Newest SketchUp Pro Software Available Free to Hawai‘i Schools

Courtesy photo.

By Maui Now Staff

The Maui Economic Development Board’s Women in Technology is making the newest version of SketchUp Pro software available for free to all K-12 public, private, and charter schools in Hawai‘i.

The program is a simple but powerful tool for creating and developing ideas and presenting them in 3D. SketchUp Pro allows students to start from scratch or to import images, drawings, CAD plans, or other existing data to create a project. The software’s modeling tools can then use the imported data to create 3D images that can be exported into other applications.

“Through STEMworks and software like SketchUp Pro, students have access to the same industry standard tools used by today’s architects, designers, builders and engineers,” said Isla Young, program director for WIT’s K12 STEM Education. “We’re seeing a real difference in the way the students use their critical thinking and project-based learning to come up with real world solutions for the community.”

SketchUp Pro was acquired by Trimble from Google in 2012. A free version of the software is available for individuals online, but the WIT-Trimble partnerships makes the powerful and full-feature pro version available to qualified schools through a brief online survey.

For more information about the distribution process, or to find out about STEMworks, contact Young at 875-2307 or email [email protected].

The Women in Technology Project is a statewide workforce development project of the Maui Economic Development Board, funded in part by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education and Agriculture.

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.