Dunedin community educator, businessman and event manager Keir Russell talks to reporter John Gibb about a pilot programme which aims to help to make city youngsters more literate about information technology, through learning to design and fly small drones, created through 3-D printing.
Fab Lab Dunedin founder and director Keir Russell has gained a great deal himself from teaching young people about 3-D printing and flying small drones.
"I like to help people out with their projects, and help wherever I can," he says.
"I want to live in a world where people help each other," he explains.
"It’s a good idea. It’s very fulfilling."
Mr Russell has helped run a science club for pupils at Kavanagh College, and 3-D printing has become a big feature of that educational work.
Proving a hit with secondary school pupils and some other young people this year have been small 3-D printed drones, which they have designed and flown, including at a gymnasium at the University of Otago College of Education.
Mr Russell says that 3-D printing and related skills could ultimately be taught to hundreds of young Dunedin people.
This is thanks to $20,000 in GigCity funding to Fab Lab, followed up by a further $90,000 GigCity Community Fund grant to the Connected Education Trust, to promote a bigger, more broadly collaborative educational network in the city.
Mr Russell wants to collaborate with as many community groups and low-decile schools as possible to provide better, life-changing access to skills involving the use of modern technology. He has three degrees from the University of Otago, including a master’s degree in entrepreneurship, but the focus of his community education efforts is on inclusive "process" learning. Learning was by doing, as through the drone-flying project, and he was not required to stand at the front and speak at length.
"They come up with ideas and they ask questions, but I don’t talk all of the time.
"We actually believe in process.
"We learn more as we do it."
About eight school pupils recently completed the first pilot programme.
Offering the chance for people to fly a drone was "one easy way to get people interested".
"We don’t say you have to make it like this or like that."
One group wanted to make a drone "like a spider" and that was how they made it. Mr Russell said "the world is science", and added there was "strong interest in the community" in helping young people learn more about 3-D printing, flying small drones, and learning from the overall situation.
He enjoys collaboratively helping provide some of the ideas and the tools to "help them do what they want to be doing".
And he aims to "create ‘ah-ha moments’."
"I love it.
"They have that ‘ah-ha’ when they finally understand."
