Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OGDEN — The use of groundbreaking technology is bringing a fuller dimension to the business curriculum at Weber State University.
The advent of 3-D printing is making it possible for budding inventors and entrepreneurs to design, produce and market products from start to finish. Now students at John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics at Weber State are learning firsthand how to use this technology to bring their ideas to life.
“3-D printing is an emerging technology that has the capability to change the face of the business environment in a way we haven’t seen since the industrial revolution,” said Jeff Clements, assistant professor of Information Systems and Technologies at WSU. “Business students should know how this technology works.”
In his first year at the institution, Clements asked the dean of the college for research funds to purchase the school’s first 3-D printers for student use. He said students enrolled in the Information Systems & Technologies design course develop a company idea, learn how to create a product prototype and then use the information systems to track sales and other data.
“We really want students to have the opportunity to do some interesting, cutting-edge things that help them understand not only the business environment today, but also what the business environment will look like in the future,” Clements said.
The course, in its second semester, has already inspired collaboration. The Hall Global Entrepreneurship Program at WSU has contributed funds to purchase additional printers, enabling the business school to have its current total of five 3-D printers to use.
He said the students often experience a learning curve in figuring out how to create the product they are trying to produce.
“They design the product and go through three printing processes to see how their design works,” he explained. “Sometimes, the design doesn’t quite work out and they have to make changes.”
Once the product is sufficiently refined, the students create a website and a database, he said.
Clements said that the exposure to this technology would allow students to develop a sense of what it would be like in the creative world of entrepreneurship.
For now, students have to be enrolled in the Information Systems & Technologies course, but starting in the fall, the pool of students will be widened greatly.
“We’re doing a new (general) class for all business students that want that hands-on experience of what it’s like to design and create a 3-D product,” Clements said. “We’ll talk about the different print technologies, the impact they could have on business, manufacturing, supply chains and everything else.”
He said students are embracing the opportunity to learn something so “cutting edge” and new to Utah higher education.
“They feel like they are getting an advantage by being able to learn about this kind of technology,” he said. Students love the idea of 3-D printing and the chance that they are getting to take the class.
“The course taught me that if I can think of it — I can create it,” said senior Chris Heywood.
