Engineering graphics in the new millennium: integrating the strengths of sketching and CAD

Engineering graphics has always been viewed as one of the cornerstones of an engineering education. It is important, indeed critical, to engineering since it is the basis for communicating all (engineered) designs. It is the language by which engineers communicate and think. There has been a revolution in engineering graphics. Gone is the T-square, the symbol for engineers everywhere, replaced first by AutoCAD and more recently by "three-dimensional parametric solid modelling" software. While this advanced computer software may be a better way to learn graphics, the same problem remains: how do we effectively teach this language of engineering to undergraduate students? Sketching is a useful tool in teaching engineering graphics theory and standards to undergraduate students since it allows the student to concentrate on learning the material with less distraction. CAD is also extremely useful for teaching students about design, in particular how constraints are handled and ideas worked out. The question remains as to how to integrate these two tools into a useful whole? The author briefly discusses these two questions.