Makers Empire is a global Australian EdTech company headquartered in Australia. Learn more.
We help educators teach K-8 students Design Thinking, STEM and 21st-century learning skills with 3D design and 3D printing. We do this by providing elementary, primary and middle schools with high-quality 3D design software, curriculum, professional development, resources, training and support so that teachers can integrate 3D technology into their classroom practice efficiently and effectively.
Who are the people behind Makers Empire?
See Our Story and Makers Empire team.
Do you have a press kit?
Yes – see press kit.
No – Makers Empire 3D is the world’s easiest to use 3D design software. We think it is the most fun, too! Users as young as 4 years old can get started designing in 3D in minutes.
From 2017-18, Macquarie University in Sydney undertook a pioneering research study on primary school makerspaces based on the use of Makers Empire in three schools. The research study revealed makerspaces can be highly effective at developing children’s creativity, critical thinking, design thinking and digital skills. We’ve also listed other benefits here – see 7 benefits of using 3D printing in education.
No – Makers Empire uses 3D design and printing to teach crucial Design Thinking skills to K-8 students. 3D printing is a fantastic way to make that learning tangible, but using Makers Empire provides endless, engaging learning opportunities even without a 3D printer. If you are interested in trying or buying a 3D printer, we can help you out.
Yes – Makers Empire offers both a free trial of Makers Empire and an affordable print service. You can contact our team for more details of our print service and to purchase print credits.
Not any more. Makers Empire offers schools software + printer packages with top brands and models based on their quality, suitability and affordability in a school setting.
Makers Empire provides easy-to-follow setup guides and troubleshooting guides for every 3D printer so we’ll make sure you get your 3D printer up and running. It’s not as difficult as you might think and the machines probably look more complicated than they are. Plus, all our plans come with our unrivalled support service: our responsive team will help you manage any technical issues to minimise inconvenience and downtime.
Design Thinking is a methodology for creative problem-solving. Mandi Dimitriadis, Makers Empire’s Director of Learning, explains it as follows: “Design Thinking is a way of thinking and working that helps us to define and solve problems. It is a non-linear, iterative and human-centred process that helps us to reframe problems as opportunities.” See What is Design Thinking? A Handy Guide for Teachers.
Design Thinking helps students identify and solve real-world problems and develop the most valuable and sought after skills in the 21st-century workplace: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration and Communication. Anyone and everyone can benefit from Design Thinking, especially young learners. See Why Schools Should Teach Design Thinking.
Design Thinking is embedded throughout the Makers Empire app and all our teaching resources. All Makers Empire subscriptions include the high-quality tools and professional development you need to introduce Design Thinking to your school with confidence.
Yes! Browse 100+ teacher interviews/school case studies on our blog or read our teacher testimonials.
As of June 2019, Makers Empire is used by 850,000+ students, 16,000+ teachers and 1,000+ schools in forty countries. Students use Makers Empire to create 50,000 new 3D designs a day.
Makers Empire is different from free 3D software for a number of reasons:
We offer discounted packages for small schools and not-for-profit institutions as well as special offers from time to time. If you’re interested, please contact us.
No. We strongly believe that you shouldn’t have to be an expert to be able to successfully use Makers Empire in the classroom. The wonderful thing about hands-on, maker-based learning is that it allows every student and teacher a chance to shine and contribute. Your students will surprise you by how quickly they grasp concepts and master challenges, and how well they start working together and helping each other.
With Makers Empire, we expect teachers to be learning alongside their students. So when you’re using Makers Empire think of yourself more as a facilitator or session leader rather than an instructor. For your students, seeing you learning alongside them can be very powerful – you’re showing them how to be life-long learners. By demonstrating your ability to learn and master a new skill, you are leading by example and inspiring them to develop a Growth Mindset towards their learning.
Check out this post: How A 30-Year Veteran Teacher Went From 3D Printing Novice To 3D Printing Guru
Definitely not! Our lesson plans cover grades from K-8 and subjects across the whole curriculum. Check out these teacher interviews explaining how they use Makers Empire in the classroom:
Yes! Teachers tell us that their students who have special needs love using Makers Empire and that it lets them succeed and shine in the classroom. See this Makers Empire and Special Needs Students page we’ve put together with case studies, teacher testimonials and teacher surveys. We’re in the process of putting together more teacher interviews like this and are also pursuing options regarding university research focused on using Makers Empire to teach students with special needs. If you’d like to learn more please do get in touch.
Our resources for teachers include 150+ curriculum-aligned lesson plans, a teacher’s dashboard with class management and student assessment tools, an 11-part professonal development video series, guides, tutorials, training and ongoing support.
Students use tokens to buy design items in the Makers Empire shop. Students earn tokens by completing tasks in the Makers Empire app and levelling up. Teachers can also give students more tokens to motivate them.
We recommend doing the Onboarding Guide in the Teacher’s Dashboard. This will take you through all the steps you need to do to teach your first class, including familiarising yourself with the app and doing the professional development video series. We also suggest reading this Installation Guide for Schools.
Get it here.
Yes! The app comes with built-in challenges and tutorials.
See this help article.
See this video about grouping.
See this help article.
See this help article.
No. Makers Empire and Tinkercad are competing 3D design software. We’ve summarised the differences here.
See this help article.
See this article re: adding students via a class list (.csv).
See this help article re: moving students from one class to another. See this article re: archiving a class.
See this help article.
See this help article.
See this help article.
Definitely! Makers Empire provides all the tools, resources, support and training so teachers can fully harness the power of 3D technology as an authentic teaching tool. But don’t just take our word for it: read this frank and engaging guest post about 3D printing in schools by a teacher, So you have a 3D printer – now what?
Yes! School customers can download 3D designs as STLs to print with any 3D printer.
We regularly test 3D printers for their suitablity for schools. See The Best 3D Printers for Your School – Australia and The Best 3D Printers for Your School – USA. If you are considering a printer not listed here please contact us and we’ll do our best to advise you.
It really depends on the size of the prints and the extent to which they are filled. As a rough guide, one roll of filament should be enough for say 200 key chain or bag tags, 100 chess pieces or 300 chocolate moulds.
Again, this depends how often you print and the size and volume of your chosen 3D prints. As a rough guide, three rolls of filament should last you at least a semester (two terms).
All Makers Empire School Subscriptions come with two hours of online professional development, installation and implementation guides, teacher resources including 150 curriculum-aligned lesson plans and ongoing, responsive support for both the Makers Empire 3D app and Teacher’s Dashboard. All Makers Empire printer packages and bundles come with full training and ongoing, responsive support. We want you to have a positive experience with 3D printing and will do our best to help you.
Generally, no. We do offer detailed, easy to follow setup guides and videos for school customers to ensure you can get your printers up and running.
Generally, no. While Makers Empire is a global Australian EdTech company, our team is small so we prefer to provide a mostly online sales experience so we can serve as many schools as possible. However, our sales team can schedule phone or video calls with you and your colleagues to discuss our products – simply contact us to arrange a call.
Can you visit schools to run workshops for staff or provide a custom training webinar for us?”
Our enterprise solutions for large groups of schools usually include custom, blended professional development and training for teachers. Our regular school subscriptions generally do not come with any additional training included but this can occasionally be provided at additional cost.
I have a technical issue. How do I get help?
If you’re on our website you’ll see the live chat in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Click on that to start chatting with someone at Makers Empire. Alternatively you can send us an email about your issue or check out the help articles in our knowledgebase.
All our school products come with a two-hour 11-part professional development video series so teachers can learn at their own pace and at their own convenience.
Our blended professional development courses, like Learning by Design Course, typically include 20+ hours face-to-face learning as well as the two-hour on-demand video series.
For school districts, education departments and state or country-wide deals, we offer customised professional development and training courses – please see our Learning by Design Course and Custom Packages.
We offer 2-week free trials. Alternatively, you can go to the homepage and click on the ‘Sign Up’ button in the top right hand corner and select ‘teacher’.
Our regular free trial is 2 weeks long. If you would like to request a longer trial please contact us.
Three – Amazing Mazes, Colourful Bubbles and Chocolate Mould.
Yes. He or she can use their same user account at home and school to get the best experience – and it is still free for you. If they forget their login details you can simply ask their teacher for help. Makers Empire school users have access to special features and content which are not available on basic accounts. School users can also share their creations with their teacher and classmates, get feedback from their teacher, and complete design and technology curriculum. See our guide for parents and guardians.
Definitely! Makers Empire is free for individuals to use at home – get it now.
A full collection of detailed help articles can be found at the Makers Empire Knowledgebase.
