Joseph Zarka

Instructor At Henry Ford College

Joe had an associate degree in Machine Tool Technology and has been a CNC machinist for 27 years and a Tool and Diemaker Journeyman for 7 years. He has worked with prototype companies (13 yrs.), DOD (4.5 yrs.), Automotive (7.5 yrs.) and other misc. companies since he was 18. Joe is currently a Full-time instructor at Henry Ford College, and it is his second year as a full-time instructor. 

1.How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“The use of the workbooks really sets up the pace of the class. Step by step tutorials let my students know how to design a part and then process that part with a machining example.” 

2.How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“Each Lesson has steps to keep my students progressing through. They are eager to complete the lesson and it is a challenge to them to get it done and done correctly.”

3.How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“Self-paced books and the PPT help with explanations. The videos help with different options and visual learning of the actual process as he speaks.”

Michael Verrett

Lead Instructor/Indian Springs High School

Michael Verrett is the Machining Academy Lead Instructor at Indian Springs High School.  He holds a B.S., Mechanical Engineering Technology, California Baptist University, and a A.A.S, Machine Technology, San Bernardino Valley Community College. 

“camInstructor provides the specific course material regarding my program in an organized and efficient way for the students to be able to follow the process of manufacturing by interacting with the videos and having milestones for the students to be able to check off. For me as an instructor to be able to use the administrator account to track the data and identify how students are progressing in my program, therefore, that lets me know if I need to reteach a specific concept or if the students are understanding what they are learning.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“This helps my students stay engaged and focused by the simplicity of the way the lessons are laid out. Concepts are built in from previous lessons to further challenge the students as they progress from lesson to lesson. The students are able to go back and revisit videos on a specific area they are struggling with and work at their own pace.”

"camInstructor makes my job easier by providing a platform that I can use to reiterate what the students have already learned from their hands-on approach and camInstructor solidifies the theoretical concepts. Therefore, this lightens my workload by already having lessons laid out which are meeting industry standards of what is expected from a person entering the manufacturing industry.”

Luke Davies

Pennsylvania College of Technology

Luke teaches the basic and intermediate CAD/CAM, basic and intermediate CNC and Metrology. He received his Associates of Automated Manufacturing Technology and a Bachelor of Manufacturing Engineering Technology from the Pennsylvania College of Technology. He has almost 10 years of industry experience and 3 years of teaching experience at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“In today's dynamic trade we are expected to be the content experts on all things manufacturing. camInstructor makes it easy to stay up to date with current software changes that are made every year to the CAM packages we teach. The lessons developed in camInstructor provide enough detail for faculty and students alike to gain a comprehensive understanding of the different techniques and methods being spotlighted in each lesson. This also decreases the amount of time spent developing lessons and allows me to focus on applications and unique student projects utilizing the concepts learned in each lesson.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“The way camInstructor is set up allows the students to have clearly defined steps, checks, and outcomes to meet at the end of each lesson. It is broken down into manageable segments and encourages all types of learning styles to garner what they can from the lecture centered around lessons and review content at their own pace outside of class.”

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“It’s easy to see how camInstructor saves time and effort, however the support you get from the team is top notch. All of my interactions have been professional, helpful and they have been very responsive. Riva and the team go above and beyond to make sure you have the tools and modules needed to deliver top tier instruction. I recently had great conversation with Riva at a convention. I inquired about some different modules for a class next year and before we had finished the conversation, she was able to give me access to the material that they offer for evaluation of a future class. They definitely make my job easier! Thanks, camInstructor!”

Brian Nelsen

Dunwoody College of Technology

Brian is an Associate Professor for the Machine Tool Technology program at the Dunwoody College of Technology. He has over 33 years of experience in the manufacturing industry since receiving his AAS in Machine Tool Careers from Dakota Country Technical College. He later received his BS in Manufacturing Management from the Dunwoody College of Technology and finally, he received his Masters in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Stout. Brian has experience as a mold and die maker, as a programmer and combined almost 30 years as an instructor.

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“camInstructor saves me time in a few ways. First if a student misses a lecture the material is there for them to review. It allows me to lecture on the more difficult or complex parts or processes, as the basics are well covered in the course work. The instructor materials help me to better shape the lectures and I do not have to create them, so it saves time.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“Students stay engaged because they are spending time interacting directly with the course materials. In a normal lecture environment, some students struggle with following along. camInstructor allows them the rewind the video, pause and review the material anytime.”

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“The course work covers a lot of the basic operations very well. This reinforces the things I teach and they spend less time contacting me when they are working outside the college. The supplied instructional aids allow me to focus on the other aspects of the process like tooling, and machine operation.”

Gerald Maxie

Instructor- CNC Programming and Operations

Gerald has been a full-time CNC Programming and Operations instructor at Tri-County Technical College for over 5 years. He received his A.A. in Industrial Technology with a major in Machine Tool Technology from Tri-County Technical College. Gerald has been in the tool and die field for over 30 years and he has been using Mastercam since the early 90s.

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?  

“I use camInstructor as supplemental instruction to the lecture. I can assign parts of the online course for students to review before class. This helps students to be more engaged in class and makes it easier to explain issues they may have, saving us time trying to determine the issue they are having on a project.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“camInstructor’s 24/7 access to the course and the software allows students to work from home at their own pace. I have seen a great improvement in the student's focus and engagement since we started using the camInstructor; in the past, I have had a large swing in abilities; some caught on fast while others struggled. Now with camInstructor, students can use the online to brush up on areas they are struggling with, and it takes less time working with them face to face to get them caught up on projects. While more advanced students don’t get bored and can work on the advanced CAM lessons, I can get them to the more fun project faster.”  

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

"camInstructor makes admonition for a class very easy. I can see at a glance how students are progressing with the assigned online work. The available prints, power points, and PDFs in the teacher resources are easy to integrate with our curriculum or develop a curriculum from.”

Clint Domangue

Instructor at Fletcher Technical Community College

Clint Domangue has been a Machine Tool Technology Instructor at Fletcher Technical Community College for a total of 16 years. He has been involved in training for 32 years and has associate degrees in both General Studies and Applied Technologies.

 1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

 camInstructor gives me the most updated information on Mastercam in a lesson plan format, which is great for class setup. With my background being in Machine Tools and not CAD/CAM it helps me get up to speed with the things I need to know to help students. The class management section of the software is a great time saving function.

2. How does camInstructor help keep you students focused and engaged?

 The biggest advantage with camInstructor is the fact that the students can work at their own pace. Once the lecture is complete, the student has all the material to review as many times as needed. The library of videos helps visual learners obtain competency sooner.

camInstructor also allows students to advance as quickly as they can master the software resulting in their ability to excel in the lab.

 The lesson plans provided eliminate the time necessary to develop a curriculum and lesson plans. This is provided in a great format. The class management aspect of the software saves time with the included quizzes graded by the system and resource videos.

Mark Cauble

Assistant Professor – Ivy Tech Community College (Lawrenceburg/Batesville)

Mark is an assistant professor at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana. Mark has a A.S. degree from Vincennes University in Tool & Die and a journeyman's toolmaker card from the State of Ohio. Mark is the program chair for the school of Machine Tool Technology & Design Technology at Ivy Tech.  Mark is also a machine shop owner who concentrates on military research. 

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?  

“camInstructor courses are structured to give the student complete knowledge of the given topic with rich content and video for review.  This being said, it gives me time to focus on class lecture and lab prep for the given lesson.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“camInstuctor courses are all project-based lessons in which the students ABSOLUTLY LOVE! They really like following through with the project from beginning until the end and when the part is produced at the machine. This confirms to them that they have the ability to start and complete a project on their own!

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

"Student Success is my main goal for teaching college." This being said, camInstructor allows me to stay focused on my Main Goal! With a predetermined curriculum with rich content, I can stay focused on my students, lecture and lab work to make them Workforce Ready after completing my program at Ivy Tech Community College!”

Jonathan Vennard

Assistant Professor - Precision Machining & Advanced CNC Technology Vincennes University.

Jonathan Vennard has been an Instructor and Assistant Professor for Precision Machining & Advanced CNC Technology at Vincennes University for over 9 years. He received his A.S. and his B.A.Sc. in Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

 1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?  

“The program here at Vincennes University is constantly evolving to keep up with our industry partners. This evolution includes staying with the newest versions of the Mastercam software. We started using camInstructor in 2014, utilizing the CNC Mill & Lathe workbook, and later adopting camInstructor for our Mastercam coursework as well. camInstructor curriculum has drastically trimmed my preparation time for classroom work, which has allowed myself and our other instructors to focus more on improving our student's lab experiences.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“camInstructor provides the students with a fallback resource for anything they may miss in our lectures, or if they are absent, they can rely on the camInstructor materials to get caught up. Students also can stay engaged on the HLE of Mastercam and access the template files for projects easier with use of the camInstructor platform.”  

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

"The team at camInstructor has helped us in a variety of ways, whether it be simply setting up our semester-by-semester material bundles or helping us in regard to student certification processes. Our program and students thrive and grow through the quality curriculum camInstructor provides.”

Andrew Stoddard

Instructor at De Anza College, California

Andrew Stoddard has been an instructor at De Anza College for 7 Years and has over 20 years experience in the manufacturing industry. Andrew's experience includes being employed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory as well as The Ames Research Center. He has been factory trained by HAAS Automation as well as DMG MORI.

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“Using camInstructor in my classes is helpful with getting a good foundation established from the start. The textbook follows the lessons, step by step. Showing how to perform and create each project, from scratch.  This method works great for read-write learners that prefer information in a text format. The book also comes with access to the camInstructor website. This is where students can utilize the online videos and other downloadable content.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“I find the videos work great for auditory-visual learners that need to see and hear the lessons played out for them. I also find this a great learning tool for ESL students that have difficulty reading and understanding English. I ask that my students have the textbook open, as the videos are playing, so they can really get the most out of the provided information.”

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

"Over the 6 years I’ve used the camInstructor educational material in my classes, I have found it to be an invaluable resource for educators."

James West

Instructor at State Technical College Missouri

James West has been an Industrial Technology and Precision Machining Technology instructor at State Technical College of Missouri  for over 10 years. James holds a A.A.S. from Linn State Technical College and a B.S.  of Applied Science in Management from Central Methodist University.

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“Learning Mastercam for students can be very challenging at times. Teaching classes of 20+ students, camInstructor has been the indispensable tool for instruction, learning, and class management\organization. The graded quizzes and detailed instructions coupled with videos makes camInstructor an instructor’s dream. I have even taught Mastercam online through camInstructor.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“camInstructor allows the students to learn the CAM software at their own pace through the videos and step by step instructions.”

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“Without camInstructor I do not believe I would be able to manage the size and number of classes that I am currently taking on.”

Joe Thurin

Instructor at Moraine Park Technical College

Joe Thurin has been a CNC/Tool & Die Technology Instructor, Associate Professor at Moraine Park Technical College for over 4 years. Joe received his associate degree with the Tool and Die Design Program at Moraine Park Technical College. 

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“camInstructor reinforces what I am teaching in the classroom for students to review on their own time. This allows a student to review the material outside of class.  Now they can come to class with a better understanding and questions on the Mastercam projects.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“This resource allows the students to challenge themselves to new levels in Mastercam. camInstructor simply walks you right through each lesson and exercise with ease and understanding. The bonus videos are great! This builds the confidence needed for the student to create tool paths in Mastercam.”

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“The friendly staff is very timely to always get my camInstructor ready to go with teacher resources every semester. All the resources available on camInstructor for the students makes my job easier.”

Terry Morse

Associate Professor at Delta College, MI

Terry Morse has been an Associate Professor at Delta College for over 12 years. Previous to that position, he was a Machine Tool Instructor at Bay Arenac ISD Career Center and also gained “hands on” experience working as a Tool Maker.

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor? 

    “camInstructor saves me time by having a good video library of all its lessons. That way when a student has missed a class or needs further explanation, they can simply review the video tutorial of the lesson and have most of the necessary information to complete the project. camInstructor also has quizzes available that as an instructor I can assign to be completed after the required chapter assignments have been completed.”

2. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“camInstructor has made my job easier simply by developing a good text that has projects that build on previous skills and the size of the parts can easily fit in our CNC work envelope.”

3. Why does Delta choose to offer camInstructor Certification to students?

“First we feel by offering a 3^rd party test/assessment we are adding validity to our Mastercam course and manufacturing program. We also use the data from the certifications in our internal assessment report when compiling data for the college accreditation report.”

4. What do students think about camInstructor Certification?

“Students appreciate the opportunity to take a certification test and add the accomplishments to their resume.”

5. How easy is it to offer camInstructor Certification?

“Other faculty members and I feel it is easy to administer and the results are easy to compile.”

Rick Hendricks

Instructor/Department Head at Pennsylvania College of Technology

Rick Hendricks, Jr. is the Manufacturing Department Head at Pennsylvania College of Technology.  He holds a M.S., Education Development & Strategies, Wilkes University, a B.S., Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Pennsylvania College of Technology and a A.A.S, Machine tool Technology, Williamsport Area Community College. 

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“Simply put-Why re-invent the wheel? camInstructor has all the essentials I need to streamline the preparation process for Mastercam training, both in the classroom and CNC machining lab. In the classroom we utilize the detailed instructions and the video collection to complete the part geometry and toolpaths. Having these resources available saves me time so we can prepare the CNC equipment and tooling with our students to machine many of the projects.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“As we know people learn and comprehend in different ways. Having the choice between reading through the detailed tutorial instructions, and/or watching the videos to complete the tasks, assists students with their style of learning. Many of the students use a combination and when assessing their knowledge using projects, tests, or quizzes, the outcomes are very positive.”

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“Having the training modules with detailed instructions, videos, downloads and more online and at a cheaper price makes it available no matter where the students are. Offering the free HLE version of Mastercam gives the students the capability of completing assignments when on or off campus. Utilizing the variety of project training modules ranging from 2D wireframe to five-axis solid model projects, as well as basic to advanced turning tutorials gives me time to focus on the development and understanding of CNC machine setup, tooling selection, speed and feed calculations, and troubleshooting.”

Troy Spear

Computer Aided Design and Engineering Technologies Career Technical Program

Troy Spear is a level I instructor for the Computer Aided Design and Engineering Technologies career technical program at Theodore Roosevelt High School.  He teaches Fundamentals of Wood and Metal Manufacturing and Advanced Cabinetry. He received his Master of Arts in Industrial Technology from Kent State University.  He is also a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Cabinetmakers Association, Woodwork Career Alliance and Skills USA.  

1. How does camInstructor save you time as an instructor?

“camInstructor saves me time as an instructor by allowing each student to progress through well thought out and designed lessons at their own pace. This gives them all the same base level of understanding while allowing me to focus on other things within my classroom or lab setting. I am also able to then take students collectively or individually and go deeper with them on either personal or class projects/tasks.”

2. How does camInstructor help keep your students focused and engaged?

“Students are kept engaged by camInstructor’s lay out. A linear step by step approach is used that builds student interest, buy in and understanding. My students know that this instruction leads them out to our Advanced Manufacturing Lab where they are 3D printing, machining or fabricating parts.”         

3. How do we at camInstructor make your job easier?

“My job is made easier through using camInstructor because I do not have to create quality lessons or projects to teach the fundamentals of the various programs as they have already been created for me to use with my students. These lessons help them learn and use the various software interfaces as well as applying the processes to various projects. I can focus my energies on other areas or tasks, which if you're a manufacturing or design trades teacher, you can appreciate how many of those exist.”