A course on geometric dimensioning and tolerancing: Overview and initial assessment

Abstract

During the Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 semesters, a geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) course was offered at Illinois State University. The purpose of the course was to introduce students to basic concepts of GD&T and then allow students to complete practical exercises and laboratories to apply the concepts. This paper outlines the main topics and structure of the course, describes laboratory activities and how they tie GD&T concepts to solid modeling concepts, summarizes some of the assessment data gathered during the Fall 2016 and 2017 semesters, and analyzes student performance on concepts presented during both semesters. Preliminary results indicate that students appear to perform well on concepts that require only the recall of information (e.g., symbol identification, placing datum feature symbols on surfaces, etc.). Students did not perform as well on the application of concepts (e.g., recognizing the location of a datum reference frame origin, calculating the virtual size of a hole, correctly applying specified limit dimensions, etc.).