I wanted to take the time to thank you all – the readers. You have been checking my blog and site for tips, advice and validation on your CAD Management issues since December 2004 when I started this whole thing. There have been many who have contacted me for specific help on some topics and many who have posted comments on the site to add to my efforts. I have covered so many topics and still have much to say. Stay tuned.
After a good amount of setup – I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress.
This is the “beta” site. I call it beta because I am still working on it and still learning how to use WordPress. I have copied all of the posts to the new site (they are also still here). I will only post on this new site from now on.
I have added a more robust categories drop down and a categories cloud. The Archives are now under a dropdown.
I am testing out a Poll widget, Pages and more. The Pages still link back to my website until I move them all. I still need to figure out how to focus the RSS feeds and such. I will still be doing the Journal but that will come later in the month via email. Existing Subscriptions are still valid.
Please post a comment and let me know how I am doing – what you want to hear about – what is on your mind – and how the new site looks.
Have a great 2008…
Thanks so much,
Mark W. Kiker
CADDManager.com
Christmas Bells – by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1864)
As with any composition that touches the heart of the hearer, this poem flowed from the experience of Longfellow. When Longfellow penned the words to this poem, America was still embroiled in it’s Civil War and months away from Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9th 1865. His poem reflected the prior years of the war’s despair, while ending with a confident hope of triumphant peace. Longfellow had also experience tragedy — involving the tragic death of his wife Fanny and the crippling injury of his son Charles from war wounds.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
…
And in despair I bowed my head;
From the Autodesk website…
For AutoCAD customers in the Americas and Japan, you are entitled to 30 days support from your date of registration covering installation and configuration of your new Autodesk software.
Installation support
Installation support is support for installing software on your computer system using the installation process described in the product Getting Started manual. Troubleshooting of installation issues is also included.
Configuration support
Configuration support is support for setting up peripheral devices to work with your Autodesk software. It includes support for setting product and system variables to make the best use of the product on your system.
North and South America (including the Caribbean)
Product Support in English
You are entitled to 30 days of Up and Ready web and telephone support from your date of Registration, in English, covering installation and configuration of your new Autodesk software.
The 30-day support program will automatically be set up in the name of the person registering the product. This registering party will receive a system notification to set up a login to access the support program.
Continuing my look at Lunch and Learns here are a few random tips to make them better:
Get good speakers.
First look around the office to see who might be a good candidate for sharing in the instruction. Ask some of the Super Users. Ask some of your CAD Staff.
Ask your reseller. They are often willing to come in and do a quick presentation, especially on updates and new software.
Ask other CAD Managers. They may be willing to come and discuss some of the issues that they face. It may work best if they are not direct competition to your firm for work.
Get good content.
If you have no one that wants to present, then think about tapping into some of the free video tutorials. You can show them with a projector to the whole room and then discuss the topic after the presentation.
Have someone present on the project they are working on. Talk about how they put the files together. Talk about the rough spots and the successes.
Get good food.
Well it does also include food… so mix it up a little. Don’t blow your whole budget on high end cuisine, but don’t go too cheap. People get sick of pizza real quick.
FREE FOOD!
The two most powerful words – when combined – even more powerful.
Offering Lunch and Learns is a very common way of getting people to come to training. It is an incentive that few people can pass up. Most will come for the food, if not for the teaching.
The trouble is that many come only for the food. They get a free meal and don’t really pay much attention to the instruction. So it is a two edged sword. They come – but they pay little attention.
Here are a few ways to weed out the free loaders…
Don’t make lunch and learn easy to attend. Don’t send out reminders, if people forget, too bad for them.
Don’t let people just “drop in”. Make the sign up before hand and then sign in when they get there. No prior sign up – no food.
Make the food hard to get to. Place it far enough into the meeting area that late comers have to interrupt to get to it. Most people will not be late and if they are, they will not interrupt the flow of the class to get the food.
Stand guard over the event. Watch for those who are drifting off and interject some interactive time. Keep track of those that leave early and maybe have a chat with them about the reason they left. A little guilt may work wonders.
Make one of the events “bring your own” and see how it impacts attendance. If it drastically drops, then most people just want a free lunch. Think of another way to have training – without the “free” option.
From the AUGI site: (you must be a member to see some of this. Join for Free)
“AUGI is pleased to offer AUGI e-Learning, a program that offers AUGI members a selection of video tutorials focusing on various Autodesk products.
AUGI, in conjunction with CADLearning, is making video lessons available every month to AUGI members at no charge... These video lessons teach individual product concepts and features. Every month, new lessons in each course series will be available. Completion of the full course will take 12 to 18 months at the one-section-per-month rate.”
Revit
Inventor
AutoCAD Architecture
Max and VIZ
WOW – It’s all FREE!!! If you want to purchase more, AUGI negotiated a discount.
Two articles on your career path and the choices that must be made along the way.
Career Decision Points
– Take control of your CAD Manager Career
– Career Plateau
From the Archives… CAD Manager Career Road Map
Take a look at the latest issue
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There are a lot of training materials that can be used effectively.
Like I said – I like to create my own, but that is tough. Usually I start with other material that I may have used or has been used to train me. If I take a class in the latest software, I may use the handout as a starting point.
You can get a lot of material off the internet. Here are a few spots you can check into.
Autodesk Press has a lot of material that has been developed over the years. It is good foundational material.
Some are free like CADCEA 3d Tutorials. I have not tried this one. Some of the free stuff is very good and others are worth what you pay for them.
Check out CAD Tutor and MyCADSite.
CAD Digest has a great list. Not many of these are good for a classroom setting.
I have used Ascent materials before. They are good. Step by step outlines of what to do. You can actually view a sample of their courseware on their site.
CADapult software solutions has Civil courseware. There are training materials for Microstation also.
The Bentley site has training material as well as the Autodesk site and ArchiCAD.
A few of the courseware providers allow you to customize the books with your own logos and such (for an additional price). You will have to ask about that.
And don’t forget your reseller – some of them can produce training materials also.
When it comes to training material, I like to develop my own. That way I can tailor it to my needs and the audience. But this takes time, a lot of time. You need to decide if it will be an outline for an instructor lead class or a handout that people will read on their own.
An Outline has the purpose of keeping the class flow on track. It is not really meant to be used apart from an instructor lead process.
A handout to me is meant to be read without input and should contain more information. It may even be read without any instructor involvement.
An Outline should have some of the following principles in place as you write it:
- It is not exhaustive. It is assumed that the class will cover more than the handout.
- It is used to remind people of what they have learned. They should be paying more attention to the teacher than the notes.
- It is to provide content flow from one subject to the next. The instructor can use it to make transitions and to stay focused. The flow of the class should mimic the outline.
- It is to have ample space for notes. The outline should encourage note taking and leave room to allow it to happen.
A Handout is something is used in and beyond the classroom:
- Make it easy to read. A nice flow of words to the reader.
- Use a balance of words and screen shots
- Use a large amount of screen shots that are annotated with arrows and circles. Snag-It is a great tool for this.
- Introduce any new concepts but not too much. A good balance is to have a paragraph or so before the body of the instruction.
- Include step by step procedures that tell people why and not just what to do. You should intersperse the reasons for each step when they are not obvious. Like: “Select all entities (It is easier to grab them all and then remove some later)”
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