Training Students and Educators
NI recognizes the importance of training tomorrow’s innovators and the educators who can guide students into an engineering-related career path. To meet the engineering grand challenges that society faces, there must be a continuous pool of talented engineers and scientists that are well-versed in cutting-edge industry tools such as NI LabVIEW software. For this reason, NI invests significant time and resources to train students and educators at a reduced cost or free of charge. In 2011, NI offered training in a variety of locations and formats to ensure all students had an equal opportunity to learn LabVIEW.
Free Webcasts
To overcome the challenges of long distances and multiple languages across the region, the NI Eastern Europe branch hosted a series of free academic training webcasts for students and educators. NI offered the three-hour online LabVIEW basics training webcasts 21 times in five languages.
Robotics symposiums
In collaboration with LEGO® Education, NI cohosted 10 free robotics symposiums in 2011. Through these events, NI trained primary and secondary school teachers on how to use robotics in the classroom in a way that engages students and helps them develop the skills they need to engineer real-world projects.
LabVIEW Student Ambassadors
In its second year, the LabVIEW Student Ambassador program grew from seven to 31 ambassadors. Through this program, students who are passionate about LabVIEW and eager to train their peers on graphical system design host workshops on their college campuses to help fellow students achieve LabVIEW proficiency and certification. The program expanded to five countries in 2011. As a direct result of the Student Ambassador program, more than 1,700 students learned LabVIEW and nearly 400 became Certified LabVIEW Associate Developers (CLADs).
LabVIEW Academies
The LabVIEW Academy program provides classroom curriculum and hands-on exercises to colleges and universities so they can offer LabVIEW training that prepares students for the CLAD exam. NI continues to encourage new educational institutions worldwide to become certified LabVIEW Academies to improve students’ career opportunities by providing experience and certification in LabVIEW. At the end of 2011, there were 175 LabVIEW Academy programs operating in 29 countries. The CLAD exam is free for students through the LabVIEW Academy program.
Sharing Science Education Expertise in Asia
The NI offices in the Pacific Islands hosted a three-day workshop for teachers in September as part of the Science, Technology, and Engineering Exchange Laboratory (STEEL) program, a joint initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), National Instruments, and the Science Centre Singapore.
STEEL aims to build the capacity of ministry of education officials, technical and vocational teachers, and students in several Southeast Asian countries through curriculum development training; annual work plans that promote science, technology, and engineering education; and support to district and regional competitions. The program promotes hands-on learning through the exchange of information, ideas, and experience among countries in the region.
Nearly 40 science teachers from Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Thailand joined educators in Singapore for the inaugural event, at which NI provided critical training on circuit experiments. NI donated 40 NI myDAQ and LabVIEW for Education sets to the participating schools to help teachers deliver innovative lessons to their classes.
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