3D Resources

Tinkercad Teach Page

The Tinkercad teach page is where teachers can go to moderate and monitor student progress as students work through various 3d design projects and challenges. Teachers can create an invite code to group students together for progress monitoring and project access.

In Tinkercad, students that are 12 or under need to be moderated by an adult. Tinkercad recommends that students 12 and under are moderated by parents, but you may moderate student accounts as well and see student progress of various projects in Tinkercad by having students join your class using the invite code feature. This can be valuable even for students that are over 13 for progress monitoring purposes, but is not required for student access as it is for students 12 and under. Incomplete entry. Please finish to demonstrate your understanding of this concept. Check out the video about the Tinkercad Teach page as well as the visual guide I created to help you get started using the features of the Tinkercad teach page to facilitate 3D learning in your classroom!

Working with 3D Files

1. Sharing 3D Files Using Tinkercad

One of the great things about Tinkercad is that it is intended to be used by introductory CAD designers and it has features that work exceptionally in an educational environment. Tinkercad has embedded design share features that allow users to share their designs and even collaborate on designs in real time, much like students are becoming accustomed to collaborating in real time on Google documents, slides, drawings or sheets. I created a video highlighting how to utilize the collaboration tools embedded in Tinkercad, linked here and by clicking on the video thumbnail below.

2. Sharing 3D Files Using a Chromebook

While the collaborative features embedded in Tinkercad simplify the sharing of CAD designs created by users, these sharing features are time bound. I have found that the links created by students expire after 336 hours (2 weeks). This is a limiting factor if students are working on a project that spans a greater amount of time, or if files are going to need to be revisited after more than 2 weeks. It is also important that users know how to export their .STL files manually so that the files can then be imported directly into slicing engines for fabrication of digital designs. Lastly, Tinkercad has an “import” feature which is useful if students are going to create a project using the .STL files made by other designers. This is especially handy when modifying 3D files available on public forums like Thingiverse or Enabling the Future.

To help users become familiar with how to use the import and export features of Tinkercad, I created this visual guide (below) and videos on the import process and export process, found to the right. You can find these videos and other helpful videos related to the 3D printing process on my Youtube Channel, I even created a specific playlist of videos that focus on this process for you. If you visit, be sure to give the videos a like and subscribe if you like what you see!

3. Sharing 3D Files Using Google Docs

Teachers and students can utilize the file sharing capabilities of Google docs and Google drive to share .STL files and manage the 3D printing workflow in the classroom. This is especially valuable for a teacher to implement in the classroom in order to increase student ownership of the printing process when there are a plethora of print jobs to complete. To help diagram a process that has worked in my classroom, both to my students and to teachers looking to implement this practice in their own classroom, I created this flowchart (below) and a video explaining the process (right). Links to this graphic and video are also accessible through the thumbnails shown below. You can find these videos and other helpful videos related to the 3D printing process on my Youtube Channel, I even created a specific playlist of videos that focus on this process for you. If you visit, be sure to give the videos a like and subscribe if you like what you see!