#Value of High School CAD
4 messages in this thread
I need help. I teach in a high school and am on the site management team. We
are trying to determine the value of offering year-long courses in CAD and
Architectural Drawing. We have carried these courses for ten years, but our
district is interested in cutting costs. More comprehensive training programs
in CAD and Arch.Drawing are offered at our local Vo-Tech Center and we need to
decide whether our in-house offerings are redundant. College bound students
are not able to complete the requirements for a New York State Regents diploma
and attend the Vo-Tech Center. Our concern is to find out how valuable these
two courses are to college bound students, especially those who want to major
in Architecture or Engineering.
Based on your experience, how important are CAD and drawing skills for
engineers and architects? Are these opportunities our students need?
I am a Social Studies teacher and do not have an extensive technical
background. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.
Tim Schell
Tim,
YES, YES AND YES to the questions you posed. I am a Faculty member at the
British Columbia Inst. of Technology so my knowledge of the HS versus Vo-Tech
scenario is not good, however, any coordination on course offerings should
quickly reveal a need to get as much CAD experience for the students regardless
of age and/or level.
Currently, there are many text books and resources from Autodesk that would be
of great help to you given your comment on technical background. Hopefully some
others will jump in and give you their thoughts.
Phil Dollan
Phil,
Thanks for your reply. The message I've received from you and from others is
clear. The more technical background all of our students have, the better.
This argues for keeping the CAD and drawing courses.
Tim
Tim,
I teach in a high school in central PA. I teach acad in an arch 1 and 2 yr
long class. These are part of our Technology Education communications
curriculum. The value of these courses is emense. Students learn to apply the
abstract theoroy they learn in Math, Science and even Socail Studies. We are
doing a unit on shelter from the days of the cave to the days of the corner
sidewalk for the homeless. Many applications of problem solving are possible
with a project oriented course. What's happening in the world of education is
subject integration. We do have a Vo-tech course at our school also in some of
the same classrooms only during a 3 pd morning block of time. Their course
goals are for specific saleable skills. IMHO they need more design problem
solving.
Our classes are 95% college bound. They use the cad skillls directly in college
in areas of arch, engineering, science, geology, etc. This is an everyday skill
today for a college kid. We teach problem solving and development of critical
thinking skills.
Not only do they learn some design, how to draw and how to render and animate
but they learn a hell of a lot about computer technology. all my students
usually find summer jobs where they operate computers and turn out to be some
of the best computer gurus in town. This part is just a by-product of the
autoCad class.
You should talk to the people at some of the SUNY centers and to Rensaeler Poly
Tech.
Also talk to Ken FORD, a principal in a school near Utica called Sauquoitt
Valley- I think the phone there is 315-839-5500. Ken is a teacher but also has
an EE degree. He is no light weight on the higher ed side and can tell you more
specifics on the need for more technology education in this country.
I also teach 3 semester long computer graphics classes using autodesk products,
there are none better for todays world.
Feel free to email me a message for more info.
Pat Vernon