With demand for skilled welders growing, now is a great time to implement a 21st Century welding program and get more students interested in these rewarding career opportunities. Of course, launching a new welding program, or reinventing a current one, can be a daunting task. There are a lot of questions to ask, like what equipment will help students the most? What curriculum is out there to help you get started? How do you select tools and resources that will get today’s students interested in these careers, and how do you get started with those tools?
Our Welding Solutions Implementation Guide can help. Created using feedback from instructors across the country, this guide walks readers through all of these questions — and more.
Four key areas in a 21st century welding classroom
Through conversations with educators and industry professionals, we’ve identified four content areas that are essential in today’s welding programs:
1. Welding Simulation Lab
- Suggested tools: guideWELD® VR welding simulator
- Why we love it: This video game-like training tool captures students’ attention and helps get them interested in welding career opportunities. Better yet, it offers a safe, virtual environment in which to develop foundational welding skills and develop correct muscle memory, while saving you time and money on consumables.
2. Guided Live Welding
- Suggested tools: guideWELD® LIVE real welding guidance system
- Why we love it: Use this one-of-a-kind tool to give students corrective feedback inside their live welding booth. Students can fine-tune their skills before they are ready for live welding without guidance.
3. Visual Weld Inspection
- Suggested tools: RealCareer™ Weld Defects Kit, Common Welding Joints Kit
- Why we love them: Help students learn to what makes a quality weld and how to assess and correct techniques. These portable instructional aids also help teach weld defects and discontinuities
4. Destructive Weld Testing
- Suggested tools: RealCareer™ Bend Tester
- Why we love it: Prepare students for careers and help them develop the skills to self-assess. Additionally, challenge students to test their own welds and determine what went wrong
5. Bonus area: Soft skills
- Suggested tools: Employability Skills Program, Contemporary Entrepreneurship Program, Leadership Soft Skills Program, Welding Career Scenario Cards
- Why we love them: From supplemental leadership and soft skills programs to ready-to-use activity cards, these tools help students hone skills that are essential in any workplace. Better yet, students can use our entrepreneurship and leadership program to begin developing the skills they’ll need to open their own welding shop someday.
Resources for learning more
Looking for more information on implementing a 21st Century welding program? We recommend:
- Reading our case study, “Welding Education in the 21st Century,” to learn what instructors across the country are doing to engage their students in welding and manufacturing careers
- Reviewing the key reasons educators choose guideWELD® VR over other welding simulators
- See the trade skills training kits we recommend for boosting student confidence and skill development:
