As part of the Make App Club (the initiative behind the Digital Makerspace Toolkit), Wavemaker wanted to promote the potential of digital technology and encourage more young people to become excited about digital making.
Much like with their 2D design workshop, Wavemaker reached out to PM Training, a local apprenticeship provider, to see if their learners would be interested in learning a new digital skill. PM Training approved and sent their ‘building works’ apprentices to join Wavemaker at their headquarters to learn a digital skill that has the potential to boost their employability to the next level.
Wavemaker wanted to prove that digital technology could work well alongside more traditional skills and to offer apprentices the chance to have a unique selling point that would help them in their future careers, whilst opening their eyes to the potential of tech and what it can offer.
The session had a focus on 3D design using ‘SketchUp’- software that is often used by professionals in the construction industry. To keep it relevant to the apprentices, Wavemaker set them the challenge of creating their own houses by experimenting with the software’s functions whilst considering requirements such as height and building limitations.
The session proved to be popular with many of the learners even staying in the classroom during the dinner break to continue to work on their designs. What’s more, one of the learners said that he found the software really interesting, to the point where he wanted to be an architect and come up with future building designs.
The point behind Make App Club was to engage with these kind of learners and to make people, of all backgrounds and ability, realise the potential of digital technology and all that can be achieved with it. Thanks to enthusiastic learners such of those mentioned above, the Make App Club teams feel one step closer to achieving this goal.