Computer-Aided Design Technology

Program News

(Spring 2009) Kishwaukee College CAD Technology students now have college email accounts through KishSOS. Because of this benefit they now have access to free CAD software downloads at the Autodesk Education website. The website they will want to visit is http://students.autodesk.com/. Students and faculty can access free (subject to terms and conidtions) Autodesk software, self-paced tutorials, worldwide discussion groups and forums, job postings, and more, by joining the Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community. Instructor Schwendau's screen name in this "Facebook" type community is DRCADD. Click on the link above to join him!

Instructor Published to go Online!


(Fall 2008) Kishwaukee College CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau has once again been published by the Stipes Publising Company. His new text-workbook is titled "Descriptive Geometry:In Pencil and Pixels". Schwendau said, "I began work on the book 10 years ago to transition the subject from our board lab into the CAD lab. When I started to teach CAD151 online, I saw a new purpose for the book." Descriptive geometry is a subject of critical importance to would be architects and engineers. Schwendau said, "My research shows the subject is not taught in America as much as it is overseas and I believe the reason why is because so many schools tossed their drafting tables out and the book publishers failed to transition the subject into CAD." His book contains problems in both hard copy and magnetic copy on a CD in the back.

Schwendau will be offering CAD221 Descriptive Geometry as a modified online hybrid course for the first time starting in January of 2009. He said, "I am really excited about this! Students will have the ability to attend the course as a traditional classroom student, an occasional classroom student doing the rest online, or doing the class completely online with me never meeting them. I think this method of instruction will be the future." Schwendau warns any student wishing to take the course to make sure they have met the prerequisites either at Kishwaukee College or their own institution.

Spring 2008 Fieldtrip - Caterpillar's Aurora Plant!


(Spring 2008) On Thursday, April 24th, a half dozen of Kishwaukee College's CAD Technology students were invited for an industrial visitation of Caterpillar's Aurora Plant. Students got to see a wide variety of CAT's wheel loaders and track excavators being fabricated. The highlight of the trip was seeing the all new CAT 993 wheel loader. Caterpillar is continuing to do well in the current economy and is still in need of skilled technicians to replace an older work force now retiring.

Special thanks goes to Mike Aloisio of Caterpillar's Visitor Services section who offered an outstanding guided tour of the plant and gave each student a gift of a CAT logo pocket calculator and calendar.

Instructor on WREX TV


(Spring 2008) On Monday, March 3rd, Kishwaukee College CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau was a guest of weatherman Adam Painter of NBC's Rockford affiliate WREX television station. Mark joined Adam for his Monday Morning Mad Science program segment. Mark demonstrated an experiment in static equilibrium whereby a hammer and ruler can be suspended off of the edge of a counter. Mark explained how the experiment reinforces how a truss roof holds a tremendous load over head and shifts the load to the outside walls.

Special thanks goes to WREX and Adam Painter who invited Mark to tape the interview the previous Friday. You can view a handout of Mark's experiment Here .

Our FIRST Radio Testimonial Ad Airs!


(Winter 2008) The Kishwaukee College CAD Technology program had its very first radio ad aired on WDKB of DeKalb, Illinois, in January. The 30 second spot ran some 62 times in January as students returned to Northern Illinois University and Kishwaukee College. Kishwaukee College CAD Technology alum Mike Saville offered a testimonial about his experience attending the program and where his education has taken him. After Kish Mike attended Southern Illinois University to become a CAD technology instructor and now teaches at Belvidere High School 30 minutes north of Kishwaukee College. We thank Mike for his time and comments and we thank our new marketing director, Kayte Hamel, as well as our Careers Technology Dean, Sara Pohl, for making this dream of the program faculty and advisory committee become a reality. Plans are in the works to feature more employed CAD students and graduates in the future! Instructor Mark Schwendau gave Mike a gift card to dine at The Fifth Alarm firehouse pub in Byron in appreciation for his effort.

Special thanks also goes to WDKB who aired Mike's testimonial which you can dowmload and listen to hear Here .

AutoCAD Reference Chart


(Summer 2007) Kishwaukee College CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau now has a reference chart offered in the very famous and popular Hearlihy technology education catalog company. His chart, "Isometric DImensioning in AutoCAD", became available in their August catalog in both a classroom wall chart and smaller size laminated student edition. His idea came about by his desire to help his students better understand the subject of CAD 112, Technical Illustration.

Instructor Alan Thor Retires


(Spring 2007) On Wednesday, May 2, a dozen Kishwaukee College's CAD Technology students and several dozen faculty, staff and administrators came down to visit instructor Alan Thor and wish him well in retirement. Alan has taught at Kishwaukee College since the fall of 1989 when he came to the college from Rochelle Township High School where he had taught for 17 years. Alan has a combined total of 35 years in education with other years served in both the military and the private sector. See one of his work samples HERE. The reception was hosted by fellow instructor Mark Schwendau. Click on the thumb nail images above to view a larger image in a new window.


Spring 2007 Fieldtrip - Caterpillar's Aurora Plant!


(Spring 2007) On Wednesday, April 25th, a half dozen of Kishwaukee College's CAD Technology students were invited for an industrial visitation of Caterpillar's Aurora Plant. Students got to see a wide variety of CAT's wheel loaders and track excavators being fabricated. The highlight of the trip was a visit to engineering where students got to view their first 64 bit CAD workstation running a 64 bit version of Microsoft Windows operating system with a 64 bit version of Pro Engineer brand software. The track excavator on the screen was a solid model consisting of over 7,000 individual drawing files for a total composite solid model of over 7 gigabytes of memory and file space!


Students got to see how CAT's CAD system could create 3-dimensional solid models, 2-dimensional drawing take offs and finite element analysis (FEA) of parts for probable stresses and potential failures. Our thanks goes out to Caterpillar employees Dean Cahoe, engineer Jesus Macius, and our tour guide Nev Milanovic. Attendance was 100% of those signed up and everyone really enjoyed the presentation! Pictured above are instructor and students of CAD153 on the CAT 992 wheel loader.

First Online CAD Class Here!


(Fall 2006) The Kishwaukee College CAD Technology program is offering its first online AutoCAD course for the second time this semester! The course, CAD151 Fundamentals of CAD - AutoCAD, is a 3 credit, 16 week (8 week in summer), course that may now be completed entirely online.

Instructor Mark Schwendau, developer of the course, said, "With the cost of transportation rising, we feel we need to look at new ways to offer instruction and an online flexible learning method may be in order now." Schwendau said that the reasons why program faculty have been slow to move in this direction have been the cost of having students purchase a CAD system, yearly changes made in CAD software (and thus course curriculum) and assurances that work done outside of class is accomplished by students submitting it as their own.

Anyone wishing to take this distance learning AutoCAD course may do so for the in-district tuition rate. The three credit course with tuition, fees, and text, runs around $300. The AutoCAD program (Student Edition) runs about $400 but students may use the program in the college's General Use Computer Lab of A-345, as well as the CAD lab A-415, during open lab hours when workstations are available.

You can learn more about online courses at Kishwaukee College right HERE


Instructor Published

(Fall 2006) Kishwaukee College CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau had a journal article published in Tech Directions technology education journal. His 4 page lead article offered advice on how to promote your vocational or technical program on television and was titled, "Be a Star! Promote Your Program on TV!". Schwendau has appeared on television 5 times, promoting his field, in the Chicago and Rockford television markets.



One In 10 Million!


(Fall 2006) Over the course of the summer the Kishwaukee College CAD Technology program assumed the number one ranking in Google for a search string of "CAD+college". Instructor Mark Schwendau commented, "We have been number one in searches of 'college+CAD' for well over a year but had trouble climbing from 5th to 1st in searches of 'CAD+college'." Schwendau explained the "Google Dance", an expression for the Google ranking algorithm, is a well kept secret with broad speculation as to how the search engine ranks different web sites. He said he really has no idea how long Kish will remain on top of this particular (CAD) pile.

Schwendau will be speaking at the Fall Illinois Drafting Educator's Association Conference on the Kish website and its rankings.

GD&T Reference Chart


(Summer 2006) Kishwaukee College CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau now has a reference chart offered in the very famous and popular Hearlihy technology education catalog company. His chart, "GD&T Matrix", became available in their August catalog in both a classroom wall chart and smaller size laminated student edition. His idea came about by his desire to help his students better understand the subject of CAD 231, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing.


Spring 2006 Fieldtrip - Janesville GM!


(Spring 2006) Kishwaukee College CAD Technology students and instructors toured the Janesville (Wisconsin) GM Plant April 12th to see a variety of different models of the Yukon and Denali SUV product lines in production. Students were later honored to be able to meet and speak with GM Engineers where they got to discuss such hot topics as, plant retooling for the 2007 model change, flexfuel engines, hybrid vehicles and whether GM would bring back the diesel engine to burn biodiesel fuel in the future. Check out GM here. Special thanks goes to the Janesville General Motors Assembly Plant and UAW Local 95 for their time!

Work Opportunity Tax Credits

(Spring 2006) The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Administration division offers information on tax credits to employers who hire student interns of our program if they meet any 1 of 8 criteria. Information is found on thier website and can be downloaded and shared with your company's accountants or persons who preapre the tax returns for your company. IRS forms of particular interest are 5884 and 6199 which can be downloaded from the Internet.

Several employers recently asked us to provide this information on our website as they didn't know about it. Glad we can help!

December Presentation to Rockford ASQ!


(Fall 2005) The evening of Thursday, December 8th, found CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau in Rockford as the guest speaker for the Rockford Chapter of the American Society for Quality. Mark gave a one hour presentation on, Geometric Dimensioning for Quality Part 1, that included a Powerpoint presentation and information packet. About 35 members were in attendace for the dinner meeting and, even though it was a snowy evening, attendance was good and Mark's presentation was well received.

Mark aided his hostess, Donna Riggs of DeKalb's GE facility, by also setting her up with a speaker for the January meeting. Mark's former mentor in GD&T, former NIU Professor, Dr. Don Shepherd of Shepherd Industires, offered Geometric Dimensioning for Quality Part 2 on the evening of January 19th.

Fall 2005 Fieldtrip - R & D Thiel Plant at Belvidere!


(Fall 2005) On September 20th, Kishwaukee College Computer-Aided Design Technology and Constrtuction Trades Technology students toured the R & D Thiel plant of Belvidere, Illinois, to see how panel homes are being built. During their visit they got to talk to plant engineers Bill Swanson and Tim Magnuson and tour the majority of the 15 acre plant as they saw a variety of homes built by components of floors, walls and roof trusses. The Belvidere plant is one of about 4 in the nation and turns out about 100 houses a week that are transported via 142 Thiel company semis to northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin subdivisions where they are erected by 10 Thiel cranes. See their web site here. Special thanks to company owner/operator Bob Thiel (seated center) for his time and concern for us as well as Thiel employee and Kishwaukee College graduate, Joni Thornton, for taking time to see us.

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We Were Interviewed for "Career World" Magazine!


(Summer 2005) On Thursday, July 21, 2005, Kishwaukee College technology instructor Mark Schwendau was interviewed by phone by freelance writer Carole Moore doing an article for "Career World" of the Weekly Reader Corporation on CAD. The phone interview lasted about an hour.

Her article was published in the February-March edition (above) and ran 3 pages 11-13. Copies of this publication can be ordered from the Weekly Reader Corporation. The publication has a target audience of high school age youth.

Ms. Moore informed Mr. Schwendau she contacted him because of the prominance of the Kishwaukee College CAD website in major search engines of the Internet. Ms. Moore has written for such other publications as "Harvard Magazine", "Family Circle", "Writer's Digest" and "The Washington Post".

Spring 2005 Fieldtrip - Caterpillar's Aurora Plant!


(Spring 2005) On Friday, April 15, about a dozen of Kishwaukee College's CAD Technology students went for an industrial visitation of Caterpillar in Aurora. Students got to see a wide variety of CAT's wheel loaders and track excavators being fabricated. The highlight of the trip seemed to be viewing the "monster machine" CAT 994, 2.5 million dollar, wheel loader. Our thanks goes out to Caterpillar employees Michelle Stefan, Dean Cahoe, and our tour guide Harold Olsen. Attendance was 100% of those signed up and everyone really enjoyed the presentation! Pictured above are the Kish CAD Technology students on the back of the 992 loader.

Greenlee Scholarship
(Timeless) The Computer-Aided Design Technology program offers a yearly scholarship to their most outstanding student. Traditionally, this cash award is provided by the Greenlee Textron corporation and is for $250. Only second year degree seeking students of the program are eligible to apply. The Outstanding CAD Technology Student for this year will be announced in April at the Kishwaukee College annual awards and recognition ceremoney.

Apperication and thanks goes out to Greenlee Textron for their generous recognition of our students and our technology program they value so highly.

Volunteers Needed to Build!



(Timeless) The Kishwaukee College Computer-Aided Design Techology program will again be offering to help Habitat for Humanity chapters in DeKalb and Rockford as well as the all new Ogle County Chapter. Computer-Aided design students receive extra credit for these weekend experiences in May.

Be sure to register with CAD Technology instructor Mark Schwendau if you intend to go and receive extra credit for one of your CAD courses. Past volunteers have also received a $100 coupon to use on a $500 purchase from Slumberland. See their web site here.