With 3D printing in education on a rapid expansion in schools around the world, we have started a teacher feature series on educators who are making a difference in the classroom. Youth Made Malaysia was set up by British teacher Ryan Ball who is Head of Design and Technology at Garden School International in Malaysia. Ryan is on a mission to bring the real world into the classroom through real life projects for students to work on by collaborating with local industries. We had the chance to find out more information about Ryan and his efforts in to enhance technology education. Below is a quick question and answer on what he’s been up to.

Bio – Ryan Ball

I have been teaching for 17 years, including 8 years in the U.K., 4 years in Dubai and am currently in my 5^th year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I have done numerous things within D&T including, co-authoring GCP revision guides, AQA examiner, Ofqual consultant, Autodesk content writer, F1 in Schools in-country coordinator and founder of ‘Youth Made Initiative’.

1. Youth Made Malaysia. What’s the inspiration behind it and how long has it been going?

Youth Made Malaysia has been going around 18 months. I started linking with a number of local companies as a way of helping deliver aspects of our D&T curriculum and found it an opportunity to get students working on real briefs rather than designing and making things for themselves / immediate family. As the contacts and projects grew, I decided to share with other interested schools. The easiest way I felt was to pop it all in a website. It then almost accidentally grew from that!

2. How do students and companies benefit from being part of Youth Made Malaysia.

In numerous ways! Students get to see what real design and manufacturing is. They get the opportunity to realise what a diverse, exciting and relevant career path it is. They can take part in competitions, take internships / work experience, get expert advice for projects, attend local events, gain industry-ready skills and much more. All things that can further develop their passion for the subject. Local companies also can benefit from partnering with Youth Made Malaysia. They get the opportunity to work with the future workforce, can get training themselves from educational institutes, can freely promote their events and activities, can run design briefs for schools and collaborate with other like-minded individuals and organisations in the area. We’ve seen lots of cross-company links occur because of Youth Made Malaysia and feel really proud to have played a small part.

3. What has been the most exciting part of the journey so far?

Too many to mention! Companies collaborating with each other having met through YMM, students who have produced book-swap installations in train stations across Kuala Lumpur, seeing young designers get their ideas realized into commercial products through competitions and generally a steady increase in subscribers, opportunities and participants as it continues to grow.

4. Are there any cases of 3D printing being used in student projects in Youth Made Malaysia? Also can you outline why 3D printing should be taught to students studying Design and Technology?

3D printing continues to play a large part. We have several partners that are specialists in 3D printing and 3D printer suppliers alongside companies such as architectural model-makers that use various 3D printing methods in their products. It’s interesting to see how companies use it and how schools do. We also delivered training to a local company who wanted to learn more about the CAD/CAM process. Teachers training the industry was pretty cool! We also have annual awards, with a category for CAD/CAM excellence and seeing the outcomes being produced by our partner schools is really exciting!

5. How can schools get involved and what’s in the pipeline for 2019?

Easily! Just get in touch via youthmadeinitiative@gmail.com .It is now not just Youth Made Malaysia, we have branched out into the U.A.E. and Singapore too. There has also been interest from other countries so if you are keen and work in another country, get in touch! There is no cost to get involved, either for schools or industries, all we ask is that we can use your logo on the site.

Students / parents can sign up for local news/events in the area on our news page of each relevant site.

2019 looks to be an exciting year with a massive opportunity for local students (that I sadly can’t say too much about just yet!), more industry-sponsored D&T awards, more live design briefs, D&T teacher internships with local design companies and more trips, events and competitions. To get the most out of the initiative schools need to see how they can best utilize this industry expertise in their teaching and D&T content delivery and be proactive. There is a wealth of knowledge and expertise out there ready to be accessed and I truly feel for D&T to survive we need to link education and industry more and more.

We’d like to thank Ryan for being our first teacher to share their experiences with 3D printing and commend what he has set up. Do you know a teacher who should be showcased on our teacher spotlight blog? If so and they have a 3D printing story to tell, complete the contact form below;