Pennsylvania College of Technology became a special mission affiliate of Pennsylvania State University in 1989 after establishing a national reputation for applied technology education supporting workforce development. Nearly 5,500 students are enrolled at Penn College in more than 100 fields of study. The college also provides short-term training to more than 7,500 students through Workforce Development and Continuing Education at Penn College (WDCE). WDCE offers customized business, plastics, healthcare, computer, energy, and industrial training programs to companies and their incumbent workers. Penn College’s Engineering Design Technology Program once utilized AutoCAD® 2D design and drafting tools as its foundational software for supporting coursework. Prior to 2012, first-year students focused on 2D and did not get into 3D until later years of study. The curriculum was rewritten to emphasize 3D as the foundational design paradigm. The new 3D curriculum shifted focus from AutoCAD to SOLIDWORKS Education Edition software due to greater demand for SOLIDWORKS skills in industry, according to Instructor Craig A. Miller. “Our students often attend career fairs and go on interviews to seek employment opportunities,” Miller explains. “They would return and tell us that prospective employers ‘all want SOLIDWORKS skills.’ Although the new curriculum still includes courses in PTC Creo®, Autodesk® Inventor®, and AutoCAD, when we realized that SOLIDWORKS is the most pervasive 3D design software in industry, we decided to make SOLIDWORKS our foundational 3D design platform to better prepare students for employment and careers in industry.” Penn College acquired 100 licenses of SOLIDWORKS Education Edition software for installation in its labs and 100 student versions for installation on student laptops. The college chose to make SOLIDWORKS software the foundational platform for its Engineering Design Technology Program because it is easy to use and better supports the college’s mission of preparing graduates for employment. “The transition was very smooth, and within a year of making the decision, the first-year students were very much focused on SOLIDWORKS,” Miller recalls.
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR EMPLOYMENT
By implementing SOLIDWORKS Education Edition software as its foundational engineering design teaching tool, Penn College is better preparing students for employment after graduation because it is matching the skills that the college teaches with the requirements of industry. “We knew that we needed to move from 2D to 3D to better prepare our students, and our placement experience has shown the vast majority of employment opportunities require SOLIDWORKS experience,” Miller notes. “The students took to SOLIDWORKS right away—they suck it up like a sponge—and immediately began creating complex designs using 3D parametric modeling,” Miller adds. “We’ve always had strong placement numbers because manufacturers have experience with the quality of our graduates. Even though many companies are willing to invest in training for top-notch recruits, our focus on SOLIDWORKS has allowed many of our students to go right into industry and integrate themselves much faster than if they didn’t acquire SOLIDWORKS skills.”
