Student Interest

[Reece L Gibson]

I was wanting to know how other Schools

attracted students to get involved in the metal

working industry and end up learning Mastercam.

Getting them to take the training offered at your Schools or training Centers.

Another thing, are most of your students beginners

or experienced machinist wanting to learn the Software?

[Michael Reynolds]

Hi Millturn!

We're at the college level, so we try to get as many junior/senior high schools as we can to come to our facility on field trips. When they get there, we talk to them about MONEY, and give them demo's on our cnc machines (always impresses kids), and demo's on mastercam.

I also offer "non credit" classes in cnc programming (hand), and a few night classes in mcam. I usually get 3 or 4 students per year from that. Also, we get alot of people who have been laid off from 'non skilled' positions who are granted funding for college. Then, of course, we get some from our local vocational high schools.

Hope that helps!!

Mike R.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

99 9/10% of my students are currently either Machinists, Programmers, Set-Up People or Operators. Most of them are not Programmers but want to be. I tell them that unles they are willing to spend their own time at home learning it, it will take them considerably(sp?) longer to "get there".

Since Mastercam BY FAR, rules the roost here in SoCal, they know the money is in learning Mastercam. Most think Programming is easy, like playing a video game.

[Ron]

I teach in a high school and my program is still in the growing stage. It has been a challenge to get new students and keep them interested. I design projects around the students though. Most of the time, I let them choose the activities with some guidance of course. I also stress the money and reinforce it with field trips and tours. I have in the past also done mass production on our CNC router and sold the products and distributed the profits. (That was popular!) I also have products on display. Raster to vector is going to help my class because it allows a novice to create an impressive design. It always helps to get them right into some take home activity. Enough rambling...its been a long day!

[Reece L Gibson]

Thanks guy's, You got some good idea's that I will try.

[JD]

I've found three things that have caused the number of students learning MCAM and signing up for more tech design courses.

1)In the junior grades (9/10), have a simple MCAM project as one of the mandatory projects the kids do - when they see the sims and discover what they can do w/ the program - they can't get enough and continue to take tech design courses.

2)Visible participate in Skills Canada competitions (automated manufacturing)-the first year that I entered a team of 3, lots of other kids saw what they were doing and how well they did (National Silver) and by year two I had no fewer than 5 teams of 3 wanting to represent the school.

3)At senior levels, create design challenges that require students to use MCAM to design and manufacture parts necessary to complete the task. For those who haven't used MCAM-it forces them to see its benefits; for those who have used it-they can really extend their skills by creating more complex solutions.

[Guest]

Some good feature articles in local media can also help. At one school (tech college) I worked at, we wrote an article about a graduate of the program who had started his own shop. The article ran in the alumni magazine, and, according to the machining instructor, resulted in 6 new students.

At another college I worked at, we wrote an article about a woman who'd taken engine design and become an engine tech. It appeared in the local newspaper. Several women saw the article and thought, "If she can do it, I can do it." They enrolled. One woman told me she'd grown up around tractors and had always enjoyed helping her grandfather tinker with them. She'd taken a more traditional route for women, though, and had become a secretary. Then she saw the article, and traded in that profession for a technical one that paid twice as much. The same logic applies to machining. Often when someone sees an article about a person succeeding in a field, they take an interest because they can identify with the person.

Debby