Pedagogical science/2. Problems of  training of specialists

Nastashchuk N. A.

Omsk State Transport University, Russia

THE PROBLEM OF RAILWAY ENGINEERS’ TRAINING

COMPUTER GRAPHICS

In connection with a significant increase of the objective requirement in automation of the technological processes on railway transport it is emerged the necessity in using a computer projecting, which allows to reduce time of the development of the design documentation and ipso facto to streamline the process of implementation of new constructions units and mechanisms in the production cycle of railway transport. The development of the systems of the computer projecting is rested upon the solid scientific-technical base – computer graphics and image processing. So, upon a railway engineers’ training it is taken on special significance an effective training computer graphics, the foundation of which is laid in the learning of the university course of computer science.

Unfortunately, today it is stated that modern methods of students’ education, particularly future railway engineers, the base of computer graphics in the course of computer science are directed to the learning and mastering a specific graphic editor, the using specific algorithms of operation with them and graphic objects. In the sequel a similar education brings to that a graduating student has obsolete knowledge and skills of the operation with the specific graphic editor. And as a consequence, the graduating student is not competitive in today’s labour-market.

Moreover, the principles of construction and functioning of vector graphic editors in general are brought in the base of the structure and functional of engineering computer-aided design system (CAD) and its mastering is necessary for a railway engineers’ planning and design activity. So, the mastering and applying engineering CAD is necessary in the learning students a discipline «Computer engineering graphics» and a number of the other disciplines of a professional cycle, for example «Machine units and design principles».

In connection with this, a special urgency acquires a problem of railway engineers’ training to the using of the aids of computer graphics in the planning and design activity. Today this activity demands from a future specialist of railway branch that he has to be able to use not only existing on this or that period of time specific versions of graphic editors, which he is taught in the course of computer science, but to master new and/or other versions of graphic editors and, at a later date, engineering CAD.

In this article it is offered a railway engineers’ training of computer graphics, in the content of which it is necessary to reflect the interconnection of the fundamental base of computer science with its application software (graphic editors). Considering the fact that vector computer graphics are brought mainly in the base of engineering CAD, so first of all it is necessary to focus a student attention on the fundamental principles of image processing, the forming and presenting in the computer memory of vector graphic objects, and also on the ways of operation with them. These ones are necessary for the construction of computer models of details and mechanisms of railway technical equipment. But for the coping with new and other versions of graphic editors by a student it is necessary not only to master the fundamental bases of computer graphics.

A competence approach to the training of the specialists expects a support on a quasi-professional activity which brings features both an educational and a future professional activity. In connection with this the content of training computer science should include both the base of standards de jure and standard de facto in the field of informational technologies (IT), used for the development and upgrading the aids of IT at large. Suhomlin V. À. notes [1] that the development of information industry and IT are defined with a level of the progress of science and methodology base and the system of standards in the field of IT.

In the issue of the analysis of the system of standards in the field of IT [1] it has been made the selection of those standards in the field of computer graphics, the content of which is necessary for the studying future railway engineers in the university course of computer science. The fundamental base of the system of standards in the field of computer graphics is a reference model of computer graphics which defines base architectural specifications (functions of user interface and computer graphics) and a set of structured terms of the subject field.

Upon the constructing graphic editors, engineering CAD (applied IT) domestic and foreign developers use a certain set of base standards or specifications of this field which contain the principles and requirements to the creation of architecture, interface and functional of computer graphical systems.

For example, ISO/IEC 2382-13: 1996. Information technology – Vocabulary – Part 13: Computer graphics; ISO/IEC 7942-1: 1994. Information technology – Computer graphics and image processing – Graphical Kernel System (GKS) – Part 1: Functional description.

In fine it is necessary to point out that the suggested approach to the railway engineers’ training in the field of computer graphics is concluded in that the content of training computer graphics should to reflect the interconnection of the fundamental base of that part of computer science with its application software (graphic editors) upon the conditions of mastering didactically handled the base of standardization of its development. This allows railway engineers to master new modern graphic editors and in the sequel engineering CAD upon the studying a set of disciplines of the professional cycle, and also to apply its other versions in their planning and design activity not only in Russia, but abroad; and also to raise their professional portability of these specialists, providing their successful job placement both in domestic and global labour-market.

 

Literature:

1. Suhomlin V. À. Introduction to the analysis of information technologies: textbook / V. A. Suhomlin. – M.: Hot line-Telecom, 2003. – 457 p.