AUTODESK LTD: Autodesk's Creative Curriculum Set to Transform the Way Students Approach Design

Sep 18, 2007 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- ADSK | charts | news | PowerRating -- Autodesk has announced the launch of the Creative Curriculum, a visionary new educational initiative with the goal of encouraging a more holistic, creative and original approach to product design and engineering using 3D digital prototyping. The curriculum has been developed in close collaboration with engineers, designers, teachers and university lecturers and has modules for teaching Design and Technology as part of the national curriculum, plus schemes for higher education students.

Already, the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow is using the Creative Curriculum in its new digital design and manufacturing studio, encouraging students to experiment using digital prototypes to enable them to work in a more innovative and inspired way. It has also been "road-tested" in a wide range of Londonschools where it helping teachers prepare students for Key Stages 3 and 4, GCSE and A' level.

Autodesk's education programme manager, Stephen Stott, is a former university and technical college teacher and most recently was an advisory teacher for Design and Technology in secondary education. He explains: "Using Autodesk Inventor, students have far more freedom than they have with traditional CAD and other more cumbersome 3D modelling solutions. It's an intuitive tool that gives them opportunity to transform a concept that exists in the imagination into reality, offering sculptural creative freedom aligned to engineering accuracy.

"Autodesk's Creative Curriculum harnesses this capability, offering course materials and a method of teaching to help transform the way Design and Technology is taught in the classroom and lecture hall."

Students are encouraged to find inspiration in art, sculpture, organic or scientific form. Take for example, a creature such as a starfish - step-by-step - the student evolves its form into an innovative desk top lamp. Alternatively, they may wish to study the movement of a dancer or athlete and deconstruct this form and flow, identify its geometric structure and translate it into a product such as a table or toothbrush holder.

"The Creative Curriculum requires a shift in culture," says Stott. "However, it will help students to move away from predictability and replace it with the highly-original, ground-breaking work that continues to differentiate successful designers from the rest."

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Notes to editors

Autodesk in Education

Autodesk is committed to supporting students and educators by providing access to powerful 2D and 3D design software, innovative programs and resources designed to inspire the next generation of professionals to experience their ideas before they're real. By advancing education in the key areas of science, technology, engineering and maths, Autodesk is helping students develop critical skills for future academic and career success. Autodesk supports schools and institutions of higher learning worldwide through substantial discounts, subscriptions, grant programs, training, curricula development and community resources. For more information about Autodesk education programs and solutions, visit www.autodesk.co.uk/education.

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