BISMARCK, N.D., Nov. 16, 2022 – North Dakota School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said Wednesday that Michael Jacobson, a project leader in learning design and innovation at Bismarck’s Legacy High School, is the latest recipient of a Department of Public Instruction teacher innovation grant.

The $10,000 grant will be used to defray most of the cost of purchasing three 3D printers. Information technology interns at Legacy will use the printers to make assistive technology equipment, which itself is designed to help people with disabilities use keyboards, tools and other items.

Students will be able to suggest and design products and get experience in skills they can apply to professional careers, Jacobson’s grant application says. The 3-D printers themselves will be manufactured by Lulzbot, a Fargo-based company, which will allow technical support to be close at hand.

“It will create ways for them to collaborate and critically think though problems, while having immediate industry support right here in our home state of North Dakota, building a community of learning and professionalism (that students) may not have experienced,” Jacobson’s application says.

The Department of Public Instruction is funding up to $10,000 in grants every three months to encourage innovative education ideas from teachers. The next round of applications opens Jan. 11, 2023. Jacobson’s grant is the sixth in the program’s history.