SOLIDWORKS Education Edition (EDU) 2016-2017 was just released and for those of you on Active Subscription, upgrade kits are on the way to your school. I have been working on the Education team at CADimensions for over 10 years now. Even though the new version is released around this time each year, our phones don’t start ringing until the fall when teachers are getting rooms set up for the new school year. I wanted to share some common questions that we hear from our EDU customers.
1) What’s Included with SOLIDWORKS Education Edition 2016-2017?
SOLIDWORKS EDU includes the following:
- SOLIDWORKS Premium (3D CAD software)
- Simulation Premium (FEA tools)
- Flow Simulation (CFD tools)
- Motion (kinematics analysis)
- Plastics (part and mold filling analysis)
- Sustainability (environmental impact tools)
- Electrical Professional (electrical systems design tools) NEW!
- Model Base Definition (define, organize, and publish 3D PMI)
- Composer (technical documentation tools) NEW!
- Visualize (develop rich, photo quality content) NEW!
- MySolidWorks Standard (your connection to everything SOLIDWORKS) NEW!
- Certified SW Associate – Academic Certification
- Certified SW Professional – Academic Certification NEW!
Depending on your school level and program, you may not be using all the software options available inside EDU, but there are five major additions in this year’s release. The commitment to education is clearly seen by adding Electrical Professional, Composer, Visualize, MySolidWorks Standard, and the CSWP Academic Certification to the EDU bundle for no additional cost. SOLIDWORKS describes this year’s edition as, “The complete CAD teaching tool. Featuring software, plus a full curriculum and interactive courseware, SOLIDWORKS Education Edition is your all-inclusive resource for teaching 3D mechanical CAD, design validation, and data management.”
2) Your SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal Account
I email and talk to Professors, Teachers, Instructors and Students on a regular basis. It amazes me that when we start discussing all the resources SOLIDWORKS has made available through EDU, many have never even been on the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal.
3) SOLIDWORKS Student Access
If you have ever thought how nice it would be for your students to have a copy of SOLIDWORKS for their home systems, SOLIDWORKS agrees with you. The Student Access Initiative has been in place for several years now, and has been extremely effective in giving students and faculty the ability to access SOLIDWORKS software outside the classroom.
SOLIDWORKS Student Access offers a range of solutions to SOLIDWORKS Education Edition customers. Subscription service is required for the Student Engineering Kit (SEK) and Student Design Kit (SDK), Network License Borrowing is available to both subscription and non-subscription service customers.
The primary two methods for a student to get the software are the Student Design Kit (SDK) and the Student Engineering Kit (SEK). The SDK is a download and includes the SOLIDWORKS software. The SEK includes SOLIDWORKS and most of the other software modules and features included in the school’s Education Edition. All features and functionality can be found in this matrix.
There are 3 levels of access to MySolidWorks: MySolidWorks, MySolidWorks Standard, and MySolidWorks Professional. The general MySolidWorks access is FREE to all, regardless of EDU or Subscription Service. MySolidWorks Standard is also FREE to schools that have the SOLIDWORKS Education Edition and the license is on Active Subscription. If your students are using the Student Engineering Kit (SEK) they will also have access to MySolidWorks Standard for FREE by using their SEK serial number.
If you have created a SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal Account, you already have a MySolidworks ID, it uses the same username and password. Check out all the training videos and tutorials available, and don’t overlook the CSWA Prep Course!
5) Technical Support from CADimensions
CADimensions has a tremendous staff of technical people who ensure you are getting the most out of your SOLIDWORKS products. Our support engineers perform many functions including technical support for all the software products, teaching users in our classrooms, creating technical blogs, tech tip videos and Lunch & Learn webinars. They demonstrate the software to prospective new users and will regularly consult with users on the best ways to utilize the software.
They are very passionate about what they do, and I can assure you they are excited to help educators and students with any questions or issues you might have. A majority of our technical staff were on Robotics Teams in high school and various Engineering Clubs in college.
If you have questions about SOLIDWORKS EDU or need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.