Education business

I taught a PE review course for two semesters thru a local state supported technical college continuing education department. Did this as an "adjunct instructor" (independent contractor). The business relationship worked well.

The college was happy to offer the course - it helped to demonstrate that they were providing services to the community.

Suggest that you prepare a proposed course outline and contact a similar institution.

Yea! I remember that course! Wasn't it "How to Manipulate a Slide Rule"?

I think that we should propose that all slide rules be entered on the endangered species list. Maybe then they would be worth more than $50.00. (51)

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

I always found a slide rule very useful for tapping the rows of 5670 tubes in the APN-70 Loran system to find the noisy ones...

)

That was about the peak of my skills with a slide rule, I am embarrassed to admit. I could do basic multiplication and division but was never really proficient on any other function.

Yes I remember that era, but I don't miss slide rules, nor electron tubes. LOL

msquared48 - Actually, I did start the first class each semester with a demonstration of slide rule "type" thinking. Had the students generate a random integer, say 6 or 7 digits long. Then, asked them to write down an approximation of the square root of that number within 30 seconds (no calculator allowed) - accurate to within 10% of the true value of the square root. Not one student had even a clue how to start. Showed them how to do it, why it was important in the old days when using a slide rule, and explained that the ability to mentally "juggle" numbers quickly and efficiently during the PE exam would be a benefit. Encouraged them to practice that type of approximation as part of exam preparation.

Thanks SlideRuleEra. It was very helpful. Also, I ordered couple of books from ebay.

Thanks again

shahyar I have a colleague who's on the ASME committee looking at the gap between what grads have been taught and what industry thinks they need to know.

I haven't spoken to him about it for a while but you may want to look at it, depending what aspect of 'chemical' you work in.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

I did offer courses recently, in-house, for graduate engineers, on one project (a big project with +100 structural engineers.)

It became a great forum for the graduate engineers. I used this to develop a course, over time it settled into approximating, estimating, judging, communicating. We looked at loads and their types, reasonable versus accuracy. I invite the graduates to propose topics of interests. I had about six to eight grads on a weekly basis over eight weeks. They became comfortable with each other and networked well.

The biggest subject I tackle is how to prepare calculations. This appears to be the biggest question mark. From the days of slide rules to the diodes, we have truly lost the plot!

I believe capturing graduates within the working environment is very important, it is the one place they are vulnerable, conscious and inquisitive. When they are alongside similar colleagues on the same project, they talk and compete positively. This appraises highly in their annual review.

The graduates retain the matter very well and say it was a source of inspiration.

At college, they are dreaming, unaware and apathetic. When they meet other engineers they do not know, they do not talk or network. I am looking to teach within the college environment, to explore the differences.

Are you thinking training within the corporate arena or colleges?

I like SlideRuleEra's ideas very much. Great stuff again! Had to try that myself.

Robert Mote

I talk at conferences pretty often (two or three a year) and have found that almost every time I do it someone comes up and asks if I could give that talk at their company. While the conferences don't pay, the follow-up work pays really well. A talk I gave at a local bi-annual Oil & Gas Conference in 2006 has turned into a magazine article and classroom staple that I've given 30 times and made many thousands of dollars on.

Next month I'm giving another talk at that conference and I have pretty high hopes for it becoming a revenue generator. The key is preparation--I budget 30 hours for preparing a 1-hour talk on a new subject. They tend to come across as a couple of notches above the norm because of the up front work and get the attention they deserve.

Don't look to local colleges as serious revenue (they don't pay much), but teaching there is often a good entry into companies.