Autodesk Helps Students Acquire Core Design And Engineering Skills

Autodesk deals in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets.

The five Autodesk educational suites are: Suite for Architecture and Engineering 2010; Suite for Civil and Structural Engineering 2010; Suite for Mechanical Engineering 2010; Suite for Industrial Design 2010; and a Master suite that encompasses all the other suites into one single pack.

Joe Astroth, Ph.D., Autodesk vice president of learning and education, commented that at present there is a tremendous need for engineering and design talents with proper educational and technical skills around the world. To help satisfy that need Autodesk has unveiled these suites and the company is aiming to make faculty and students even more successful.

The suites are supported by nine curricula that promote teaching concepts. Curricula include professionally developed lecture notes, student workbooks, challenging projects and other valuable tools to help instructors teach crucial skills. Among them are lessons for students to familiarize themselves with the tools and designs with proper practice under the Sustainable Design Education Curriculum, set of projects to help classroom teaching and promote student understanding of BIM (Building Information Modeling) under Autodesk Revit Architecture BIM Curriculum, tools for students to learn and hone their civil engineering skills under AutoCAD Civil 3D BIM Curriculum and 3D mechanical designs from sketching, modeling and documentation to analysis and visualization under the AutoCAD Inventor Curriculum.

According to the company, through these curricula, it supports the integration of technology and current industry trends into design education through discipline-specific technology suites that encourage multidisciplinary learning.

In order to add science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education into secondary classrooms the company has announced technology suites that encourage hands-on training. Through the new released Design Academy 2010 and Animation Academy suites Autodesk offers free access to 2D and 3D software for students and educators, online learning resources and tutorials, and forums to discuss classroom ideas.

English language versions of the new industry-oriented suites are scheduled to begin shipping in June, and will be offered in other languages during the summer. Generally, licenses for each suite will be available in volume discount packages, ranging from small class packages to large school packages, depending on the customer’s geographic region.