Targeted CAD/CAM Workshops for Freshmen to Improve Overall Performance

Abstract

Introduction to Computer Aided Design (CAD)/Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) is typically covered at the freshman level. This course is especially crucial for institutes where students engage in cooperative education with employers in the manufacturing industry. In addition, given the demanding nature of the course, retention at the freshman level has been a persisting issue. The culminating experience for this particular course requires all students to take the Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) exam. Unfortunately, 54.7% of the students failed the CSWA exam in the previous offering. A major issue has been the insufficient course contact hours for this content-heavy course. In addition to CAD/CAM introduction, there are several other courses in the freshman sequence resulting in a total class time of only 50 minutes per week. Taking this into consideration, targeted practical workshops were held every three weeks in the latter half of the semester to better prepare the students. The workshops were carefully designed to effectively cover the following areas: fluency in SolidWorks, critical thinking and decision making, design intent, CAD management, and software customization. A total of three workshops were held remotely for the students enrolled in a section taught by the primary author. The control group comprised of the remaining students enrolled in other sections. The student response for the workshops was overwhelmingly positive, and there was an evident improvement in the performance on the CSWA exam. All students who attended the workshop passed the certification exam thus improving the overall course failure rate by over 10%.