I
am very appreciative in that we get the option this week of exploring content
objects that can be used specifically for the subjects we teach. For the last 10 years I have focused on
teaching Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) for the Engineering students. A big reason I made it a large focus in my
courses is a couple of professors, one at Southern Methodist University (SMU)
and the other at The University of Texas Dallas (UTD), told me that the
freshmen engineering students were lacking that experience upon enrollment and
needed to get more exposure in high school.
The program was working well, and then in stepped COVID. Prior to the shutdown in March the
3-Dimentional (3D) software of choice had been Autodesk Inventor.
Chrome Books have been the technology of choice
for our district to issue to the students.
Unfortunately, a Chrome Book does not have the memory of the graphics
capabilities to install Inventor. Many
of my former students have recently contacted me wanting an alternative, but
with learning a new position at work and taking this course I have not had the
time to dedicate to research. This
assignment has allowed me to look for the alternative software my former
students asked for and to do my assignment in the process. The number one priority for the students is
that the CAD program needed to be browser based, not a program to download onto
the Chrome Book.
There are several of CAD programs that are
listed on the internet as being free, browser based, and useful for instructing
beginners. Advanced students already had
the option of using Fusion 360, which is a browser based CAD program with the
capabilities of Autodesk Inventor, and is designed by Autodesk. But the students needed something simpler to
enhance their learning, allow for manipulation of their design, and still
produce the STL (Standard Tessellation Language) files needed for 3D
printing.
Tinkercad
Due to my familiarity with Autodesk products,
the first CAD program I picked to play with was Tinkercad (https://www.tinkercad.com/), which was developed
by Autodesk. Tinkercad was listed as a beginner level CAD program, browser
based, free (which is a must), and can produce STL files among others. Tinkercad is geared toward education and has
access to curriculum, and tutorials.
Although it uses basic modeling operations, Tinkercad has the option to
combine the primitive shapes designed by students to make more complex
creations. Tinkercad also had features
that assist in coding and electronics, which are in the curriculum for more
than one of the engineering classes.
Tinkercad’s options push students to use their critical thinking skills
and at the same time give them the creativity tools a beginner CAD student
could use for advancement to another level of competency. The affordances for learning are built into
this program and are representative of the pedagogical, content, and
technological knowledge needed to meet TPACK Model criteria.
The next browser based
STL capable CAD program I played with was Leopoly (https://makers.leopoly.com/). The web site for this product
insists that this is the ideal place for beginning students to learn 3D
modeling and offers easily understood introductions instead of complexity. This site was created by ZSpace and was
intended to be a free browser based option for training beginning students on
designing 3D projects. These projects
can be saved in both OBJ and the needed STL files for 3D printing. Unfortunately, Leopoly turned out to be more
of a 3D sculpting tool than a CAD program.
A beginning design starts with a ball, block or other predetermined
shape of virtual clay. Then the student
can modify the clay using tools that are more aligned to an Art class in
sculpting or ceramics than an actual CAD program. There is a curriculum available and I found
some YouTube tutorial videos that could possibly help with learning the software. Leopoly might be a virtual solution for
ceramic and sculpting art students that are on virtual learning. It would cover the technological portion of
the TPACK model, but I can’t see where it would cover any part of pedagogical
or content knowledge for art and especially for CAD. Overall I was not impressed with Leopoly, and
would not recommend its use as software to design 3D printer projects due to
its low affordances and it does not work well when using a hotspot for the
internet.
The next browser based
CAD software I played with was SketchUp free version. (https://www.sketchup.com/plans-and-pricing/sketchup-free)
SketchUp also has multiple versions which have more options and must be paid
for, but as students we need to be cost effective so the free version will be
the choice for evaluation. It is rated
for the beginner up to intermediate level, which seemed to be a good location
to allow for growth of knowledge and complexity in student learning and
projects. SketchUp can produce PNG, SKP,
and STL files. The initial setup for use
was very time consuming, and I suspicion that the problem was caused by using a
hot spot for internet connection. (Since I did not get time to play with this
one at work, I can only guess that the internet speed was the issue.) SketchUp is capable of doing more complex
modeling than Tinkercad and Leopoly, and encourages collaboration of users
(especially if you get the paid version).
SketchUp also offers a way to host 3D models on line, making it easier
to collaborate with others on a project, and/or easier remote access of
personal designs. The SketchUp Pro
software requires money, but it has many more options in its advanced platform
which is tailored for professionals to use, and there is a less expensive
version for personal use. Even the free
version was complex enough that I had to watch some tutorial videos to get
started. It was both challenging, and
required me to use my critical thinking skills.
I could see where SketchUp would be too challenging for my lower level
learners unless I provided a step by step guide for projects until they felt
more proficient with the software. The
affordances SketchUp offers for a CAD curriculum covers the technological,
pedagogical and knowledge portions of the TPACK model. I believe that the use of SketchUp would be
an excellent addition to an e-portfolio.
And there is one last thing that I forgot to mention about
SketchUp. It is very difficult to use
unless you have a mouse connected to your laptop. I would suggest never trying to use any CAD
programs without a mouse.
Conclusion
My objective was to
find a better browser based CAD program for students to use with their school
provided Chrome Books. Out of the three
options I played with, I believe Tinkercad is the best option for student ease
of use and comprehension. Although it is not a true design from scratch CAD
program, it does have the affordances of influencing critical thinking and
inclusion of the needed technology, pedagogy, and knowledge components to meet
the TPACK model requirements.
The purpose of our Tech
Play assignments was to try our technology that we had not used before. If that had not been the requirement I would
have included Auto Desk Fusion 360.
Although it is rated for advanced students, it is more compatible to the
Auto Desk Inventor that we use in the classroom. There would be less of a learning curve for
experienced CAD students with this browser based software, and it would make it
easier on beginner students to transfer back to the classroom software when we
are allowed to return to school.
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