following a technology-based do-it-yourself (DIY) philosophy. As novel Horizon 2020 project, eCraft2Learn aims to establish and maintain an ecosystem based on digital fabrication and making technologies for creating computer supported artefacts.

Digital technology has radically changed the way people work in industry, finance, services, media and commerce and has urged necessary corresponding changes in educational systems. However, there is a lack of progress in the education arena. Recent studies show that a high percentage of college graduates can’t find work, the dropout rate is high and new generations are moving back into their parents’ homes after school or college. Nevertheless, the digital trend indicates that today’s grade-school children will end up in jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

Digital fabrication and making technologies on the rise

Several studies assure that digital fabrication and making technologies, if coupled with proper learning methodologies such as Constructivism, can provide learning experiences that promote young people’s creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, which are essential and necessary in the workplace of the 21st century.

However, as early as 2008, an OECD report remarked that “technology is everywhere, except in schools”. In addition to this, most uses of technologies in education and training today do not support 21st-century learning skills. In many cases, new technologies are simply reinforcing old ways of training and learning in current school settings and very often they are introduced according to a narrow perception as being suitable only for talented youth or only for Science-, Maths- or Engineering-oriented majors.

Current developments call for a move from this elitism to the recognition that fluency with making technologies represents knowledge and skills valuable for every citizen.

eCraft2Learn to reinforce personalised learning and teaching in science

The new EU-project eCraft2Learn will research, design, pilot and validate an ecosystem based on digital fabrication and making technologies for creating computer-supported artefacts. The project aims at reinforcing personalised learning and teaching in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) education and to assist the development of 21st century skills that promote inclusion and employability for youth in the EU.

The eCraft2Learn ecosystem will support both formal and informal learning by providing the appropriate digital fabrication. It recognizes that fluency with making technologies represents knowledge and skills valuable for every citizen.

Over the course of the next two years, eCraft2Learn will work on expanding the digital fabrication and maker movement in Europe. In detail, the consortium is comprised of the University of Eastern Finland, the Mälardalen University of Sweden, the center for social innovation (Austria), University of Oxford (United Kingdom), SYNYO (Austria), Linnaeus University (Sweden), University of Padova (Italy), Edumotiva (Greece), Technopolis (Greece), Evothings (Sweden), Arduino (Sweden), Ultimaker (United Kingdom).

In total, these partners will invest a total of 24 person months into the eCraft2Learn project. As leader of the dissemination and communication work package, SYNYO will ensure the connection of eCraft2Learn with other initiatives in this area, drawing from its own network and related projects, and is also engaged in the research and technology monitoring activities. SYNYO will also carry out ICT related innovation from analyses to development.

Links

eCraft2Learn project website

https://project.ecraft2learn.eu/

Keywords

Maker-movement, digital fabrication, computer-supported artefacts, personalised learning & teaching, STEAM