Why do we do Outreach?
To collaborate and partner with area schools and industry.
To best serve our industry and manufacturing the Fab Lab helps train tomorrows technicians today by exposing manufacturing to students and revealing that their manufacturing is full of technology marvels that did not exist ten years ago. By partnering with the manufactures of the Fox Valley we hope to assist them in closing the skills gap and the technician shortages of the near future.
In order to best prepare students to work independently and provide exposure to the real world engineering tools within the Fab Lab, students can explore or imagine their own projects as we guide and help them through the world of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). We design custom projects that engage students in computer information systems, physical computing, engineering and design while connecting the processes to college programs and encouraging students to pursue higher education. The projects are intended to foster 21st Century STEM skills and prepare students for workforce readiness in STEM related fields.
Which Fab lab do I want to use?
Our showcase fab lab locate inside the D.J. Bordini center across from the FVTC main campus is in room 162 on the north end of the building. We utilize our 15 computer design center to get the students creativity primed for the digital fabrication equipment.
Our second outreach fab lab is delivered to the school and the equipment is off loaded into the school. We follow the following guidelines:
Digital Fabrication Exploration 3-5 days Stack Projects
Career Exploration 2 weeks Canned Projects
Project Based Learning 2-4 weeks Curriculum Based Projects
Discovery and Creativity 2-4 weeks Individual or Team Projects
Can we come to your school?
To partner with the Fab Lab, please email me your interest and what you might have in mind and we can set up a meeting.