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Where to Start Students
jason_nicholas_jths
Member Posts: 5 EDU
Hi. I teach high school CAD. I am going to be focusing on using the design thinking process for designing products.
Do you have any recommendations on how to start having my students learn Onshape? We are using the enterprise education edition.
The only experience that most of my students have with CAD app/software is Tinkercad.
I was thinking of using the Onshape educator resources and having my students follow the Intro to CAD learning path.
I am hoping to break it down as simple as possible to start with - including assignments/sharing and copying docs, etc.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
Comments
The learning paths are a great way to start, but you could also try something a little more interesting. I had a cad-a-palooza at our robot team. I used models from too tall toby's practice model archive and had the students try to model the parts starting at difficulty level 1. Then I ran around the room answering Onshape questions, but some of the advanced students also helped. This way you only need to address the gaps in knowledge, rather than hoping the students will watch and absorb video lessons.
@josh_targo Great idea. I love Too Tall Toby's videos. He breaks things down in such an easy to follow way. Thank you for your suggestion!
https://learn.onshape.com/learning-paths/intro-to-cad
ask your student to make this live in class, and you will (and they will) know within minutes what everyone's level of understanding is.
Also, CAD Challenges.
Hi Jason,
When teaching CAD I tend to think it diminishes some of its potential when it’s taught as a functional skill in isolation.
I like to use the Toolset : Skillset : Mindset framework for any technology application in education - iPads, CAD, 3D printers…
In this case the tool is Onshape, the skills are sketching, extruding, assemblies etc… the “tricker” facet therefore is the mindset - how will students develop a mindset where they try to solve issues when they arise, how can they apply x skill to y problem or context, how can they ask a pertinent question, how do they know what they don’t know (CAD packages are broad and deep!)
For me, these are as important as the funcional skills and will need careful curriculum planning. I normally start my asking by the end of this section what (1)’do I want them to know (facts, definitions, icons, vocabulary etc) and (2) what do I want them to be able to do (add a constraint, explain their design intent, revere engineer an existing design, optimise something etc).
This tends to help my focus when designing lessons: less is normally more!… What is fundamental, and what is “nice to do.”
I am always happy to elaborate, collaborate or share!
All the best,
Ed