I have said it before, and I'll say it again now:
There is just too little demand in most parts of the country for most
traditional schools to waste resources on PCB Design classes. Some will
teach one class as an adjunct to their electronics classes, but those
are becoming less common, just as teaching drafting principals is
becoming less common. It is not economically feasible to offer classes
when the school may receive a student or two a year.
But...
There are accredited universities that operate totally online. With a
good curriculum, a good textbook, and instructors available anywhere in
the US, this is a viable option. Unfortunately, I don't think PCB
design is seen as much of a career choice by the academic or engineering
communities. As an indication of this, do you see any IEEE interest
groups on PCB layout?
It also might be hard to get interest from on-line schools since layout
is being phased-out of many companies and outsourced overseas, it might
be an uphill battle to convince a school that it could make money from
PCB design classes. There is also the problem that there are relatively
few degreed PCB designers, and I don't know how many are willing to
teach. Most colleges are going to require at least a bachelors degree
to teach a class, many want masters degrees to develop classes.
If some classes were developed on board design, assembly, and
fabrication, including textbooks, student and teacher guides, curriculum
guidelines, and available instructors, an online school might be willing
to give it a try. Personally, I think more effort should be directed at
basic education then at certification by the DC, since certification
still doesn't convince engineering managers that layout is a legitimate
engineering function, where education and degrees might. Politics being
what they are inside the IPC, that is unlikely to happen any time soon.
One source of information might be the Distance Education and Training
Council, which is the national accrediting body for online schools
(http://www.detc.org/). If we could get their attention it might
"trickle down" to some of their member schools.
Admittedly there is a drawback from to this scenario from many
designer's point of view: On-line schools draw students from the whole
world, and this curriculum could potentially be training third-world
designers to do our jobs at a wage that is impossible to live on in the
old and new world. That is a risk, but it is still the only way to
ensure that training for the next generation is provided. Traditional
methods are NOT working.
Your mileage may vary, just one curmudgeon's opinion <:^)
--
George Patrick
Tektronix, Inc.
Central Engineering, Engineering Design Services
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-512
Beaverton, OR 97077-0001
Phone: 503-627-5272 Fax: 503-627-5587
http://www.tektronix.com http://www.pcb-designer.com
It's my opinion, not Tektronix'
-----Original Message-----
From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jack
C. Olson
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 07:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DC] Design Software to use as a teaching tool???
In my mind, the ultimate solution would be an online tutorial.
WHY?
Because you only have to do it once, and it can be used
millions of times.
WHY NOT?
Because its hard to make money off of it, You almost have
to have a grant or a benefactor who will sponsor it "for the
greater good". But once its out there, anyone (even bosses
and purchasing people and sales guys) can get the basics
Think about it... What good is the "university" style except
for "credits"? Why would anyone choose to pay a fee to
be at a certain location at specific times, when the internet
is open 24/7 and you can enjoy it in the luxury of your own
surroundings, self-paced?
Anyone wanna hire me to write a basic tutorial?
I will work for minimum wage.
I'm not kidding.
Jack
p.s. Please don't interpret this as a slam against the fine people
who are working so hard to develop an accredited course. I'm
too lazy for that kind of commitment, and I applaud your work!
George Patrick <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: DesignerCouncil <[log in to unmask]>
01/05/2006 03:39 PM
Please respond to
"(Designers Council Forum)" <[log in to unmask]>; Please respond to
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To
To
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Subject
Re: [DC] Design Software to use as a teaching tool???
Caterpillar: Confidential Green Retain Until: 02/04/2006
Retention
Category: G90 - General Matters/Administration
For something completely different :)
An idea would be to teach off a board -- a PC Board, not a white board.
Any tool does things in a different way then any other tool, but the one
common denominator is the finished product, the circuit board itself.
Maybe this is kind of radical, but I think the students first need to
learn basic electronics, so they know how a circuit functions and why
certain parts need to be near (or far) from other parts. It doesn't
need to be on an engineering level, just enough to understand crosstalk,
impedance, RLC and such. The care and feeding of engineers and their
schematics would be a logical part of this phase. Hands on might be
constructing the circuits on a schematic and running it thru simulation.
They next need to learn how a board is assembled, so they understand the
limitations of the process and the reasons behind assembly restrictions
and constraints. An introduction to the hassles the average assembly
worker goes through each day, things that help and things that drive
them crazy. Soldering processes, pitfalls, problems, and solutions.
Processes used to test the boards, and how the designer can aid this.
Hands on might be soldering parts on example boards using manual
pick/place, or could be tours or videos of assembly shops. The IPC
makes a number of these, don't they?
Then they need to understand the actual boards, how parts are connected,
the mechanics behind a PCB, how signals are connected (vias, etc), how
the boards are manufactured, the limitations of the boards (crosstalk
and such). Physical problems that can crop up such as bow/twist, and
what to do to prevent it. Again, IPC training materials could be used
here.
Now, basic design theory. Trace widths, spacing, impedance. Planes. All
the guts of a design that need to be done on ANY design tool.
Placement, routing, busses, length matching, IPC standards. Hands on
could be introducing one of the simple, cheep design tools that could be
taken home so the student can "play" with them on their own.
Finally, the students should have hands on, intensive training on a
higher level tool, preferably one that is used in their area. Ideally,
this phase could be repeated for additional tools, so the student could
get a broad exposure to more than one.
Just a thought.
--
George Patrick
Tektronix, Inc.
Central Engineering, Engineering Design Services
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-512
Beaverton, OR 97077-0001
Phone: 503-627-5272 Fax: 503-627-5587
http://www.tektronix.com http://www.pcb-designer.com
It's my opinion, not Tektronix'
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