Planning Precepts for CAD Instructional Design

Abstract

Employer demands for persons trained in the use of computer-aided drafting (CAD) has exceeded most education and training projections. In trying to meet these demands, educational institutions have encountered significant instructional obstacles. As an example, publishers who provide instructional materials in support of the different teaching disciplines have deferred publication of CAD instructional materials except at the most general level, because of the hardware-specific orientation of CAD. Colleges and schools have been forced to rely on CAD vendors to provide the necessary teacher training and instructional materials. This might be all right except that CAD vendors have focused their research and development, as well as application support efforts, at the commercial market and not the education market. The primary purpose of this paper is twofold. First, issues considered critical to CAD instruction at the secondary and postsecondary level institutions, who are responsible for training operators and technicians, are discussed. Second, given the preceding critical issues, instructional design principles and observations related to CAD instruction at the secondary and postsecondary levels are presented.