Heidi Hewett's Blog

Autodesk University Podcasts

To help you get geared up for Autodesk University 2007, a podcast series of short interviews from various AU presenters has been posted to the AU website. Check out these podcasts on the AU Beat!

Free AutoCAD 2008 Training Webcasts

If you missed the live AutoCAD 2008 Webcasts last month, no worries! They were recorded and posted for you to view at your convenience! To view a list of these, and other, Webcasts, visit: www.autodesk.com/autocadwebcasts

Best Practices for Annotation Scaling, with Heidi Hewett
One of the most powerful new features in AutoCAD 2008 is the Annotation Scaling feature. You no longer need to do the math to get your text, dimensions, hatches and blocks to display at the correct scale in paper space. Technical product manager Heidi Hewett will show you how AutoCAD 2008 will do the work for you.
Watch the webcast

AutoCAD Tips & Tricks, with Heidi Hewett
AutoCAD Technical product manager Heidi Hewett will help you hone your AutoCAD skills and show you how the latest release of AutoCAD can make you more productive than ever! You're sure to learn some powerful techniques to shorten your design time.
Watch the webcast

You can also view the following AutoCAD 2007 Webcasts:

Best Practices for Rendering and Visualization with Heidi Hewett
Do you ever have to present your design ideas to a non-technical audience? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could create compelling images within your familiar AutoCAD environment? Well now you can.
Watch the webcast

Best Practices for Conceptual Design with Heidi Hewett
If you have tried working with solids and surfaces in AutoCAD in the past, but it was just too difficult, then it’s time to try AutoCAD® 2007 software.
Watch the webcast

Lynn Allen’s Tips & Tricks for Success
Learn from the expert how to get the most out of AutoCAD 2007.
Watch the webcast

In addition, here are links to some "hidden" AutoCAD 2006 Webcasts:

Creating Dynamic Blocks in AutoCAD 2006

Migrating menus and customizing the AutoCAD 2006 user interface

Tour of AutoCAD 2006

Working with tables in AutoCAD 2006

Most of the material in the AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD 2007 Webcasts is also valid in AutoCAD 2008.

Learning from the AutoCAD Bible...

If you are interested in learning AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, including the new 2008 functionality, you have a new resource to turn to! Renowned author, Ellen Finkelstein, has just published the 8th edition of her AutoCAD Bible:  AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008 Bible. To learn more, visit http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/.

Congratulations Ellen!

Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide

If you are a CAD manager, have some of the responsibilities of a CAD manager or just want to learn more about CAD management topics, check out Robert Green's newly released book: Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide.

In his book, Robert discusses "real world CAD management issues like budgeting, training, management oversight, expectation management and software/network configuration tips in a conversational style". If you've had the opportunity to attend one of Robert's lectures at Autodesk University or CAD Camp or if you've read any of his work, you know Robert is a fantastic instructor and writer.

Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide will be available at retail outlets, Amazon.com and from Robert Green’s CAD-Manager.com web site.  To learn more go to www.cad-manager.com/book.

AUGI 2006 Salary Survey!

Time is running out! October 31 is the last day for you to respond to the AUGI 2006 CAD Salary Survey! It only takes a few minutes to answer all the questions...  really! I just did it in less than 2 minutes! The results from this survey are valuable for all of us and the more people that respond, the more accurate the results!

Off Course - On Target

Off Course - On Target is an intriguing name for what is guaranteed to be an intriguing blog! Some of you may remember my interview with Wayne Hodgins. Wayne, unknowingly, was an inspiration for my blog and one of my first blog posts was based on my interview with him. Now Wayne has launched his own blog providing a “path to learning how to become more open to new ways of thinking, how to recognize when and how to act on new ideas, and how to be more innovative, inventive, effective, and productive”.

Visit http://waynehodgins.typepad.com/ to LEARN more!!

Autodesk University 2006

If you couldn't attend one of the fabulous AUGI CAD Camps or if attending CAD Camp made you realize how much there is to learn, how about asking the boss to send you on an educational trip to Las Vegas?! Autodesk University will be held at the Venetian Hotel, November 28 - December 1.

Autodesk University is "the Premier Autodesk Learning and Networking Event" offering:

• Nearly 500 expert-led classes in an ideal learning environment
• Information about the Autodesk 2007 family of solutions
• End-to-end design, visualization, and collaboration solutions from Autodesk and industry partners
• Face-to-face meetings with leading developers and Autodesk staff and executives
• The collective wisdom of a community of peers and industry leaders
• And much more

To learn more about Autodesk University 2006 visit www.autodesk.com/au.

See you in Vegas!

How does your salary stack up?

Find out how your salary stacks up against others with your title, in your industry, and in your geographic region by participating in AUGI's 2006 CAD Salary Survey. The more people that participate, the more accurate the data! I just took a look at the survey and it should only take you a few minutes to complete. It has 17 easy-to-answer questions.

Message from AUGI:

This year's survey has been enhanced to include more job titles, more industries, and other improvements. You'll get results that you can show to the boss, and maybe even take to the bank. But first you have to complete the 2006 CAD Salary Survey!

So that this year's survey can provide measurable and meaningful data, it is important that all AUGI members participate. Look at it this way: In exchange for a few minutes of your time today, you can receive big benefits in the near future.

You need to be an AUGI member to take the survey and view the results... but that is okay because AUGI membership is FREE!

Become an AutoCAD superstar!

Imagine going on a job interview for a CAD-related position and when your perspective employer asks if you have any samples of your work, you say "Sure! Launch AutoCAD!" or "You bet! Go to the Autodesk Web site".

One of my responsibilities at Autodesk is to collect customer drawings for use in marketing and training material. These drawings come from people like you, working on real design projects. The drawings we collect are used for various purposes around the world including posters, brochures, courseware, tutorials, sample drawings, software demonstrations, the Autodesk Website, you name it! I love it when I travel abroad and see drawings that I collected being used in Japanese AutoCAD brochures, German training material, and French AutoCAD sample files. Last year we received a great data set from Rodrigo, a former architectural student in Mexico. The drawings he and his partners produced can be seen in AutoCAD related material around the world including Webcasts and the Customer Stories.

Your drawings don't have to be elaborate models or from a particular industry. We need drawings of every type and from any industry

So, if it is so easy to become a CAD superstar by submitting your drawings, why isn't everyone doing it?  There is a catch... a legal one. The owner of the drawings must sign our legal release form before we can use the drawings publicly. We understand that some drawings contain information that should not be made public. However, when we include the drawings in AutoCAD, Websites, or anywhere else, we can't control where they might end up. Thus, we need full permission to use them. If your drawings contain data that you can't share, you can remove the data before submitting them. We have received drawings from large and small customers around the world. For AutoCAD Release 14, we received drawings for London's Heathrow Airport... imagine that! They modified the drawings to remove information that might be considered a security risk. For AutoCAD 2000, we received 4 CD's of drawings from the World EXPO '98 in Lisbon Portugal. For AutoCAD 2004 we received a set of floor plans for an office remodel in Denver, Colorado. These drawings and the many others that we have received from large and small firms, government agencies, educational institutions, students, and individual users are what enable us to produce realistic and meaningful training and marketing material.

Because I work on the AutoCAD team, I am specifically interested in plain AutoCAD drawings. However, I would be more than happy to pass along any other drawings (ADT, MDT, Revit, Inventor, etc) to the appropriate people on those teams. At this time, I am especially interested in finding drawings that include AutoCAD geometry and corresponding table information. For example, maybe you have a civil drawing that uses lines and arcs to represent piping and it includes a table or Excel spreadsheet to show the total length of the pipe, cost per unit of length, total cost, pipe description, etc. This is just one example from one industry but I’m interested in any similar data from any industry.

If you are interested in submitting drawings (wouldn’t this be a great project for a design school?), please contact me directly. I will be glad to answer questions or review your drawings (maybe in DWF format) prior to you “officially” submitting them. I’ve posted the Consent Release Form under the Documents section of my blog.

CAD Manager's Survey

Time is running out for you to respond to Robert Green's CAD Manager's Survey.

The data that Robert collects from this survey will support various CAD Manager-related articles and reports in Cadalyst Magazine and in his CAD Manager’s Newsletters.

The more people that respond, the more accurate the data! If you are a CAD Manager, please take a few minutes to respond to Robert's survey before it closes down this weekend!

FREE ATP Courses!

ATP (AUGI Training Program) courses for October 2006 start today!

AUGI membership is free! ATP training courses are free! What are you waiting for?

Visit http://augi.typepad.com/augi_news/2006/10/atp_courses_for.html to learn more!

New CADLearner Blog!

Dan Dolan, President of CADLearning / 4D Technologies, recently launched a new blog dedicated to CAD-related learning topics. He covers “the latest trends and issues regarding training tools and processes”, which can include:
• Instructor-led-Training ( ILT)
• e-Learning
• Self-Paced Tutorial products
• Learning Management Systems
• Knowledge Management concepts
• Systems and Informal Learning

Visit the CADLearner at http://dolan.cadlearning.com/ to "learn" more!

Annual CAD Manager's Survey

It's that time of year! Time for the Annual CAD Manager Survey conducted by Robert Green at Cadalyst Magazine. The data supports Robert's annual survey reports in Cadalyst Magazine and in his CAD Manager’s Newsletters. And, of course, the more people that respond, the more accurate the data.

Visit

www.cad-manager.com/survey.htm to contribute your data!

Free Training from AUGI!

AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) offers free training on various topics and products through the AUGI Training Program. The September courses start today!  For more information follow the ATP link on www.augi.com.

eLearning Options!

Although e-Learning is not a replacement for live instructor-led training, it can help fill the gap when live instructor-led training is not feasible. e-Learning content is typically modular enabling you to focus on specific topics and work at your own pace. You can use e-Learning to supplement your existing knowledge or reinforce/refresh what you learned from a more traditional learning environment.

If you are a subscription member, you can access e-Learning lessons from the Autodesk Subscription Center. These self-paced lessons include hands-on, step-by-step exercises that enable you to master the key concepts and features of your Autodesk software.  Some of the newest eLearning titles include:

AutoCAD 2007 – 5 lessons (Japanese)
AutoCAD Electrical 2007 (IEC) – 5 lessons (Italian)
AutoCAD Mechanical 2007 – 5 lessons (Italian)
Autodesk Inventor 11 – 5 lessons (Italian)
Autodesk Inventor 11 – 5 lessons (Spanish)
Autodesk MAP 3D 2007 – 5 lessons (French)
Autodesk MAP 3D 2007 – 5 lessons (German)
Autodesk Revit Systems – 5 lessons (English)

The e-Learning lessons are free as part of the Autodesk Subscription Program... so why not use them???

If you are not a subscription member (and even if you are), you can purchase additional e-Learning content from various content developers. For example, 4D Technologies offers eLearning content for several Autodesk applications including AutoCAD, Inventor, and Architectural Desktop just to name a few.

Alphabet Soup!

A recent post by Roopinder Tara, in his new CAD blog, serves as reminder to those of us that are responsible for communicating technical information to others. While acrynms make it quicker to communicate within our CoP (communities of practice), they can make us sound like we're speaking a foreign language to those outside our CoP! 

“Use the SSM to open your DST which gives you quick access to your DWGs. From there, you can quickly create a ZIP, EXE, or DWF.”   Huh?!?

Thanks to Roopinder for reminding us that CAD is different things to different people... and congrats on the new CAD (Computer Aided Design) blog!

CAD Camp… convenient, inexpensive, expert training

If you have been unsuccessful at convincing your management to send you to Autodesk University, try taking a smaller step by attending a local CAD Camp! A new round of CAD Camp sessions begins in Omaha, Nebraska on February 21 and will move to various locations throughout the United States. The CAD Camp sessions cover a variety of Autodesk products and topics. They are taught by local and national experts; many of which teach similar classes at Autodesk University. This is a great opportunity to explore the value of these courses in your own backyard! If you are a CAD manager, consider bringing members of your staff to CAD Camp. In addition to the knowledge they’ll gain, it can offer a great morale boost when they see you are willing to invest in their advancement. If you and your team can show increased productivity from your CAD Camp training, maybe you’ll justify a trip to Las Vegas for Autodesk University!

A plug for instructor-led training

I am often asked for advice on how to become more proficient with AutoCAD. There are many options including self-paced books, eLearning lessons, peer instruction, blogs, magazines, Webcasts, etc. The options you choose can depend on many factors including (like most things in life) time and money. Aside from those two ever-present factors, you should also consider personal factors that influence how you best learn. For example, a learner whose native language is not English may find it difficult to follow a fast-paced training course that is delivered in English. However, a self-paced eLearning course (even if it is in English) might work well. Some people can learn a computer application by reading a book, while others need their hands on the keyboard.

My personal “default” method of learning new software functionality is by trial and error. However, I learned very early in my AutoCAD career that, although trial and error enables me to learn the depth of specific functionality, it is instructor-led training that enables me to quickly learn the breadth of the application. Like many AutoCAD users, I was guilty of using only a small part of the application because that’s what I knew and it seemed to work.

I was first introduced to AutoCAD in 1986 when I was a computer science major at Colorado State University. I was in the computer lab when my friend, an industrial design major, showed me how he could draw an ellipse on the monochrome display using computer program called AutoCAD. That was about the coolest thing I had ever seen! Way more fun than the all-nighters I had been spending in the computer lab trying to write a Pascal program to print my name in a circular pattern! I had never taken a drafting class in my life but I was instantly hooked on AutoCAD. I immediately transferred to the University of Colorado, Boulder and enrolled in the architectural engineering program so that I could *play* with AutoCAD all the time! I used AutoCAD for every assignment possible (even if a word processor might have been more appropriate :-). Although the university computer labs had AutoCAD installed on the systems, the only AutoCAD training consisted of a two-week AutoCAD unit within the hand-drafting course. The instructor himself was new to AutoCAD so I gained virtually all of my AutoCAD knowledge through trial and error.

About two years into my engineering degree, my brother saw me drawing a floor plan in AutoCAD. He had taken many hand-drafting courses but had never touched a computer. His first look at AutoCAD and he was hooked! It must run in the family! My brother enrolled in an architectural drafting program at the local technical school where the emphasis was on AutoCAD. One day I happened to catch him doing some cool thing that enabled him to trim a bunch of existing lines to another object. For 2+ years I had been using AutoCAD (including the minimal 3D functionality) but I didn’t even know the TRIM command existed! That was an eye opening experience! What else didn’t I know??? Since I wasn’t about to let my brother know more about AutoCAD than I did, I bought a book and proceeded to learn about all of the other inefficiencies I had been guilty of!

As a poor, starving college student, learning from a self-paced book was a perfect solution! It was inexpensive and I could do it at my own pace. Back then I had more time than money! What about now? I am always learning new applications and when I want to learn quickly, I take an instructor-led course. If learning the application isn’t urgent, I might take a semester course at an academic institution. However, if I want to learn the breadth of the application as quickly as possible or , I attend a 1-3 day corporate training course. Notice that I said “breadth” of the application. There is no way you can learn everything about a sophisticated software application in a single day. But, if you walk away with a broad understanding of its capabilities, even if you can’t remember the exact procedures, your time and money will be well spent! You’ll know what the application can do and when you go back to the office you can explore the depth of the functionality as you apply it to your own work. How do you learn the depth? Trial and error, books, eLearning, blogs, magazines, coworkers, etc.

I can’t say enough about the value of instructor-led training in a professional work environment. Although the cost (in time and training fees) may seem high, when you consider the cost of inefficient work practices over an extended period of time, the cost of training is relatively insignificant.

What do TV and video games have to do with learning?

A LOT according to Steven Johnson, author of “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter”.  In this book, Johnson takes a controversial look at how today’s technology might actually be making us smarter rather than dumber like we have come to believe. When I began reading this book, which was required for a graduate course that I’m taking, I was skeptical. I haven’t been a “gamer” since the days of Ms. Pacman. I rarely watch TV. And I frequently accuse my zombie-eyed 7-year-old of turning his brain to mush. As I began reading Johnson’s book, I couldn’t imagine anything he might say to convince me that TV or non-educational computer games are “good for you”.

Johnson begins the book with a scenario where today’s technology exists before the printed book and he makes a compelling argument about how this “new” printed book technology is dumbing down society. Throughout his book Johnson makes interesting comparisons of entertainment and media today versus 20 or 30 years ago. Although I think Johnson downplayed the negative aspects of today’s culture, such as kids (and adults) not spending enough time engaging in outdoor/physical activity or the desensitization of media violence, I found most of his points difficult to argue.

I still won’t let my young children watch or play inappropriate content or stare too long at a TV or computer screen, but I do have a more positive view of “today’s popular culture”. As a matter of fact, maybe I should spend more time playing video games  :-)

I’m not in the habit of recommending books… Actually, I’m not even in the habit of reading books! But, I really enjoyed this one. If you are interested in technology and/or learning (you must be, you’re reading this blog!), I think you’ll find Johnson’s book interesting (even if you disagree with it). And, it’s an easy read!

You can find more in-depth book reviews on Amazon.

AutoCAD Awareness

The first step in learning HOW, is to learn WHAT. WHAT can you do in AutoCAD? WHAT has been added or enhanced since the previous release? If you don’t know what the software is capable of, you can’t possibly know how to use it. I hope many of you have had the opportunity to see an AutoCAD demonstration through your local reseller, CAD Camps, Webcasts or other venues. If not, or if you need a refresher, here are several ways to learn more about new(er) AutoCAD functionality.

·        New Features Workshop. If you have AutoCAD 2004, 2005, or 2006, you can access the New Features Workshop from the Help pull-down menu.

·        AutoCAD 2006 demonstration videos. If you want to see the highlights of AutoCAD 2006, you can access short videos (with audio) from the sidebar of this blog, under AutoCAD 2006 Videos.

·        AutoCAD 2005 demonstration videos. If you want to see the highlights of AutoCAD 2005, you can access short videos (with audio) using these links:

Sheet Set Manager (Sheet List)

Sheet Set Manager (Fields)

Sheet Set Manager (Views)

Tables

Layers

Tool Palettes

Hatch

Text

eTransmit

Publish

Viewer

Markup

Technology assimilation and me-learning: An interview with Wayne Hodgins

Wayne Hodgins, Strategic Futurist and Director of Worldwide Learning Strategies for Autodesk, Inc, scours the globe looking for new learning technologies and sharing his vision for the future of learning, training and education. Wayne has been profiled by various business press including Forbes, Fortune, Industry Week and CNN and he has delivered numerous keynote presentations to academic, business, and government audiences around the world. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Wayne and I wanted to share some of his thoughts on technology assimilation and me-learning.

Hewett: What are some of the challenges that software companies face with regard to educating their customers?

Hodgins: During a survey, we asked customers what they valued most with regard to the software. The number one response, more than the next four responses combined, was access to learning materials. They didn’t want more information about features. What they wanted was help integrating feature information into their job tasks.

Education is critical to a company’s success. If we don’t succeed at the learning portion of our business, we don’t succeed at all because customers only know the value of what they understand. When customers look at a product, they can only see the value to the degree to which they understand what those features are, what they would do with them and how they would help them. There is a technology assimilation gap (TAG) between the capability of software functionality and the ability of customers to use that functionality. If software functionality increases without an equivalent increase in customer education, the gap will continue to get wider. This gap can only get so wide before it becomes a real problem when at some point customers no longer see value in the software because they don’t understand it. If we don’t focus on educating our customers and future customer base, we will not succeed.

Hewett: Can you explain your idea of “me-learning” and “getting bigger by getting smaller”?

Hodgins: Me-Learning is personalized learning. It is getting just the right content to just the person at just the right time in just the right way. You can do that if and only if you’ve got this degree of smallness where you can pick and choose just the right pieces and just the right means. You know when your pieces are small enough if each piece can stand alone in its own right. But, they have just become small enough that by themselves, they’re useless. You can compare these pieces to Lego blocks. Individually, Lego blocks are useless. They have no value. But, when you put them together, they’ve got enormous value. And, they have value because you can pretty much build anything. We want to be able to smash down into these small little pieces, video, audio, animations, illustrations, text.  Those pieces become different shapes or different colors of Lego blocks.
You have to think big. It’s the bigger thinking, bigger picture, conceptual stuff, that helps you keep things in focus and helps you decide and make priority decisions. However, while thinking big, you must work small. This is about a holistic systemic set of changes that we need to change our thinking around, our processes around, in terms of this idea of working small and having things very modular and having everything be on-demand, dynamic assembly.

I found my conversation with Wayne to be particularly inspiring as I was preparing to launch this blog. Although I was first introduced to Wayne’s “Technology Assimilation Gap” many years ago when we worked together in the Autodesk Learning and Training department, I had completely forgotten about it... or had I? As memories of Wayne’s TAG presentation came flooding back, I realized that minimizing the technology assimilation gap is exactly what this blog is about! Hopefully, over the coming months and years, this blog will help to fill that gap as we attempt to transition to Wayne’s grand vision of “me-learning”.