January 2020 STEAM Camp Overview of Learning Program

Overview of Learning Program

The STEAM Camp is a hands-on immersion that involves class time and build time. There are about 3 hours of class time per day during the first 4 days, where we teach about collaborative design techniques, do design reviews, or other learning activities. There may be several invited presenters who will provide presentations from remote locations. Most of the time is spent with hands-on learning - whether using design and collaboration software tools - or doing hands-on builds. All learning takes place across multiple disciplines: science, technology, art, design, build, documentation, and most importantly - collaboration.

The event is built around increasing participants' capacity to work collaboratively, by documenting and building upon each otehrs' work. Moreover, this collaboration takes place globally. The January 2020 STEAM camp takes place in 3 locations - Belgium; Richmond,Virginia; and Texas. So when you join, you are joining a larger collaborative effort.

We are building continuity into the learning program as well. To prepare, students are encourage to download our software suite, OSE Linux, to become familiar with the tools before participating in the live event. The learning experience continues after the Camp, where we invite all participants - as well as participants from former STEAM Camps - to 3 additional Design Sprints on Saturdays, held for 2-4 hours, where we follow up on design and documentation projects.

All work aims at the release of marketable products that can meet real needs, with the special value proposition of lifetime design - where users can maintain or upgrade each product based on its open source design, easy-to-build design, and the use of common, off-the-shelf (COTS) parts in addition to digitally fabricated goods such as with the 3D printer.