Introduction, Default Settings,

General Instruction, and Notes on the Supplements

Who “We” are …

From one instructor to another, I offer the following suggestions for implementing the assignments and supplements included in my textbook. These assignments have evolved since we first began offering AutoCAD at Scottsdale Community College in 1990, assessed and honed through classroom application, faculty assessments, and student input. I speak to you here as an architect, as an Occupational Program Director, and perhaps most importantly as a classroom instructor. The “We’s” and “Our’s” in this dialog include my personal observations and strategies as well as those of my fellow instructors, five of us in all, currently teaching 40 sections of architecturally based AutoCAD per academic year. These exercises form the core of our introductory AutoCAD class.

I suspect that most instructors have developed similar strategies over their professional careers, but sincerely hope that this information my ease instruction a bit, if nothing else predicting those areas where past students have shown they need special help, those areas where students may trip up, and, importantly, those areas where we instructors need to be particularly watchful that students are following the path laid out before them.

The assignments, efficiency and repetition …

These assignments require guidance and demonstrations – they’re meant to bring the instructor and class together as a team. As the first group of assignments will require the most instructor input, the first batch of information in this guide will be likewise heavy. It has been our experience that as the semester progresses, our role changes from leader to that of wandering trouble shooter. To a certain extent, if we have been successful, we teach ourselves into obsolescence by the end of the semester … at least within the context of learning basic 2D commands.

The Georgian House assignments are designed to give students their first look at the basic 2D commands. The Brownstone assignments, while introducing a few new operations, are geared more toward giving students an opportunity to practice and master the basic commands. We have found that the Georgian House takes the average student half a semester (or less), the Brownstone then finishes out the semester. Some students may actually need additional work to fill the semester.

We have come to believe that repetition offers the best route for mastering the basic operations. To that end, the assignments are not presented in the most efficient face AutoCAD has to offer. We explain this fact to the students, asking them not to get too creative at the beginning, but to allow themselves practice through repetition. For example, with the first assignment, the Panel Door, rather than create one panel and then Copy, Stretch, Mirror, etc., we have students “repeat” the Line, Offset, Fillet, and related Zoom/Pan functions many, many times. With the second group of assignments, the Brownstone, we turn students loose, encouraging them to interpolate, explore, and apply various commands seeking the most efficient routes to completing their drawings.

The first class verses following classes …

In the grand scheme, we view AutoCAD classes as we view traditional hand drafting classes. The first task being to come to terms with the equipment – “HOW TO DRAW”; the next task then, learning the occupational content – “WHAT TO DRAW” – with just a sprinkling of new commands. To that end, the goal of these assignments is to familiarize students with both the basic 2D commands and with typical architectural formats. The focus here is learning how to use the equipment, not the specific architectural content or architectural design/construction principles. In following classes, the emphasis then shifts to informational content pertinent to creating and completing professional sets of working drawings.

Holding that notion, we opt to delay a few operations for the second semester class, including External References (Xrefs), Attritibutes, Design Center, Templates, and similar typical, but what we, at least, consider to be “next tier” commands. These decisions are of course yours to make, depending on your own instructional philosophy and instructional articulation among your offerings.

We also “wait” until the following class for discussing the use of setting up Templates for typical drawings, believing again that “practice and application” are key to learning, and that having students repeatedly Set Up new drawings, repeat creating Layers, loading Linetypes, setting Dimension and Text Styles, etc., is a valid requirement. We “promise” them that in following classes that they will learn shortcuts … that in this first class we are giving them “tough love” by requiring them to repeat processes.

Default Settings:

Drives and Saves: At SCC we have guards on our workstations that allow students to do what they may to their display and settings, but then default to our uniform setups with the next boot. The first important implication here is the location of SAVES. Our students are afforded file space on the campus server, making their SAVE destination the H: Drive. Students loose any information saved to the C: Drive. The assignments instruct students to Save to locations designated by the instructor … and if your students are like ours, teaching the processes for Saving and managing drawing files is a continual challenge. So right off the bat, you may need to spend some extra time here, perhaps a supplement of your own describing both the Save/Save As process as well a the destinations used by your school would be in order.

Display and Settings:

To ease learning (and instruction) we set the following display and settings as default, which again because of the hard drive guards, let AutoCAD open with the same defaults every class and in every lab. The assignments assume these default settings, you will need to adjust your approaches accordingly, should you opt for variations.

Startup (1) We turn this system variable ON so that the Create New Drawing/Wizard shows by default.

Docked Toolbars: Standard, Properties, Layer, Zoom, Draw, Modify

We deliberately require students to load and dock the Viewport and Dimension Toolbars every time they need them so that they become familiar with the process.

OSnaps: Endpoint, Midpoint, Center, Intersection, Perpendicular

Shortcut Menu (in Drawing Area): We prefer to disable this option, using the right click to end commands (when needed) and the double right click to repeat previous commands.

Selection: Noun/Verb selection ON: use Shift OFF; Grips enabled

General Approach:

Instructors in our beginning class have come to see “support and encouragement” as key elements to student success. At the Community College, students cover a wide variety of ages, educational backgrounds, and goals. One common factor is that these students are extremely earnest and often put a bit too much pressure on themselves to succeed. We preach patience and periodically “require” them to sit back from the screen and “look” at what they’re doing; reminding them that while they may still feel that they’re struggling, they’re struggling with new and more complex operations than when they first started; reminding them of the growing number of commands they are now using “automatically”; and reminding them how far they have come since the first day of class. It’s a delicate balance between encouraging and patronizing, we work hard to keep things “light” but professional.

We also ask them to trust our judgment on their progress. Typically one or two crackerjack students will fly out ahead of the class. Too often students are quicker to judge themselves as being “behind” in comparison … seeing themselves as slow or even incompetent … rather than judging the rocket scientists as being “ahead.” We work hard to keep the students on a realistic and self-supporting track.

Instructional Strategies and Support:

We currently use these assignments in conjunction with Grabowski’s Quick Reference Guide (for instruction on command access and operations). Instructional strategies include demonstrations to the entire class, working with small groups, working one on one, as well on students helping one another. We also use the “redline” method for critiquing submitted work – in direct correlation to office and typical city building department procedures. Instructors note corrections in “red” pen or pencil, students correct the work, marking over the redlines with a blue or yellow highlighter, then resubmits the corrected plot along with the original redline.

Perhaps when all is said and done, the biggest challenge to our instruction using these assignments occurs when students start to spread out over the assignments. We require students to stay with the group for the first few days of class, even if they are familiar with AutoCAD (in those cases we encourage them to help their neighbors). The assignments are designed, however, to let students work at their own pace, beginning the next assignments when they finished the previous.

Two challenges here: First, the instructor must gauge his or her presentations when the bulk of the class is ready. In these instances, we call the class to attention (asking them to Save and then to “step away from the mouses!”) and “watch” the presentation. We also keenly listen with our “teacher ears” for random clicking while we’re demonstrating. We preface these presentations with the statement that “some of you have already tried this command, but watch anyway to confirm the process. Others of you are not quite ready, but watch and when you get to this task, we’ll show you again if needed.”

Secondly, we find that we must constantly remind students to follow instructions as they begin to get out ahead of the class, using the new commands (in bold) for each progressive assignment. For example, when we pass by a screen and see that the students has completed what was supposed to be the Array command, we double check to make sure that they in fact did use that command and not creatively found a way around the new learning experience. A good “tell” that a student is feeling his or her way through things without following the desired process is that they are working from the drawing alone, with no sign of the written instructions at their workstation.

Supplements …

The supplements are no doubt self explanatory to instructors, and while the assignment structure itself references the most prominent of these aids, you will have the final call on when you review these with your students and how far you go with them in this, an introductory class. For example, we do spend a “bit of time” discussing Drawing Limits, Scale Factors, and Plotted Paper size, but not in the detail that we do in later classes, and most certainly not in the early stages of the beginning class. Again our approach with the first class – and once more “‘again,” we constantly remind the students of this as well – is to “expose” students gradually to the basic concepts, reminding students that they will have plenty of practice and more discussion further down the line.

The first supplement gives a brief overview of basic operations, including dragging and typing lines and selecting objects and might be worth a look before your first day of class … and might be worth pointing out to students.

The last supplement offers a Student Self Assessment Form. We have established a tradition of Outcomes Assessment within our program (and on our campus for that matter) of which this particular form is just one part. We use this input as one of several sources to gage student learning, having students check boxes at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. Our hope is that the checks gradually move from “not in hand” to “in hand” or “mastered” by the end of the semester. If not, then we review both instructional techniques and emphasis to remedy the problem area(s).

Blocks …

Included herein are Drawing Files containing Blocks for typical Plumbing Fixtures, Appliances, Equipment, etc., created on Layer 0 with color assignments coordinated with the Lineweights described in the Plotting guide (Cyan for medium and Red for thin lines). Our goal in this first class is to give students practice with Inserting and placing Blocks into Model Space; the title block into Paper Space. The Title Block is set for 36x24 paper size and (0,0) Insertion Point; it may need a bit of manipulation to accommodate different plotter margins. As we wait until the next class in our sequence to introduce Attributes, we simply have students insert Dynamic Text (DT) into Paper Space (a good thing to practice in itself) to complete the Title Block information. While most of the typical Blocks are suited for inserting at 1:1, we do alter the title block x and y scale factors for insertion into 17x11 plots.

Comments or Questions?

Please feel free to give me your input on these exercises. While I believe that they have reached the point at which we are relatively satisfied with their content and results, I am constantly, as I am sure you are as well, looking for ways to improve our instructional methods and student success. Please contact me at