AP Colleges
As a college, AP Hogeschool is more than a higher education institution. AP College is a city of learning, an enricher of talent, an amplifier of commitment and a deepener of students' worldview. This is also reflected when you check out the Makerspace at the college. We spoke with Sanne Hendrickx, Makerspace lab manager, employed at AP Hogeschool Antwerp since 2019.
"In early 2020, a Summa F1612 was purchased for the Graphic and Digital Media course to allow our students to take on projects from design to realization. You notice that students are very excited when they see the machine in operation - it's quite impressive - and then have a physical result in their hands.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 this past year, we have not been able to use the Summa as often as we wanted. Because we are a College and not a University, we have a lot of practical subjects, these were fortunately able to go on most of the time last year, albeit in very limited groups. You notice that students still have a great need to be in physical contact with other students and spend time on campus. That contributes a lot to the enthusiasm."
Supporting the learning process
"It's very nice to have the machine here to teach students that a digital design always needs to be modified to make it work physically. This includes taking into account thickness of material (such as cardboard), thinking out the cut and crease lines and making the design flow well over the object. Therefore, it is easy to show what impact the adjustments will have on the final result. That helps tremendously in the learning process. The machine is also very user-friendly. Even though we have used it intermittently over the past year, it is very easy to use and learn about it, both for myself and the students."
Future
"In the future, the Summa is definitely going to be used much more often. A desirable addition for next year will be a Rotary Module, giving us the ability to cut fabrics and other materials, for example. This way this machine can also be used by students of the academy, including the fashion students. We think it is important to be able to offer a very diverse range of materials. The big advantage to the Summa is that it is very modular. We are also going to try to budget that we can buy a (flatbed) printer so we can also print the cardboard we cut out.
The students who do the training here can choose different majors but often end up in graphic arts, printmaking and often they study further. Our training program is currently reforming and expanding so that we can offer the best possible package to our students. We hope to put together a small graphics studio because it is important to us that the students can create a prototype from A to Z."
50th anniversary
"The Graphic and Digital Media course exists 50 years and to celebrate this, several items were made during the course, such as a beer box (see photo). The box was designed, printed and cut out at the Summa. The glasses were engraved and the beer flavors were self-composed. The name was thought up by the students and the labels were also made in-house.
We are also trying to establish more and more collaborations with other courses or Makerspaces of other schools. How can we help and complement each other? You do notice a change in that. We are not competitors of each other, so we can only strengthen each other."
Collaboration with Dimix
"We started looking for a machine that connects to the business world, so that what we teach students can be applied in the work environment and context. We thought it was a waste to buy a machine that would then fit within budget but was a bit smaller. You soon find yourself with larger sheets and soon go to larger sizes of cutting. It's a shame to make a large investment in something that just isn't up to scratch. We started looking at what was feasible within the means. Summa and Dimix were the most accessible parties, who really wanted to think along with us and positively recognized that it was a machine for a college and that they could reach a very wide audience. We are very satisfied with it."
