Day 1 consisted of a review of a product that was released on SolidWorks labs, Sustainability, Jeremy Regenerus showed a presentation put together by Rick Chen.  Rick called in and walked us through the full package that will be available with new features and capabilities in SW 2010.  Next we had a quick update from Bob Miner  and what’s going on in SW Labs.  If you haven’t been there, go check out what’s new.  One of the questions we were asked to consider is “What are some ideas for mobile platforms?”  If you have some ideas, just post them in the comments below with SW Labs in the comment. 

We next had a presentation From Marie Planchard with some information on SW education programs.  Marie was kind enough to give us an education version to share with someone back home.  I gave mine to a recent HS graduate who is currently in Junior College pursuing an associates degree in drafting and design.   I’ll be touching on this more in one of my Educators Corner pieces. 

Lunch was with Jeff Ray and several interesting topics were discussed.  One statement that I asked Jeff to expound upon was in regards to hiring.  His statement, and the sentiment of previous CEO’s of SolidWorks, is that hiring is the most important thing to be done in a company.  The discussion was that if you hire good people, you end up with good work habits and good products.  This was quite interesting and I wish it could be applied in all companies.  After lunch we were treated to a few min. with Jon Hirschtick former CEO and one of the founders of SolidWorks.  Jon is now the “future technologies” guy at SW and he shared a few things he thinks are going to be key in the future of CAD including the transition back to hardware.  Another interesting product is very small projectors that could eventually end up in you phone which would be a boon for collaboration. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the User Experience Group, formerly the Usability team of  Jim “Wilkie” Wilkenson, Tom Spine and Lynn Churney.  Tom shared with us the 3 steps that were used to create SW 2010 and will also be used to service future versions.  The steps are:

1. change the design process
2. creating artifacts of design
3. usability testing early and often

Since the group is always looking for ideas, if you have any just reply to my comments and put “usability” in the body

We also had a quick visit from John Slocum who discussed 3D Content Central where he told us of some new features including self service supplier catalog publishing with and online subscription model.  This allows suppliers to publish their models in a catalog format while being able to control how and when they publish.  John also mentioned that the 3DCC Beta sight would be up soon, check it out and participate.

Later that evening, we were treated to a few laps at F1 Boston, a very large indoor cart track.  It was a lot of fun but not so comfortable.  Some of us looked like stuffed sausage:

After all was said and done, Ricky Jordan of Rickyjordan.com was the overall winner after several qualifying heats.  Congrats RJ!

He kinda looks like the “Stig” in this photo huh. 

I would like to thank SolidWorks and all those who were responsible for inviting us up and for the great hospitality we were shown.  I would like to give special thanks to Nancy Buchino and Matthew West and to all the other bloggers who were there.  See you soon guys, 

1. the highest point or part, as of a hill, a line of travel, or any object; top; apex.
2. the highest point of attainment or aspiration: the summit of one’s ambition.
3. the highest state or degree.

I really like parts of all 3 of the definitions of summit; apex, aspiration, state.  Summit make me think of something lofty that you look towards.  The intent of the SolidWorks User Group (SWUGN) Technical Summits is to give users of all levels a day of training from fellow users of SolidWorks and also a chance to casually network with your peers.  So why haven’t you attended a SWUGN Technical Summit?  With a total fee of just $40 which covers multiple training sessions, breakfast AND lunch, how can you go wrong.   I’ve enjoyed the privelege of attending 3 SolidWorks Technical Summits over the past 3 years and I have presented at 2 of them.  My latest escapade involved a fellow SolidWorks user, teacher, user group leader and all around Good Egg, Randall Bock.  I met Randall at SolidWorks World 2009 in Orlando and we became quick friends.  He mentioned that one of the SWUGN Technical Summits was going to be held in his stomping grounds (Penn State University) in June.  When I arrived home from World, I asked my wife how she felt about spending our vacation in Pennsylvania.  We agreed it would be nice to see since there was so much to experience and we had never been there.  This way we could mark another state off our maps.  Fast forward to May.  After getting a short scare from work that a project may be due, it wasn’t, I finalized my travel plans for the Happy Valley Summit.  Randall and family (Brenda, Sarah and Evan) were nice enough to invite us to their family farm for a day of leisure after our long drive in.  The weather was great and we had a fantastic day (thanks again Brenda, that strawberry cake I won’t soon forget)!

Building a Volcano

Yum! Milkshakes

 

Summit day!

 Tuesday started with a brisk walk from my hotel to the on campus venue called the HUB.  I helped with the setup as did some of the other presenters and some of Randall’s students.  Richard Doyle (SWUGN himself) was getting the opening session ready to go.  The expected turnout was in excess of 90 so we were all excited.  Breakfast was served and Richard jumped right in at 8:00 to kick everything off. 

 

HVSWUG Summit is open!

Breakfast is served

Richard addressing the attendees

At 8:45 it was time to let the fun begin.  Session 1 included Assemblies  with Greg Yohn of DesignPoint Solutionsand Simulation with Randall Bock. Session 2 included Mold Design with Mike Puckett of SolidWorks Corp and PDM with Mike Sabocheck of SolidWorks Corp.  Lunch was from 11: 30 to 1 and lots of great door prises were given away including a FREE Pass to SolidWorks World 2010 in Anaheim, Ca.  Are you still wondering why you should attend?  The afternoon kicked off and session 3 included Drawings  with yours truly Richard Hall from WestWind Technologies (and also NASWUG) and Sheet Metal with Jeff Beardsley of Prism Engineering.  Session 4 included CAD Management with Richard Doyle of SolidWorks Corp. and Rendering  with Arthur Young-Spivey of CADD Edge.  Closing out the day in session 5 was Surfacing with Muggs Ferguson of John Ferguson Design and Weldments with Timothy Theiler of CADDWorks.  Each session had great content and I was able to get photos of all the sessions except for Sheet Metal which was the same time I was presenting (sorry Jeff).  Maybe someone else has a picture they can share?

Session 1 Assemblies with Greg Yohn

Session 1 Simulation with Randall Bock

Session 2 Mold Design with Mike Puckett

Session 2 PDM with Mike Sabocheck

Lunch Buffet

Nothing was left of the lunch buffet after the attendees went through.  I would like to say the food was great personally but, I was prepping for my session and when I came out to get a quick bite, the pans were empty as if someone had licked them clean or sopped them with loaf bread.  Oh well, it’s not like I couldn’t go without a meal or 2, maybe next time?

 

Session 3 Drawings with Rich Hall

 

Session 3 Sheet Metal with Jeff Beardsley

Session 4 CAD Management with Richard Doyle

Session 4 Rendering with Arthur Young-Spivey

Session 5 Surfacing with Muggs Ferguson

Man, I should have finished this last night.

"so three men walk into a bar....."

I know it’s been a while since I have posted here, but life has been in the way.  Work has been very busy and I have been prepping for the summit presentation, along with my wife completing another school year teaching.  My girls have their extracurricular events and  other things.  Please know that I am working on several new “Educators Corner” pieces and I will be blogging and tweeting from the summit next week as time allows.  See you soon,

 ” The good you do today, people will often forgot tomorrow; Do good anyway.”……..!!!!!!  This is the tag on my next guests email.  When you look out on the SolidWorks Forums, you’ll find him there.  When you log into SolidWorks Geeks, you’ll find him there.  At these sites you’ll find him as well: Yahoo SolidWorks group, Google SWcad group, Comp.cad.solidworks, Angelsix forum and the MNSUG yahoo group.  “I comment/contribute on these groups/forums as I’m always learning a new thing and wanted to share what I have learned during my life time.“  In this edition of Educators Corner, I will be talking to Deepak Gupta (DG).  Deepak currently works with a multi-national company in their design centre in New Delhi, India.

DG: I used to visit engineering colleges and industries to train students /people. I was involved in this training while I was associated with a SolidWorks VAR.  I am planning to start my own training school (part time).  I have a 4 year advanced diploma in Die & Mould from Indo Swiss Training Centre, Chandigarh, India. 

Check out Deepak’s Webpage Boxer’s Blog 

Deepak Gupta

RH: Do you have any industry experience? 

DG: I have around 8 years of experience working in different companies and on different products.  I have been in design, R&D, production, tool room and vendor development.

RH: What led you to become a trainer and why SolidWorks?

DG: I wanted to learn SolidWorks for myself and this led me to be involved in training others.

RH: How long have you been training?

DG: I did that for almost 1 year.

RH: What SolidWorks certifications if any do you currently hold?

DG: CSWA, CSWP, CSWPSMTL (For details of these Certifications, see the SolidWorks Certification Site)

RH: What are your classes like when you train?

DG: All the students were 18+ and include Engineering students, Industry beginners, 2D Cad users and 3D Cad users of software other than SolidWorks.

RH: What is your preferred teaching method? 

DG: Providing useful examples while demonstrating commands/options.  I prefer using practical examples from industry and day to day life while training.

RH: What curriculum do you teach?

DG: I make my own curriculum depending on the user level and needs.  I usually teach the basics of SolidWorks depending on the need.  I will teach sheet metal, surfacing, weldments and animation, but just a basic overview of the these tools. 

RH: What is the prevalent industry in your area that would eventually hire a SolidWorks trained person?

DG: Mechanical industries mostly involving design and analysis work.

RH: Have you attended SolidWorks World? 

DG: Not yet. Was planning to this year but due to some personal issues I could not make it.

RH: Do you feel that there will be continued support for teaching SolidWorks and CAD drafting skills?  If so, is it short term or long term support?

DG: Yes and it will be long term support.

RH: How important do you feel that teaching CAD/drafting skills is for the future of engineering and industry in general?

DG: It is very important.  Today every industry needs trained/skilled people and no one has time and funding to train employees after they are hired.  Some one needs to do this job (training people) and this has to be done at the institutional level.

RH: What are the biggest challenges you face in teaching SolidWorks/drafting?

DG: Sometimes the people using other 3D software packages start comparing the options in the software and start making opinions of the software compared to SolidWorks

RH: What are some goals for your future?

DG: I will keep working in my present field.

Deepak,

Thanks for your time.  I really appreciate your input and am glad to know there are other passionate SolidWorks people around the world!

Rich

Stay Tuned for more from the Educators Corner featuring SolidWorks!

Stay Tuned for more from the Educators Corner featuring SolidWorks!

Bill on his boat

Richard Hall (RH): Hi Bill. What is your background?

Hello everyone, I’m Bill Casnovsky (BC). I have a BA in Industrial Design from Michigan State University. I currently teach (Adjunct Assistant Professor) at Austin Community College & I’m a lecturer at University of Texas.  I am the group leader of the Central Texas SolidWorks User Group in Austin, Texas.  We have a meeting coming up on March 19th.  If you are in the Austin area and would like to attend, contact me by email at bill@cazdezign.com

RH: Do you have any industry experience? If so what and/or who with? 

BC: Yes, many years experience.  I had long stint early on working in a Consulting firm. I was a Corporate Designer with Motorola & Lockheed Martin. I am currently doing business as CAZ DEZIGN, where I do Consulting Product Design. 

RH: What led you to become a teacher? 

BC: I felt like I would like to provide instruction to others based on my many years in the design industry. 

RH: Why do you teach CAD with SolidWorks? 

BC: SolidWorks offers CAD tools that are powerful and easy to use in CAD and Mechanical Design. 

RH: How long have you been teaching? 

BC: 4 years 

RH: What SolidWorks certifications if any do you currently hold? 

BC: No current certs – have taken advanced SolidWorks classes in Modeling/Assemblies and many classes in CAD including GE Calma, CADDAM and Cadkey. 

RH: What are your classes (age range and/or skill level) 

BC: I have students ranging in age from 19 to 50. Most have no SolidWorks experience.

RH: What is a typical classroom day like for you? 

BC: I make lesson plans, lecture in class and work interactively with students working on assignments. 

RH: What is your preferred teaching method? What method of teaching SolidWorks have you found to be successful?

BC: My preferred method is to introduce students to SWX tools and then encourage them to work concurrently with me as we go step by step through part, assembly and drawing assignments.

RH: What curriculum and industry standards do you teach? 

BC: I designed my own class content and teach my material using ANSI-English & Metric drawing standards.

RH: How do you use the SolidWorks Educator resources and curriculum in teaching your class?

BC: I do not use them.

RH: Do you have any work from the students you are able to and would like to share? (pictures or models)

BC: Sure. I have a special assignment during the semester that permits the student to be very creative. I can share some of those student solutions. (I will post these as Bill sends them to me)

RH: What industry do you teach for or what is the prevalent industry in your area that would eventually hire a SolidWorks trained person?

BC: In my class, I expose the students to product & mechanical designs created via machining, molding & sheet metal. Industries out here use designers in each of those fabrication methods.

RH: What universities or community colleges are nearby that your students would attend and pursue a course of study with SolidWorks application? 

BC: Austin Community College & The University of Texas

RH: Have you attended SolidWorks World? If so, what was beneficial from a teaching standpoint? 

BC: Yes, I have attended 4 times. I found that meeting/networking with other teachers and attending the technical breakout sessions very beneficial to teaching. Observing good presenters at SolidWorks World really inspires me to try things back in the classroom.

RH: Will your school board or current school be willing to fund a trip for you to SolidWorks World?

BC: Given my adjunct status, I doubt it. However, presenting at the conference is my ticket to getting there.

RH: Knowing that most school systems are in desperate financial situations, do you feel that there will be continued support for teaching SolidWorks and CAD drafting skills? If so, is it short term or long term support?

BC: Austin Community College is celebrating its 35th anniversary, this year. Solidworks has become a core requirement to obtain a degree. Students are also able to pick up classes in AutoCad, AutoCad Inventor & Pro E. This college is fully committed to teaching CAD skills.

RH: How important do you feel that teaching SolidWorks/CAD/drafting skills is for the future of engineering and industry in general? 

BC: Absolutely essential! In addition, ACC likes to recruit teaching talent from the industries in the area primarily to insure that the CAD/Drafting skills remain pertinent and relevant.

RH: What are the biggest challenges you face in teaching SolidWorks/drafting?

BC: Each class is unique and filled with students of various skill levels. A big challenge for me is to find the sweet spot, each semester, that keeps the fast learners challenged and the slow learners inspired.

RH: What are some goals for your future and do you always plan on teaching?

BC: I want to continue with my Product Design Consulting business, slowing to part time as I near retirement. I also wish to continue teaching part time so I can help prepare students who will lead our country to new horizons using Engineering and Design.

Bill,

It has been a pleasure speaking to you about this most important of subjects.  I look forward to the students results from you class as I’m sure everyone is.  Thanks for your time and I hope to see you at a SolidWorks event soon,

Rich

Stay Tuned for more from the Educators Corner featuring SolidWorks!

Richard Hall (RH): Hi Adam. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m Adam Scheible (AS).  As a child, I had a fascination with engineering. More specifically, I liked process engineering and eventually took a drafting class in middle school. I continued this pursuit by attending Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, Oregon, then started classes for mechanical engineering. In 1996 I started working full time for a local Medical/Dental manufacturer. I became active in the Portland Area SolidWorks User Group, and was elected as their leader for three years. Over the past three years I have taught at both Portland Community and Clackamas Community Colleges. Currently I teach one or two SolidWorks classes weekly at Portland Community College. You can follow me on Twitter at @adamiser. 

Adam Scheible

RH: Do you have any industry experience? If so what and/or who with?

AS: I work full time for Beaverstate Dental, a Medical/Dental manufacturer in Newberg, Oregon. I have been there since 1996, and manage Sustaining Engineering and Quality Control. I also do various contracting/consulting jobs with local companies. This full time involvement in industry enables me to stay on the edge of the daily workings of the SolidWorks program, community, and processes.

RH: What led you to become a teacher?

AS: I have always enjoyed teaching and mentoring. When I made the case to purchase SolidWorks at Beaverstate Dental in 2002, I joined the local SolidWorks user group. I was an active participant and presenter, and became the user group leader in 2005. I held that position until December 2008 when I needed to give more time to my family and teaching.  (Richard Doyle’s comments on Adam)   

RH: Why do you teach CAD with SolidWorks?

AS: Why SolidWorks? That’s easy, it’s my professional tool of choice. I can have more done at the end of the day with SolidWorks.

RH: How long have you been teaching?

AS: I have taught at the college level for three years. I have been an active member of PASWUG for seven years, and continue to be supportive of the growing SolidWorks community through work, schools, and social media.

RH: Why do you teach CAD with SolidWorks?

AS: I teach SolidWorks because of the culture of both the SolidWorks/Dassault company and SolidWorks community. It’s what I use in industry and what I believe in. Basically it’s the best tool for my daily livelihood.

RH: What SolidWorks certifications if any do you currently hold?

AS: I don’t have any certifications, but am trying to get the nerve up to take my Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP) test before the summer break.

RH: What are your classes (age range and/or skill level)

AS: My student’s range from young adults to older, transitioning adults. Their skill level is across the board too. Most are working toward their BSME, but some are just trying to add to their skill set. Needless to say the classes are in high demand by everyone and we had to add another session this term. The popularity of SolidWorks is showing its relevance in all aspects of industry. This diversity is shown in each of my classes.

RH: What is a typical classroom day like for you?

AS: I work full time, and teach two nights per week. So, after a day at the office, I open the lab at 5:00pm to let my student’s work/learn/ask. I start teaching at 6:00pm and usually lecture for two hours. The next two hours are work time where I canvas the room helping students individually. I conclude my day at 10:00pm and then drive home to have dinner and kiss my sleeping kids goodnight. I repeat as necessary.

RH: What is your preferred teaching method? What method of teaching SolidWorks have you found to be successful?

AS: I have tried various textbooks and found strengths and weaknesses with all of them. Like Marc Nelson I used the SolidWorks Mountain Board project for a few terms. However, since I use SolidWorks professionally on a daily basis, I could not endorse some of the methods it presented. So, I wrote my own book and augment this with annotated video tutorials. Most importantly, I teach the “big picture” instead of button pushing. I’ve created my own version of the essentials course. I try to set up each lecture in three stages. 1) Key ideas outlined in a bulleted list. 2) Scripted example as a step by step lecture showing each button press. 3) Workflow example showing methodologies and thought process. 1, 2, 3 that’s it. Oh, I’m also a PowerPoint hater, and never use it.

RH: What curriculum and industry standards do you teach?

AS: Academically, I don’t have any curriculum standards. Likewise, I don’t have to teach to any industrial standard because I don’t just cater to drafting students. I’ve had students from mechanical engineering, industrial design, and manufacturing; so I try to focus on SolidWorks functionality instead of a specific industry or standard. That’s not to say they won’t learn drafting standards, but there is more to SolidWorks than drafting.

RH: How do you use the SolidWorks Educator resources and curriculum in teaching your class?

AS: For a long time the SolidWorks Educator resources were on the installation DVDs. However, the school IT department does the install before classes start. So, I never saw the materials offered. Then, there was a time that those resources were made available on the website and I was able to grab the mountain board project. However, this fall the SolidWorks website went through a major overhaul and the educator resources were not available. So, I don’t use the educator resources. Did I mention I tried the Mountain Board project two terms a while back? I could tell you more about it off the record. I just like to do things my own way. However, I see that content has been added to the SolidWorks Educators Blog, so I’ll have to check it out.

RH: Do you have any work from the students you are able to and would like to share? (pictures or models)

AS: I feel I should ask students permission before I share any of their intellectual property or projects, but I can tell you about our core classroom project. I build my class around a simple Lego set. Each piece we model illustrates various SolidWorks tools and functionality. We assemble the blocks to build various vehicles, and output drawings, renderings, and bills of materials like any company would expect.

RH: What industry do you teach for or what is the prevalent industry in your area that would eventually hire a SolidWorks trained person?

AS: Oregon still has a large high tech sector. We have the Intel headquarters, Nike, and a lot of bio-tech upstarts. Everyone is using SolidWorks at one level or another.

RH: What universities or community colleges are nearby that your students would attend and pursue a course of study with SolidWorks application?

AS: Just about all technical colleges and schools in the area use SolidWorks. Most post secondary schools are transitioning away from ProE and moving to SolidWorks. A partial list includes: Portland Community, Clackamas Community, Oregon State University (Beavers), University of Oregon (Ducks), University of Washington (Huskies), Clark College.

RH: Have you attended SolidWorks World? If so, what was beneficial from a teaching standpoint?

AS: I attended SolidWorks World 2006. Everything I attended and everyone I met was beneficial. However, I did not see an educator presence there at all. I plan on attending next year and hope to do a presentation as an educator. (PS: Don’t steal my ideas.)

RH: Will your school board or current school be willing to fund a trip for you to SolidWorks World?

AS: I will probably be funding the trip to SolidWorks World 2010 on my own. Oregon seems to “spend” money very well, just not on anything anyone wants. I could go through the channels, but remember, I like to do things my own way.

RH: Knowing that most school systems are in desperate financial situations, do you feel that there will be continued support for teaching SolidWorks and CAD drafting skills? If so, is it short term or long term support?

AS: This is a very hot topic for me because I both work in industry and am a member of the school faculty.

<edit: remove inflammatory, political monologue. (AS)>

A restructuring is badly needed. I try to live my life with this simple idea. I can’t discredit something if I haven’t made a real attempt to fix it. Therefore, I joined the curriculum advisory board at Clackamas Community College. One of the options on the table is restructuring the program from a two-year associates degree to a one-year certificate; something Portland Community College did some years ago. However, this is erosion of the highly-prized education model and may eventually lead to erosion of other degree programs. So I don’t have an answer right now, but I am at least taking an active part in the evaluation/solution process.

RH: How important do you feel that teaching SolidWorks/CAD/drafting skills is for the future of engineering and industry in general?

AS: CAD is an integral part of engineering today. At an increasing level engineers are doing their own detailing work. As companies further combine MRP/PDM data and personnel resources, the data shared needs to be current and complete. SolidWorks data is a huge benefit in this collaboration.

RH: What are the biggest challenges you face in teaching SolidWorks/drafting?

AS: My largest hurdle while teaching SolidWorks is un-teaching AutoCAD. When will the world stop teaching this as a current tool??!! To be fair, legacy data exists, but only needs to be maintained for the short term. Getting the students out of the 2D dungeon is the hardest part. Getting them to the wow-factor of SolidWorks is always a great day in the classroom.

RH: What are some goals for your future and do you always plan on teaching?

AS: This country needs engineers. I think our schools have produced too many liberal arts majors in the last 10 years. My goal is to reach younger, middle school age students. I recently talked with Saturday Academy, a local group dedicated to mentoring and offering classes to school kids.  I would like to start teaching SolidWorks classes at this level, but the hurdle now is hardware. We need to get new enough computers to run the next releases of SolidWorks.

Rich,

Thanks for taking the time to interview me and other SolidWorks educators out there. Your outreach through the blog, just like our teaching, helps the engineering community as a whole. Your time and contribution is appreciated by all. Was that the tardy bell? Well, I guess it’s time to get to class.

You are very welcome Adam.  I am very interested in your curriculum compared to other post secondary teachers.  If you are teaching SolidWorks at any level, give me a shout and let’s talk.  See you next time,

Richard Hall (RH): Hi Marc. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Marc Nelson (MN): My name is Marc Nelson. I currently teach at Greenville High School, Greenville, Michigan. I received my BS in Technology Education, in 2000 from Andrews University and my MA in Industrial Education in 2009 from Central Michigan University. I am currently a member of the West Michigan SolidWorks User Group. My Twitter handle is @marcnelson and my school website is http://www.jackettech.com

RH: Do you have any industry experience?  If so what and/or who with?

MN: I began teaching right out of college so I have very limited industry experience.  I did do an internship for my Master’s degree at Apiaries and Orchard Forklift in Edmore Michigan.  I worked mainly on what would become their parts manual for their main product, the Hummerbee Forklift.  Unfortunately I had to use AutoCAD for most of it and then they went to SolidWorks after I was finished (per my recommend).

RH: What led you to become a teacher?

MN: My desire to become a teacher came from several different influences. I have always enjoyed working with young people and watching them create, design and learn new concepts. I chose the area of industrial education because I enjoyed working with my hands. I thought it would be exciting to work with young people teaching them to apply their creativity to woodworking and metals. After taking drafting in high school, I developed a love for design and drafting and later learned CAD.

RH: How long have you been teaching?

MN: I have been teaching for 9 years, 4 at the middle school level and 5 years at the high school level, all for Greenville Public Schools.

RH: Why do you teach CAD with SolidWorks?

MN: When I started teaching CAD five years ago, the lab was equipped with AutoCAD 2000 LT. Knowing the program was old and that it had issues running on our network, I began looking for something that was based around parametric design concepts as well as a leading contender in the field of CAD software to replace it. Man, I was such a rookie back then. A colleague recommended I try SolidWorks and a vendor supplied me with a trial disk. After a brief love/hate relationship, I began to catch on. SolidWorks seemed to fit in naturally for the students I had try it out. I was able to find a vendor who would support us with our current network configuration (Novell). After having taught with the program for three years now, I have found that students easily catch on to the program due to the fact that today have a basic understanding of 3D space from video games and online experiences.

RH: What SolidWorks certifications if any do you currently hold?

MN: None currently.

RH: What are your classes (age range and/or skill level)

MN: I teach grades 9-12 and all of my classes have a mix of the four grades. Right now my student enrollment is about 140 or so with 28 per class max.

RH: What is a typical classroom day like for you?

MN: My day starts at 6:30 with my Engineering Graphics and Architectural Graphics classes. These are my upper level students. I currently have two CAD 1 classes, which are my introductory CAD classes. There is one CAD 2 class and a CAD 3 class as well. CAD 2 focuses on detail drawings, assemblies, section views, fasteners and some basic CNC through G-code. CAD 3 focuses on surfacing and packaging problems. I also teach a consumer tech class that is focused on basic automotive and home maintenance. It makes for a very busy day that wraps up with students at about 2:30. I then spend the next few hours planning and grading, hoping to not take work home. I am also our building’s technology representative to the district so that is one more duty during the day when issues arise.

RH: What is your preferred teaching method? What method of teaching SolidWorks have you found to be successful?

MN: What ever is successful. I have tried many different approaches and continue to try different things out. Introductory classes always start out with sketching. From there, I have varied my approach. Since I am sort of a traditionalist in the area of drafting, I prefer to teach orthographic projection early in the curriculum. Because I incorporate this early, I often do not jump in and use the SolidWorks educational curriculum right off the bat. In the introductory levels I will often teach the traditional drafting concepts and tie SolidWorks in as the method for obtaining these concepts. In my advanced classes, we spend more time focusing on design and learning.

RH: What curriculum and industry standards do you teach?

MN: My current curriculum is derived from a traditional drafting curriculum. Currently, Michigan does not have a specified drafting or vocational curriculum. The industry in our area varies and so I teach general approach to industry standards. My philosophy has been that since not every student I teach will stay in Greenville, I should prepare them with a good foundation for their post high school education no matter what area of design or engineering they go into.

RH: How do you use the SolidWorks Educator resources and curriculum in teaching your class?

MN: I have used these in various different ways. My engineering graphics class usually does the mountain board project every year. I often assign the tutorial and introductory activities to students who excel and allow them to work at their own pace. I am continually reviewing these materials and seeing how I can incorporate them into my classes. The power points are often a huge benefit as they allow students to refresh or review concepts I have taught about SolidWorks. These are great resources and I don’t fee like I use them enough.

RH: What industry do you teach for or what is the prevalent industry in your area that would eventually hire a SolidWorks trained person?

MN: Locally we have a heavy tooling and tool and die industry influence. But I teach my classes with an open-ended approach when it comes to industry. Since I would love to think that every student that leaves my classroom will continue on into an engineering career with SolidWorks as their chosen application. But as we all know, many times the workplace decides the CAD application and young engineers must learn the new software. Therefore, I want my students to learn two main concepts: 1) How to visually communicate parts through drafting/CAD and 2) How to learn a CAD program. If they have a basic understanding of these to concepts, I feel they will be successful in their post high school educational endeavors.

RH: What universities or community colleges are nearby that your students would attend and pursue a course of study with SolidWorks application?

MN: Our local community college is in the midst of transitioning to SolidWorks. Ferris State University and Central Michigan University also offer SolidWorks training in their engineering programs.

RH: Have you attended SolidWorks World? If so, what was beneficial from a teaching standpoint?

MN: Unfortunately no. But how many days till SWW10? The bloggers and Twitter users did a great job at giving the highlights, but I look forward to being there in person next year and meeting everyone. I feel like I have so much to learn and I could benefit so much from seeing when is being done with SolidWorks.

RH: Will your school board or current school be willing to fund a trip for you to SolidWorks World?

MN: This I am not totally sure of. I put in for it this year, but it happened to be about the same time that we found our funding was going to be lower than projected. I am sure the school administration would be happy to send me if there were outside funding options such as grants or donations.

RH: Knowing that most school systems are in desperate financial situations, do you feel that there will be continued support for teaching SolidWorks and CAD drafting skills? If so, is it short term or long term support?

MN: Continued support at the district level is very high as long as we can financially support it. Support from the state is questionable. Not doubt, with Michigan’s revised high school curriculum and budget cuts, electives are being cut in many districts. My short-term projection is we will be here. Long term projection is, well, I am not sure enough on that one to say. I would love to say we would be here for a while but with some wacky decisions being made, I can’t say for sure.

RH: How important do you feel that teaching SolidWorks/CAD/drafting is for the future of engineering and industry in general?

MN: Teaching the skills incorporated in SolidWorks are very important for our future. We as teachers are training tomorrow’s engineers, the ones to face greater challenges in design and conquer the challenges we cannot overcome today. The SolidWorks CAD package allows me to teach students to think critically and make changes based on data presented to them through the COSMOS applications. It allows them to see how entire assemblies work together to formulate a working solution to a problem. And teamwork can be incorporated into the learning process much like in an engineering design center.

RH: What are the biggest challenges you face in teaching SolidWorks/drafting?

MN: Two big challenges: time, the network and internal tech support. I really wish I had more time to sit down and become better with SolidWorks, learn it from one side to the other so I feel more proficient with it when I teach it. Second, our district is cross platform (Mac and PC) and we are running the district network on a Novell network. I am not going to go into the details, it adds complications along with how work orders are problem solved and resolved.

RH: What are some goals for your future and do you always plan on teaching?

MN: My plans for the future have always been to continue teaching. I love kids and teaching them to think and learn on their own while designing being creative. That is not to say I wouldn’t change my plans if the right job came along. I have considered working towards a college level position and even considered going back to school for an engineering degree.

Marc, Thanks for taking some time to share with me and everyone else about your life and passion for teaching and for SolidWorks.

Helpful education links:

SolidWorks User Group Network (Get involved and join a local user group today.  Information can be found here!)

SolidWorks Educators Blog  This site is dedicated to assisting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) instructors in incorporating SolidWorks into their course curriculum.

SolidWorks Corporation  Helpful links for Educators and Students