When Assistant Professor Bailey Adams saw a lull in the progression of certain areas in CAD design, he decided to address it by evolving the TSM 2160: Advanced Technical Graphics curriculum to better reflect new dimensioning industry standards. To meet this challenge, Adams brought junior in industrial technology, Rochelle Thys, on board; Thys took the course the previous semester, and her connection to the course content and passion for helping others made her perfect for the role.
“Some students really connect with CAD and bring an eagerness to take things to the next level of depth in the subject matter, and Rochelle is one of them. She has a passion for helping people and a drive to improve processes; I’m grateful to have her on my team!” said Adams.
Thys and Adams collaborated to improve existing projects and develop new assignments that apply the concepts they learned in coursework.
With standards of geometric dimensioning & tolerancing in mind, Thys helped students gain a deeper understanding of how the CAD platform performs and the “why” behind each step. One project, “Comprehensive Drawing,” combined machined hole specifications, surface roughness symbols, geometric dimensioning & tolerancing, drawing revision systems for continuous improvement of prints, and more learned over the semester into a single, intricate industrial print.
“We essentially reverse-engineered the drawing to include everything the students learned in the semester. We added application to the concepts, thinking in new ways like we would in the industry!” Said Thys.
Reflecting on her experience as an undergraduate teaching assistant, Thys gained skills she can utilize in her future career, “In addition to digging deeper into technical graphics, I also worked hard to communicate these complex topics in the best way for students to find success,” Thys said.
With technology constantly changing to be more efficient, experts and cross-trainers are necessary to connect new standards to users, and TSM 2160: Advanced Technical Graphics is preparing students to hit the ground running.