Autodesk Announces Workshops for Secondary School Educators

Workshops Train Teachers on New Curriculum, Bringing Technology Into Classrooms.

Autodesk, Inc today announced a new series of summer workshops for secondary school teachers. The workshops provide teachers with tools to engage and inspire their students using an innovative new curriculum, the Autodesk Digital STEAM Workshop. The curriculum supports national academic standards and facilitates teachers’ engagement of students in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM).

“Educators are now being challenged to make STEAM subjects more fun and relevant in the classroom,” said Joe Astroth, Ph.D., chief education officer at Autodesk. “With these new training workshops and our Digital STEAM Workshop curriculum, teachers can deliver exciting hands-on projects and inspire students’ interest in these important foundational subjects.”

The Digital STEAM Workshop curriculum, developed by Autodesk with guidance from educators and industry professionals, provides a project-based learning experience that allows teachers to focus on better teaching methods, rather than software expertise. Each project is accompanied by extensive teacher resources, including videos, learning games and interactive 3D models — all of which help facilitate students’ understanding of what professional designers do and expose them to careers in architecture, engineering, digital arts and more. The curriculum supports the recently updated Autodesk Design Academy and Autodesk Animation Academy educational software suites and helps prepare students for the Autodesk Certified User program. The curriculum is available for free through the Autodesk Education Community online.

“New teacher or experienced, teacher, expert or novice; the videos, lessons and projects within the Digital STEAM Workshop curriculum allow teachers to move from being a sage on the stage, to a guide on the side,” said Jana Schmidt, a technology teacher at Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Johnson City, Texas. “The Digital STEAM Workshop is loaded with ready-to-use classroom resources, saving precious time for teachers.”

Autodesk’s teacher workshops comprise one full day of training and are available throughout the United States and Canada through Autodesk’s network of academic software resellers. The workshops are available until August 31 and are often given at no charge to teachers. For more information, visit: www.autodesk.com/teacherworkshops.