Context and Audience: Key Influencers for Deciding Corporate CAD Training Methodologies

Corporate training programs are quite different compared to vocational CAD courses conducted for educational institutes and individual learners. Whilst the basic vocational courses designed by CAD training centres focus on developing fundamentals in areas of drafting and modelling, corporate training programs have specific technical objectives. These range from educating team members about newer CAD standards and methodologies, to transitioning the current team from 2D CAD deliverables to 3D BIM technologies.

The training method adopted by professional practises is influenced by a multitude of factors, including their current workflows, proficiency level of their CAD teams, and qualitative/quantitative objectives to be achieved. However, the size of employee groups and their level of experience play an important role in deciding the right training regimen for an organisation. Considering the above factors, following are the most common scenarios in organisations that wish to plan CAD training programs for their design and production teams:

1. Large Group of Beginners with Basic Skills

As this scenario comprises CAD technicians who are just starting out in CAD draftsman jobs, including construction design, and modelling, either instructor-led classroom training or instructor-led onsite training is most suitable option for organisations. Classroom training requires candidates to attend a certified CAD training centre wherein they undergo extensive face-to-face training by trainers who have hands-on industry experience. Whilst this kind of training results in some loss of employees’ working hours, those who attend can readily benefit from the practical experience and in-depth know-how of the instructors. On the other hand, onsite training can be more flexible to both the management as well as the employees. The instructors can provide thorough face-to-face training although not at a stretch. When broken down in smaller sessions, onsite training can enable trainers to demonstrate highly complex technical concepts to beginners.

2. Small Group of Employees with Moderate Experience and Intermediate Skills

When devising a training program for this group, organisations should consider current workload and the corresponding productive time lost. As a result, a full-fledged classroom training methodology is not an apt choice. On the contrary, a blended training mode consisting of brief face-to-face training sessions in office combined with self-paced hybrid instructional training methods, such as computer-based modules, videos, and online archive of CAD-related course material. Using such a mixed training approach allows employees to learn new concepts in short-format sessions and try them later to reinforce the newly gained knowledge. In addition to this, the instructional videos and other training material serve as a reference point to bring further clarity on topics.

3. Individual Employees with Adequate Experience and Advanced Skills

The employees in this particular scenario tend to be highly motivated and experienced. Owing to the limited size of this group, instructor-led training is not feasible. As a result, the most suitable methods for this user group include off-the-shelf CAD training DVDs, subscription to web-based training modules, and online video tutorials. In addition to having the least employee downtime, these self-paced methodologies allow employees to focus on topics they feel they need to improve upon and stay on track with regular deliverables.

Prabhat Singh heads Grey Edge, a leading Autodesk Revit MEP Training Centre in Mumbai. Prabhat has been instrumental in designing many types of curriculum related to domains, such as architecture, interior design and web designing and development.