Computer Aided Drafting: perceived needs of Virginia's community college drafting instructors
Rapid changes in the drafting profession have left gaps in skills and resources which hinder the ability of community college drafting instructors to provide students with the advanced skills needed for employment. To minimize these problems and to facilitate the integration of CAD into drafting pro...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | en |
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Virginia Tech
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39642 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10052007-143223/ |
| Summary: | Rapid changes in the drafting profession have left gaps in skills and resources which hinder the ability of community college drafting instructors to provide students with the advanced skills needed for employment. To minimize these problems and to facilitate the integration of CAD into drafting programs, local and state authorities must plan to allocate adequate resources to each program. They must also provide avenues for instructors to become proficient with CAD and to assess the instructor's perceptions about their needs.
The purpose of this study was to identify areas of perceived need of community college drafting instructors in Virginia. A survey was mailed to 36 community college drafting instructors. For 14 categories of CAD skills, instructors were asked to indicate their (1) technical skill, (2) need for technical training, (3) level of CAD integration, (4) integration skill, and (5) need for integration training. The instructors were also asked to identify resource needs.
The findings suggest that a high level of instruction exists in CAD categories related to traditional drafting tasks. Fewer instructors have ventured into the CAD categories related to design. Many of the instructors who have attempted to teach these categories feel uncertain about their technical skills and skills in integrating advanced CAD categories into their drafting curriculum. From the instructors' responses, it is concluded that a need for resources exists to help instructors to use and integrate CAD categories related to design and customization. === Ed. D. |
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