Shelbie Harris
Staff Writer
If you’ve ever had to flip through the assembly walkthrough for a kitchen dining set or looked at the blueprint of your home or workplace, it’s almost a certainty that at some point a professional drafter was involved in its creation and development.
Computer Aided Design Drafting (CADD) professionals use computer software to generate technical drawings and renderings to build everything from layout plans for engineers and architects, to farm and food processing equipment.
“Particular programs allow us to get the idea of how to build something from the computer and get it onto a piece of paper in a specific way so that other people can read it and then build it,” said Alesha Churba, advanced instructor and program coordinator for the Idaho State University College of Technology CADD program. “There are specific ways you have to illustrate things in order to follow the directions and build the product.”
Drafters rely on computer-aided drafting (CAD) programs such as AutoCAD or Revit Architecture to create anything from parts to actual buildings to structural systems such as a wall complete with gyp board, studs, and insulation.
These programs are designed to produce products and layouts that can be manufactured universally to be understood and interpreted by field experts or common citizens.
“Drafting allows us to be able to get an idea or a design across so that even if the product is designed in America, the plans can be shipped off to Germany and be easily interpreted,” said CADD instructor Rob Adams. “The graphical representation alleviates any language barriers.”
Churba was working part-time for an architectural firm in 2001 when she graduated from the design drafting program at ISU.
She worked in the field for seven years before accepting her role as a professor in 2008.
According to Churba, students in the last session compiled everything learned over the course of a semester into a design journal that was used to design, develop, and print a miniature derby car that was later raced against other models.
The CADD program at ISU’s College of Technology not only teaches students how to use particular drafting programs but also provides students with the necessary background and fundamental information that can be used to show an employer an understanding of the theory behind the drawings.
“Our goal as a program is to make sure we’re not simply producing students who can only draw lines,” said Adams, “we want them to understand why they are drawing the lines, why the plans are reading the way they are and what’s actually going into developing the plans.”
By obtaining the theory behind such drawings and renderings, students are able to have educated conversations with employers indicating self sufficiency as an employee.
Churba has taught within the the two-year associate degree program for nearly seven years. She said she’s had times where she wonders why she might be in this profession but when a student finally has that moment where things begin to click and light bulbs turn on, she thinks this is the best thing she’s ever done.
According to Churba, some students who enter the CADD program have never worked on a computer in their entire lives and by the end of the semester are developing functional 3-D models.
“I love teaching. I’ve finally found what I love to do. I love helping students, when they finally get it, or when students are really successful after college, its instant gratification,” said Churba. “There’s a great amount of pride involved. Knowing that you helped them is such a satisfying feeling. The [students] are kind of like my own kids sometimes.”
