SCRRF Design Classes
 

This e-mail was original from Eric Mack (glee@ica.com). You can respond
to him or to me, Rob Steele (Robert.D.Steele@jpl.nasa.gov).

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If you are an educator or mentor of a robotics team, this may be the
opportunity for you:
I have been researching some software opportunities to teach design to our
local U.S. FIRST and Homeschool robotics teams.

PTC Corp, the makers of PRO/Engineer, have a very generous program where
they give a license for 300 copies of their PRO/DESKTOP (Not the Express
version) software to any instructor who completes there course. The best
part, seems to be the school can install the software on their computer and
the students get to install it at home, too. This means that access to the
software should not be a problem.

I called and spoke with their education manager, Stephen Yaffe, and he is
very supportive and interested in putting together a class in the Los
Angeles Area.

In order to make this happen, we will need:

1. At least 15 interested educators (FIRST Mentors count!)

2. A School facility with computers and an LCD Projector (I.e. Such as
the CSUN, Chatsworth, of FMHS lab -- Hint, Hint)

If you are interested in a class in the LA area, let me know. I will do my
best to help coordinate something.

I am attaching an email that provides more information and a link.

If you have more information or experience with this software, I would like
to hear from you.
FIRST MENTORS, SCRRF FOLKS, Please forward this email to other
educators/mentors that you know, who might be interested.

-Eric

Eric Mack, Mentor, @glee@ica.com
U.S. FIRST Team 981

======================== COPY OF PTC EMAIL BELOW ==================

My name is Stephen Yaffe; I work for PTC, one of the world's largest
software companies, in our Partnership for Innovative Learning. One of our
company's missions is to improve technological literacy among our nation's
students. To this end, we are donating unlimited seats of our commercially
used 3D design ?Pro/DESKTOP? software for FREE to middle and high schools
across the country. The software, and its future new releases, will always
remain free to schools. We even encourage the students to bring the
software home with them! (We are in the business of selling our software
to the 33,000 companies and not to schools).

The reason for this email is to let you know that we are eager to introduce
our program to teachers in California. In order to receive the free
software, we do require training ? this is to ensure that teachers are
successful using the software in the classroom. Our trainings are unique
in that they are designed by teachers, for teachers, and taught by
teachers. After completing the day and half training and a simple project,
teachers will receive unlimited seats of Pro/DESKTOP, our 3D design
software (used commercially by such companies as Raytheon and NASA), and be
able to access to our free project-based materials and curriculum, which
map back to ITEA standards. (We work very closely with ITEA. Michael
Wright, the past president, spoke at our technology literacy seminar this
summer. George Wilcox, the current ITEA president, is a true champion of
our program, and, in fact, help set up several training classes in VA for
our program.

In this time of extreme budgetary constraints, we hope that you will
consider the benefits to students and schools of this free, mind expanding
3D software. This software is virtually non-language specific, lending
expanding possibilities to non-native English speaking students. In many
instances, students who have learned 3D design processes have transitioned
directly into the workforce.

The fee for the teacher training is usually around $100, which goes
directly to the trainer for his/her time and travel expenses. (Our
trainers in most instances are technology education teachers themselves).
It is our hope that from these classes, we will have teachers interested in
becoming trainers...so that they can, in turn, train other teachers.
Should you have any questions about our program, or its trainings, please
don't hesitate to contact me. If teachers are interested in attending a
training, they should register here:
http://www.ptc.com/go/schools/trainings

For more information about our program, please look at the following site:
http://www.ptc.com/go/schools

We are very excited about our program, and are eager to share it with all!
I ask that you share this email with school principals and teachers so that
we may expand technical literacy throughout California.

Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about Pro/DESKTOP
or having a teacher attend on of our trainings.