Engineering Design and Professional Studies

Course manual for Level 1

2008 - 2009

School of Electronics and Physical ScienceUniversity of Surrey

Course organiser:

Level 1 - Prof B L Weiss

EDPS Manual version 1.5September 2008

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Contents

Forward ................................................................... ii

Autumn Semester

1. Introduction................................................... 1

2. Information Retrieval.................................... 7

3. Technical Report Writing.............................. 15

4. Design Exercise……………………………. 23

Spring Semester

5. Oral Presentation Skills................................. 25

6. Product Design & Analysis............................ 31

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Forward

Engineering Design and Professional Studies has undergone a number of changes in recent years. The primary aim of the course is to provide a formal learning environment for undergraduate students to gain their first experiences of engineering professional development and to deliver the communication and associated design and business skills needed by a modern professional engineer. The course was reviewed by Dr Kirkby in 1999 wherein it gained much of its current format - a mixture of lectures, assessed workshops and assignment classes, and assessed coursework. A further review committee led by Professor Silva in 2002 revised a number of aspects of the course, in order to produce the best mix of staff resources whilst still adhering to the UK-SPEC recommendations as laid down by the Engineering Council and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). This has produced the course in its current format, the changes of which were approved at the April 2002 meeting of the Department of Electrical Engineering Board of Studies.

As part of this latter review process, it was recommended that students be issued with a Course Manual, to be used throughout EDPS at levels 1 and 2, to provide continuity throughout the two year EDPS programme, and to provide an information source which might be useful in the first few years of an Engineering career. We also intend that this would provide students with a better appreciation of how skills developed in this course can also be utilised in the laboratory and elsewhere in their undergraduate engineering courses. We hope that introducing this manual will clearly demonstrate why modern professional engineers need to actively develop techniques of effective design and communication, and a business understanding, if they are to successfully convey technical issues to managers, clients and the general public.

I would like to thank Dr Allan Way for proof reading the initial drafts during the writing of this manual, and to thank my colleagues in the School who were initially responsibly for developing the various lectures, assignments and coursework featured in this manual: Drs Allan Way, Karen Kirkby, Phil MacLauchlan, Sub Reddy, Peter Marshall, Ted Chilton, Neil Emerson and Brian Mulhall. I would also like to thank Dr Kevin Wells who has successfully developed this course and documentation over several years and provided a great deal of guidance to its continued smooth running.

All of us involved in EDPS teaching hope that students will enjoy the learning exercises. We have done our best to try to make the course interesting and fun, but will always welcome any constructive comments.

Stephen MackinSeptember 2005

Engineering Design and Professional Studies will be offered during 2007/8 in a very similar format, but with a number of changes in the staff involved in the lecturing, tutoring and assessment. I am very grateful to Stephen Mackin for providing me with all of the teaching and organisational material from previous years.

Jeremy AllamSeptember 2007

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1. Introduction to EDPS.

Prof B L Weiss

... in which we introduce the role of the professional engineer, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the route to chartered status, and describe the requirements for formal learning of communication skills in order to convey technical information to a wide variety of audience.

1.1 BEng/MEng at Surrey

The undergraduate engineering degree course on which you have been enrolled is an accredited engineering degree course. This means that your eventual degree qualification is recognised by the Engineering Council and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, as providing part of the entrance requirements for gaining Chartered Engineer status (see below).

1.2 The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

The Institution of Engineering and Technology is the professional body licensed by The Engineering Council (UK) to accredit programmes of education and initial professional development. It is the Institution's responsibility to interpret the educational base and competence criteria used for chartered engineer. The IET maintains a register of professional engineers who are recognised as having met stringent standards of training, and professional competence. These are known as chartered engineers denoted by CEng after the engineers name.

Note that the IET is a ‘new’ institution formed in Spring 2006 by the joining together of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE). It is the largest professional engineering society in Europe and the second largest of its type in the world with 150,000 members worldwide. To find out more information visit their website http://www.theiet.org/ . You will probably see the “IEE” in some existing documentation where it hasn’t yet been changed, and you will hear that some people still talk of the “IEE”.

The IET (previously the IEE) has been accrediting degrees in Electrical Electronic and computer-based systems engineering in the UK and around the world for the last 20 years. Its accredited degrees are subjected to rigorous scrutiny so that students’ parents and companies are assured of high standards. IET accredited degree programmes provide a fast-track route to Chartered Engineer status, the internationally recognised qualification.

1.3. The Professional Engineer

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The Institution of Engineering and Technology defines the role of the engineer as follows :

Engineers must be competent, by virtue of their education and throughout their working life, to:

- combine general and specialist engineering knowledge/understanding to innovate new, and optimise existing, technology. - apply appropriate theoretical and practical methods to the analysis and solution of engineering problems: - plan and implement solutions, - evaluate solutions and make improvements. - provide technical, commercial and managerial leadership: - plan for effective project implementation, - plan, budget, organise, direct and control tasks, people and other resources, - develop staff to meet changing technical and managerial requirements, - bring about continuous improvement through quality management.

Engineers must be competent, by virtue of their education and throughout their working life, in using effective communication and interpersonal skills. This includes the ability

· to work and communicate with others at all levels; · to effectively present and discuss ideas and plans; · to build teams and negotiate.

Incumbent within all these skills and activities....the professional engineer must be able to convey information effectively.

This is the overarching reason for all engineering undergraduates attending EDPS. It is the overall aim of the course to take you, as recent sixth-formers with very little experience in this aspect of professional engineering, and provide you with the skills and abilities so that you can convey, communicate and understand technical ideas and issues with others, ranging from engineers, scientists, managers and board members, through to environmentalists, lobby groups, artists and social commentators and members of the general public. The professional engineer can no longer undertake his role in isolation, communicating only with his engineering team leader. In today’s modern, media-led society, s/he must be prepared to justify his/her actions, designs and methods to a far wider audience than ever before. One of the major aims of EDPS is to give you the basic skills needed for effective communication and understanding.

1.4 The Chartered Engineer

Chartered engineer status represents the professional qualification of an engineer, recognised as an expert in his/her field by having met the standards set out by the Engineering Council. Chartered engineers are concerned with the progress of technology through innovation, creativity and change, and it is towards these ideas that your degree programme is aimed.

If you are enrolled on the MEng course at Surrey, then you will have satisfied the educational requirements for registering as a chartered engineer. Alternatively, if you are studying on BEng, you will need to supplement your degree qualification with an additional learning component

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referred to in UK-SPEC (previously SARTOR, see below) as a Matching Section. This can take a variety of forms including one year of postgraduate study, an appropriate Integrated Graduate Development Scheme and also experience or a suitable employer-led learning programme.

In order to apply for chartered engineer status you need to complete several forms and demonstrate your competence in specified areas, and show that you comply with the regulations set out by UK-SPEC. The basic requirements are: an accredited Engineering honours degree course or equivalent; and/or approved training, increasing experience and responsibility, assessed through a professional review.

1.5 What is UK-SPEC?

UK-SPEC represents the common abbreviation for the Engineering Council’s publication entitled UK Standards for Professional Engineering Competence. This set of standards was launched by the Engineering Council on the 1st December 2003 and updates the previous standards defined by SARTOR (Standards And Routes TO Registration). The latest requirements for professional membership now applies to all students starting their Engineering degree programmes from October 2004. In addition to obtaining your Engineering degree, students are also required to undertake a period of Initial Professional Development, commonly referred to as IPD1. If you go on to undertake a professional year in industry as part of your degree, then this experience can count as part of your IPD training programme. Further details will be given to you in the second year EDPS course when we start preparation for entering industry.

Although engineering undergraduate degree programmes throughout the UK have a variety of formats and content, all of these must comply with a set of standards regarding content structure and balance as laid out by the Engineering Council. In addition to providing a core of underpinning science and mathematics and development of technical themes and ideas, an accredited engineering course must provide the development of key skills and business skills which enable a student to make an immediate contribution to commerce and industry upon graduation. To fulfil this requirement, it is therefore a course aim, as part of the EDPS, to take you from being, typically, A-level students with a very basic general education, to graduate engineers, having the specific skills and abilities to convey and understand technical ideas and information, to have a basic understanding of common business practice, and to understand some of the commercial, environmental, and societal issues involved in bringing a product to market.

1.6 What is Engineering Design and Professional Studies?

Engineering Design and Professional Studies (EDPS) will probably represent your first exposure to Professional Development. Becoming a professional, articulate, engineer involves actively developing skills aimed at conveying and appreciating engineering knowledge and having an appreciation of the commercial constraints in which business operates. The modern engineer must be able to clearly and transparently convey his/her ideas in written and graphical forms, and be able to present his/her work to a variety of different audiences, ranging from management board to the general public. S/he must also have an appreciation of business activity, and the commercial constraints in which s/he must operate. EDPS aims to give you these basic skills in 1 Following graduation, most professional engineers continue to gain new skills via formal and informal training. Formal training is often recognised by the IET and other professional bodies by awarding Continued Professional Development or CPD points to those attending such courses.

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technical communication and provide an appreciation of the business processes and constraints integral to bringing a product to market.

The specific concerns of EDPS, over the two years of the course, are to develop an understanding and the capacity to use concepts creatively in problem solving in design and in explanations; to provide the breadth of work needed to work effectively in a team environment; to incorporate design as an integrating theme addressing engineering applications and transferable skills; provide an awareness of the legal, economic, regulatory, social and environmental contexts within which engineers operate; develop leadership, innovation and entrepreneurial skills, and provide the preparation for a professional career through linkages with commerce and industry.

1.6.1 EDPS at Level 1

At level 1 we concentrate on developing individual personal communication. After completing the Level 1 course all students should be able to deliver, to a professional standard:

· technical reports and documentation, · technical diagrams, · technical presentation conveying Technical Ideas.

We also introduce some of the basic ideas associated with management including project planning and team working.

1.6.2 EDPS at Level 2

At level 2 we further develop these ideas with reference to Business practices including product development, accounting methods, and participation in a team-based mini business project. In order to provide students with a better appreciation of real business problems we have also provided a series of guest lectures from various individuals actively involved in bringing new Engineering products to market ranging from small to medium-sized enterprises.

At the start of the Level 2 course you will also be required to attend a leadership and team working course. This course follows the basic structure of the many 'outward-bound' management and leadership courses offered for today's business managers. The aim of the course is to try and give students a better appreciation of the variety of problem solving/team building skills needed in a commercial Engineering environment. The level 2 course culminates in a trade show where teams of project students will be required to demonstrate the products developed as part of their EDPS project work.

At the end of the two-year EDPS programme, students should have gained an appreciation of leadership and team work, project management; technology issues; accountancy; company organisations; economic evaluation; negotiation skills; and marketing, as well as a firm grounding in basic design methods and communication skills.

1.6.3 Assessment

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EDPS is a continuous assessment course and unlike most of your other undergraduate modules, there is no formal examination. At a level 1 you will be assessed on the basis of :

· Attendance at lectures;· Attendance and achievement at timetabled assignment workshop classes;· Formal assessed coursework.

Assignment classes run on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. You should consult the timetabling information you have been given at the beginning of the semester. In general those undertaking Electronics Laboratory sessions on Monday and Tuesday will be timetabled for an EDPS assignment classes on Thursday or Friday. The converse is true for those attending a laboratory sessions on Thursday and Friday. However, students studying a foreign language are exempt from all aspects of EDPS.

Please note the following important information:

Assignment classes do not run every week. If you miss your timetabled session you will be unable to retrieve credit for that particular activity.

Attendance at lectures and assignment classes is mandatory. If you fail to attend a lecture you may be barred from the following assignment class. If you arrive late for an assignment class you may be barred from entering the class, as the sessions frequently run on a very strict schedule.

EDPS is a mandatory component at levels 1 and 2. Therefore if you fail to gain credit at minimum pass level you may be forced to repeat the entire year.

Please note: EDPS retake opportunities, where large amounts of extra coursework are given, are only provided in absolutely exceptional situations.

1.7 Computer Skills Workshop (optional)

One of the most fundamental skills you will need whilst at University and beyond is to be able to use desktop publishing software such as MS-Office. We run a short course to allow you to gain familiarity with a typing tutor (if you haven’t used a PC before), and sessions on MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We now run these as self-paced learning sessions due to the wide variability of student experience. Please see your timetable for the sessions when you are booked to attend.

Note that one of the weaknesses identified in previous courses, was the ability to produce a simple, clear layout of a technical report. It is very important to learn the skills associated with laying out a report or presentation. Hence we strongly advise the use of the online learning tools provided by the Computing department.

http://portal.surrey.ac.uk/portal/page?_pageid=713,72837&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Each student will have varying levels of ability with these tools. However, it is clear that many advanced formatting options which can improve the layout of a report or presentation are not

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being used. Please take advantage of this opportunity of improving your skills, prior to the first report you present in the middle of this semester.

There is no formal assessment of this workshop, but an exercise will be given (at the beginning of Week 5) for you to practice the software skills gained during the workshop. This exercise basically requires you to format a technical paper based on given raw materials such as pure text, figures, and table data. The students need to put all given information into a well-presented paper format including title, authors, sections, figures, tables/charts and references.

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2. Information Retrieval.

Dr. E Lewis

... in which we introduce the role of research and information retrieval as part of the design process.

2.1 What is information retrieval ?

Information is the 'life-blood' or raw-material of design; a design project cannot progress without this vital information. Information, as part of the design process, can refer to market-research, costing, suppliers details, raw-materials, dimensions etc.

Undergraduate students often rely solely on their own knowledge and experience and perhaps those of their immediate colleagues when first approaching a design problem; this is a situation which is indeed not uncommon even among practising professional design engineers. The purpose of this lecture is to provide an appreciation of the many and varied information sources available, and to demonstrate the need for proper Information Retrieval before an effective design process can begin. It is also the intention to provide some specific practical advice as to how to exploit some of the many sources of information most likely to be useful during the design element of an undergraduate engineering course.

Information can be retrieved and analysed from locations such as libraries, companies and research institutions (books, catalogues and databases) and often involves written or electronic media) and from verbal sources including the general public, domestic users, industrial operators, clients and customers. Each of these sources can be useful when trying to establish a knowledge base.

2.2 Quality of information and the Web.

Many undergraduate students enter university having had extensive experience at obtaining information from the internet/Web-based resources. This skill can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand a student with extensive web experience will be able to find a large variety of information very easily. On the other hand s/he often incorrectly believes the Web will produce the right answers to any question or information requested.

Please bear in mind that information on the Web can be posted by anybody - this means that it may be wrong, misleading, incorrect, and/or of poor quality, in contrast to information in books, journals and professional magazines, where information will have been at least subject to some

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form of editorial review. It is this editorial control which, to a greater or lesser extent, can provide some measure of confidence in the quality of information received.

As you move from being A-level students to undergraduate engineers through to fully qualified engineers, you will gradually appreciate the value of good-quality information. It is incumbent upon a professional engineer to develop a critical eye when considering information from a variety of sources. It may well be that the facts presented in one piece of information may have been selectively tailored to suit the opinions of the author or company presenting that information. Always remember, information is rarely unbiased, and you should use any news, breakthrough, press release, with a certain amount of scepticism - a company may be just trying to boost its share price in advance of publishing its accounts.

2.3 Why do we need information?

Information is the raw material of any design activity. Engineers spend about 40 per cent of their working time searching for information.

It should be emphasised that if the best products/services are to be designed, information from external sources is considered an essential ingredient in the modern competitive Engineering environment; otherwise the designer merely relies on his own [limited] knowledge and experience, and this will inevitably impact on the quality of the resulting product or device.

Types of information:

Factual information and data. product requirements, competition, component data, materials data, suppliers costs, etc

Theory The basis of any engineering problem. Is what you want to do possible?

Practice How have similar problems been solved in the past? What are the accepted design limits and processing methods applicable to the design?

Guidance Who has more experience on the subject? How can I simplify the design process

Sources of factual information Internal sources e.g. design office manuals, drawings of existing products, and sales literature. Buyer's guides, catalogues, manufacturers data books and application notes.

British Standards (BSI) Engineers handbooks Web pages

Sources of information about Engineering theory and practice Design Office manualBritish Standards available on the Web – Contact University Library for access via Athens at the British Library

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Textbooks and the specialist books - use the library catalogue.

Articles and papers from magazines and journals. The library has extensive indexes to help you find an article of interest. See Library Web pages.

Trade associationsResearch associations Web pages.

Sources of guidance

Design Office manual. Available in most companies.

Engineers handbooks. In the library reference area. Electronic Engineers Handbook. Electronics ready reference manual. McGraw - Hill Encyclopaedia of electronics and computers. Electrical Engineers reference book.

People:

Tutors Lecturers Supervisors Colleagues.

2.4 Stages in Information Retrieval

Before any design project commences, there must be some form of search or information retrieval, to identify whether the proposed project will development programme actually has an identifiable customer base, or whether the component can actually provided better utility than those which are currently available. For example, if a new computer interface card is to be designed, the design team must, in the first instance conduct a product survey: examine existing products from other companies and manufacturers and examine the company product literature of their competitors, in order to identify where their own product might be attractive to potential customers. Without such consideration any new product is more than likely to fail.

The formalised search process, as described below, shows what might be regarded as an ideal process. In practice the extent to which each of these processes is actually undertaken will depend upon a number of factors such as whether the information sources recorded the type of projects, time available and other resources available to development team.

Clarify purpose Perhaps a statement of the obvious, but deciding on the extent (breadth and depth) at the outset, can save much wasted time and avoid retrieving much useless or redundant information.

Search - locate obtain.

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Sift - Eliminate useless information. this involves ranking the information as either high-value or state-of-the-art, or low-value. Even if information is seen as redundant or low-value, it should be filed away rather than discarded.

File - It is essential to organise information in an easily retrievable form. but this is particularly important where a group project is involved and a number of members of the design team will require access to the same information. This is also vital if a project is carried out from one year to the next with different team members. Thus information must be organised so you can find it and retrieve it easily.

Assimilate - Simply acquiring and filing the information is useless unless it is being assimilated. In any project planning exercise, there must be an appropriate period in which all the information retrieved needs to be a read, digested and fully understood. Important points need highlighting for ease of reference.

Do you understand the information you have gathered?

Analyse and synthesiseMost of the information obtained will be in an understandable form. Other types of information will require further analysis such as discussion of drawings or images of different products to fully appreciates the benefits or disadvantages of a given approach .

Apply your understanding to your design.

Return and borrowed itemsSome information which has been collected will only be available temporarily. Always insure that borrowed information is returned as you may need it again - keep your sources open!

2.5 Useful References for the Design Engineer

Much of the material for this lecture has been taken from the SEED (Sharing Experience in Engineering Design) Curriculum for Design booklet entitled

· Preparation Material for Design Teaching - Information Retrieval by Robert G Rhodes and Douglas G Smith. ISBN number 0948673 8 , 1987.

It is hoped that some of the following sources of information will be useful during your undergraduate engineering programme as well as when you enter the professional world of engineering:

(i) Design Matters

For surveying the latest ideas and current trends in design see

· DESIGN, the Design Council, (monthly magazine)

(ii) Costings

When considering costing for projects, useful texts include:

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· An engineers guided to costing,B Cox and R Webb, I Prod E/ICMA, 1978

· A costing system suitable for use in the teaching of design,T A Hendry, Proc I Mech E, a volume 189, Paper No. 6th/75

· Cost reduction starts with the designer,J C Hague Roberts, Engineering, Volume 215, number 10, October 1975, pp 807- 810.

(iii) Ergonomics

Some used for all the textbooks on ergonomics are:

· Human scale,H Diffrient, A R Tilley and C Bordagley, MIT Press, USA, 1981

· Body space, anthropometry, ergonomics and designS. Pheasant, Taylor and Francis, 1986

(iv) Manufacturing Processes

Design and manufacture are closely related. The designer generally needs a broad coverage of the various options in manufacturing processes. The published sources below give this information in handbooks, of which some examples are:

· Kemp's engineers Yearbook, J P Quayle, ed, Morgan - Grampian, (annual)

More specialised items can be found by scanning journals such as

· Engineering; and

· Engineering Materials and Design.

(v) Market

Manufacturers and suppliers - UK

These can be found from various buyers guides, from Yellow Pages through to specialist sources. The choice of key sources is a matter of choice, but possible titles which are likely to be useful include:

· Compass Register of British Industry and Commerce, Compass Publishers;

· Engineer Buyer's Guide, Morgan - Grampian, (annual).

Manufacturers and suppliers - Overseas

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You can use the various international and national directories. CBD Research Ltd publish a number of directories. One such example of proven value is :

· Current European Directories, CBD Research Ltd

(vi) Materials and Finishes

Information on materials and finishes is available through a number of publications. The designer needs information to help materials selection, such as sources of supply, prices and standard sizes. A few selected sources which could be used for include:

· Metals Handbook, 9th edition, American Society for Metals, - useful for the selection of metals.

· Ryland's Directory of the Engineering Industry, Guardian communications, (annual) - for the sources of supply.

· International Plastics Selector Inc - publish a number of volumes for various forms of plastic and elastomers.

· Plastics Industry Directory, McLaren/BPF, (annual) - for the sources of supply

In addition there are a number of Design Council guides.

(vii) Packing and Shipping

For reference to packing and shipping products you can refer to:

· Packing directory, (annual)

· Globe World Directory for Land, Sea and Air Traffic, Globe, (annual).

(viii) Patents, trade marks, Registered Designs and Copyright

Specialist assistance is often needed for these areas useful free booklets can be obtained from the Patent Office.

(ix) Quality

Reference should be made to BS 5750 quality systems, Part 1.

(x) Reliability

Reference should be made to BS 5760 Reliability, Part 1.

(xi) Engineering Science information

General Engineering handbooks provide a wide variety of data, some of the best-known being:

· Kent's Engineers Yearbook, Morgan Grampian, (annual);

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· Machine Rees and Crook, Industrial Press, (annual);

· Mechanical Engineers reference book, 11th edition, a parish, newness - Butterworth;

· Electrical Engineers reference book, 14th edition, N A Laughton and MG Say;

· Handbook of Applied Engineering Science, Chemical Rubber Company, (latest edition).

When further sources are needed, help can be obtained in that published consists and specialist associations such as;

· Finding and Using Product information, A R Wall, Gower Press, 1986 - a guide for the Engineer.

· Business Information Service, based at the Science Reference Library of the British Library - a UK national source of business information;

· Statistics and Market Intelligence - the UK government library;

· City Business Library - the public library for business affairs in the City of London, which serves the local business community.

2.6 Assignment Class I

Information Retrieval at University

Learning Objectives:

(i) to familiarise students with the main source of engineering information at the University;

(ii) to prepare students for the need to retrieve a wide variety of Engineering-related information throughout their undergraduate studies;

(iii) to practise retrieving unfamiliar types of information.

In order to support the material presented in this lecture, you will be required to perform an Information Retrieval exercise at the University Library. Please consult your timetable details of when you have been scheduled to undertake this exercise.

You should report to the Library Seminar Room unless an alternative venue has been given. You will be given a brief introduction to the services available in the library and an introduction to key library staff. You will then work in pairs completing the questionnaire provided. The

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objective of completing the questionnaire is to familiarise you with the most relevant parts of the library for engineering students.

On completion of this activity, it is expected that all students will be capable of locating any of the information required during their undergraduate engineering programme. Please hand in your questionnaire at the end of the session - credit gained will contribute to your overall EDPS mark. Note that a small “prize” will be awarded to the pair which completes the session with the highest number of correct answers, if tied the fastest pairing will win.

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3. Technical Report Writing.

Dr Neil Emerson

... in which we introduce the need for professional reporting methods and introduce some of the standard practices used in professional engineering report writing.

3.1 The Purpose of Technical Reports

Report writing is a form of technical communication undertaken in order to clearly convey technical, often complex, information to a third party, in as easy to understand a manner as possible.

This is not an easy task. Writing a technical report requires clear, unambiguous text, which avoids the chatty, informal way in which we speak. Unless your command of written English is excellent, you will also need to avoid the kinds of long complex sentence constructions (syntax) that you were encouraged to use at school. In technical report writing, clarity is everything. So make your sentences short and clear.

3.2 Stages of Report Preparation

3.2.1 Outlining the Report

Outlining is often used as a necessary preliminary step to report writing. It involves the planning needed to prepare a clear report that is logically organized, concise, and easy to read. Without an outline most inexperienced authors tend to write reports that are confusing and difficult to follow.

A good way to start is to draft a handwritten contents page, with each section and subsection numbered, and a few key words summarising each section or sub-section’s contents. Remember, the more detailed the outline is, the more useful it will be to you. Each heading, subheading, sub subheading, etc., should have as much detail as you will need to trigger your thoughts when you later write the corresponding sentences and paragraphs. It is often easier to prepare a list of figures first to help you decide ‘what story you want to tell’.

Any technical report will often need to conform to an ‘in-house’ format. For example technical reports at NASA typically contain a number of commonly used headings:

Summary Introduction Symbols

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Theory Analysis Apparatus Test Specimens Test Procedure Sample Calculation Results and Discussion Summary of Results Conclusions Concluding Remarks Appendix References

Whilst this provides rather too much detail for a Level 1 report, the basic ideas you will use are identical. The take home message here is that all reports have a common overarching structure: there is always an Abstract or Executive Summary, Introduction, Theory, where needed, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. This basic structure, which may well be elaborated on, provides a clear story for the reader to follow. The Abstract or Executive Summary summarises the report, so the reader understands whether it contains the information s/he is seeking. The problems and issues are introduced and a formal description of the solution strategy given before any discussion of results takes place. Only when results have been presented are any comments presented on the success or otherwise of the methods and finally conclusions can then be drawn once all pertinent information has been presented.

The whole text of the report should be accounted for under the headings shown in your outline, except for short introductory or transition paragraphs included to make the presentation flow smoothly.

It is often useful also to list the figures and tables you want to include. This will dramatically help writing the rough draft, as your mind will be focused on the story you want to tell. But do not expect to write the final version in the first attempt. The rough draft should be the last of several versions, each an improvement of the preceding one.

Another useful purpose of the outline is to indicate the relative importance of headings. This relation can be shown by using a numbering system. Headings of equal weight, or importance, must be written in the same form. The order and form of the various headings used in reports should appear as:

1 Main Heading

1.1 Section heading

1.1.1 Section sub-heading.-

Three levels of headings, and therefore heading subscripts, should be sufficient: any more may disrupt your readers' concentration.

____________________________________________________

Tip:

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If your sentence stretches over more than two lines, it’s probably too long and complicated. Break it up into two smaller sentences. Otherwise the information that you wish to convey is lost in a myriad of words that often fail to reflect the care and attention that you have put in during your laboratory session, and during the early hours scribbling down your thoughts, trying to convey your hard won results. This previous sentence is a good example of such bad practice.

____________________________________________________

3.3 How do I start writing a technical report?

Write a first draft by sitting down and simply writing as much as you can. No matter how good or bad it is, just get some words down onto paper. At this stage you should aim for spontaneity rather than grammatical and technical accuracy.

Then you can revise what you have written. It is likely that during the first draft you will include information in one place which should be in another. One of the most difficult tasks is to get everything into the most effective order. Ideas and information misplaced will lead to confusion and ambiguity.

To help explain what parts go where, here is a first draft checklist:

Title Page - what is the subject and scope of the work? All technical reports should contain a title or cover page. This should be presented in standard form including the title and author(s) (including information on how to contact them). The Abstract should also appear on the cover page (or occasionally it may appear on a separate page, dependent on company or publishing house requirements). It should be centred correctly on the page, rather than appearing as a short isolated paragraph at the top of an otherwise blank sheet. The abstract should be a short summary stating objectives with key results and conclusions. This is your report – layout the front page to interest a potential reader.

Contents - how is the report structured? The way through your report should be clearly signposted by main headings and appropriate sub-headings. A Contents page listing all the sections and subheading and showing where to find these is needed for all but the briefest reports.

Your Contents page should list each section numerically and by page number. E.g.

Contents

Title page …………………….………………….…… page i Abstract ……………………………….…….……. page ii

1. Introduction …………………………………..…… page 12. Methodology ………………………..…………….. page 3

…. etc

Introduction - what did you do and why? The first function of the Introduction is to identify immediately and unmistakably the exact subject of the report. What is going to be considered in the report?

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An additional function of the Introduction is to lay out the organization that will be followed in the report. Just how is your subject going to be discussed? Give your readers a look at what lies ahead: there should also be a brief statement of where different aspects of the work are to be found in the report e.g. relevant theory to be found in section 3 etc. You should clearly state the nature and scope of the work, describe any background relevant work undertaken either by yourself or others, and why the work was undertaken.

Methods - what did you use and how did you do it? In this section, you need to answer the questions of what did you use and how did you do it? You should include enough details to ensure that if the work is repeated by someone else with experience and similar skills, then similar results could be obtained.

It is usually best to describe first the whole experiment, and then break this down, where needed, into constituent parts.

Generally your experimental arrangement should be described in sufficient detail that its essential workings could be reproduced. Be sure to note any specialist equipment used. Use photographs and diagrammatic sketches with adequate annotation. In your report give the reader just enough information to visualize the equipment. Sometimes reproducing a figure that shows the equipment layout is desirable.

Describe the test procedures in enough detail that your readers can judge the value of the results and could repeat the experiment.

Where the calculations performed in analysing the test data are featured earlier in the report, it is usually sufficient to reference the equation number cited previously.

Results - what did you find out? Present your results in a logical order – not necessarily in the order in which they were obtained. You should not comment on the results here. Data should be presented as clearly and simply as possible. Including a summary data table is sometimes desirable. The table should include the data necessary for your readers to evaluate the accuracy of your plots and your conclusions.

Discussion - how did you interpret your results? This section, always written in the past tense, should provide a factual statement of what you observed, supported by any statistics, tables or graphs. The discussion of the results is one of the most important parts of a technical report. To discuss the results adequately, you must clearly understand their significance. Clearly state any significant conclusions and either prove or properly qualify them. But discuss the results; do not merely summarise and repeat them. Are they what you expect from theory or prior knowledge? If not, why not? Do you believe that all your data are reliable? Any new or unusual result should be explained. If you do not understand the results or if the data are too limited, it is sometimes worthwhile speculating about this effect with a discussion outlining several possible causes. Alert your readers that such a discussion may be speculative. The major results and the conclusions, normally summarised in the concluding section, must be clearly established here.

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In any report concerned with numerical values, the accuracy, precision, and reproducibility of the data presented must be clearly stated. Discrepancies within the data should be explained.

A discussion of accuracy should contain an analysis of possible errors involved in individual measurements and how these errors are reflected in the final results. This is generally expressed as the "maximum probable error." A discussion of precision usually involves comparisons of duplicate results, and the precision is generally expressed in terms of a "deviation."

Conclusions - what are your key findings and recommendations? This is a summary of the work with the key findings. So there should be some mention of how the work might be continued and other recommendations based on the findings. Think about how to provide a simple "take home a message" - what is the key finding that you wish you will reader to understand about your work?

The concluding section is where you draw together the threads you have been presenting and discussing. It is also the section usually examined first by the prospective reader with limited available time.

A few ground rules should be observed in writing the concluding section:

1. Do not use undefined symbols. 2. Do not cite equations, tables, figures, references, and appendixes. 3. Do not introduce new material.

A useful opening sentence to the concluding section is to briefly state the purpose and scope of your work.

Start your conclusion with a short summary of the aim of the investigation and how you went about the experiment. Then give a summary of Results simply restating the major findings of the experiment. All of the material presented must have appeared in the main body of the report. A frequently used method is to itemize the main factual results, usually in single sentences. The facts given are supplied from experimentation or theory-but not from any reasoning (i.e., they are not deduced).

Acknowledgement - who helped you and how? Thank those people who have helped you compile the report. This is a professional courtesy.

References - whose work had you referred to? References should be cited within the text where you refer to source material which is not your own. There are 2 common formats: either the Harvard system e.g. [Author surnames, initials, year] or the numerical system, e.g. [1] . In the former, the reference list appears in alphabetical author list, whilst in the latter the references appear numerically in the order in which they have been quoted in the text.

Please avoid popping over to the library and jotting down the details taken from the spines of a few books that you think are relevant for your reference section without actually reading them– it is totally obvious and VERY annoying for your reader!

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3.3.1 Revising the Draft Report

The last stage of report preparation, rough-draft revision, is just as important as the previous stages, but it is the one usually skipped over by inexperienced writers. You need to spend time revising your draft and polishing up the content and presentation. Only the most foolish student will still believe that a short page limit means that the document can be ‘knocked up from scratch’ in the early hours before the deadline.

Approach your draft document with a critical attitude – would you be impressed with your draft report if viewing it for the first time? The page limit in University coursework has often been deliberately set low so that you have time to revise the quality and content of the report. Successful technical writers use a wide variety of methods to review and revise. So ask yourself these questions: Are the conclusions valid? Is sufficient information given to support the conclusions? Is enough background information given to explain the results? Have all irrelevant ideas been deleted? Are the illustrations pertinent and necessary? Is my presentation style attractive and professional-looking?

3.4 Writing Style

There is no satisfactory explanation of technical report writing style, no infallible guide to good writing, no assurance that a person who thinks clearly will be able to write clearly.

As this quotation indicates, this section deals with an elusive but important aspect of report writing style. Although difficult to define, style establishes the readability of reports. In effect, the style of the report sells the report. If your style of writing and presentation is not acceptable to your intended readers, they may not read your report, or may misunderstand the message you are trying to convey. Clarity is everything. What may be clear to you as the author may not be clear to your readers. Remember, you are intimately familiar with the work, but your reader is not.

Technical writers usually use a more formal writing style than do non-technical writers. Clear and objective transmission of information is required, and therefore any injection of vague personality (e.g. ‘we had a few problems with the oscilloscope’) is undesirable. This exemplar sentence represents very poor writing style for two reasons: (i) a personal pronoun [we] has been used, and (ii) ‘a few problems’ is so non-specific as to render the comment worthless – what sort of problems? Specify.

_______________________________________

TIP:

Never use the words ‘I’, ‘we’, or ‘they’ in a technical report, and avoid childish words such as ‘did’, ‘do’, ‘big’, ‘got’ – there are always more descriptive words you can use. Instead of writing

‘We did an experiment to find out.....’

a more professional style is to write

‘An experiment was undertaken to investigate......’

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_______________________________________

Conciseness

Most of your intended readers, be they academics, fellow project students or industrial supervisors, are busy people. They do not want to waste time understanding ungrammatical waffle! Report quality is often inversely related to report length. So make your sentences short and clear, like this one.

Objectivity

Technical reports should be objective and show restraint. Be honest with your readers. No technical report is better than the work on which it is based. Tell your readers frankly what your assumptions were, what your probable errors are, and what you may not understand about the results.

Graphs should be clear and simple with as few data curves as possible. Try to avoid interlaced or unrelated curves. Whenever possible plot all parts of any one figure or related figures on scales with the same increments. Label all axis scales with a description of the concept or quantity, its symbol, and its unit. For example, "Gate response time, t ms" is far better than "t, ms."

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Tip:

All figures and tables require a Figure or Table number, and a suitable caption. ‘Table 1’ is insufficient as a caption – it conveys no information to your reader. A better caption would read, for example, ‘Table 1 Comparison between ripple voltage and smoothing capacitance.’

____________________________________________________

When you use drawings or sketches to illustrate test equipment, try to keep them simple. Include only those features of the equipment that are essential to your readers' understanding, and avoid unnecessary detail. Block or schematic diagrams are often sufficient to convey the experimental arrangement. Drawings should be to a professional standard. Photocopies from your lab book or biro sketches are unacceptable.

3.5 Coursework II

Technical Report Writing

Learning Objectives:

(i) to provide students with the skills needed to produce a professional technical report;

(ii) to provide practice at technical authoring;(ii) to provide practice using desk top publishing tools for producing documents with a professional appearance.

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The objective of this coursework is for to provide opportunity for you to practise, and demonstrate, that you understand the ideas and concepts that were introduced in the Technical Report Writing lecture. This assignment, therefore, places emphasis on technical content and on your ability to communicate technical ideas. The report will be based on a laboratory experiment that you have recently undertaken.

Write a technical report on one of the experiments that you have carried out this semester. You may choose from one of the following:

B3 Measurement circuits;C1 Operational amplifier circuits; C3 Characteristics of the two terminal devices;

The report is to be read and assessed by a tutor who, you may assume, is unfamiliar with the experiment but has a general background in Electrical Engineering and is interested in your findings. The tutor is a busy person and is unlikely to want to spend too much time reading and trying to understand very detailed technical descriptions. The report therefore should be brief, clear and concise. It must not be more than a total of five sides of A4 paper (everything including the title page).

The first page must contain only the title, author's name, date, and the abstract. The second page will be a contents list with main headings, sub-headings, and page numbers. All sections except the Acknowledgements and References sections should be numbered. No other information should appear on this page. The remaining three sides are for the main text of the report including diagrams and tables. The abstract must be no more than 70 words in length.

The report must be prepared on a word processor. Hand written reports will receive zero credit.

You will be graded on each of the following:

1. Clarity and conciseness - Is Your report concise, clear and to the point? 2. Quality of English (grammar and spelling etc) 3. Content - Is your report interesting, informative and technically correct? Before you start to write, you should re-read the lecture notes attached.

You must hand in your report to the undergraduate office by:5:00pm on Monday, the beginning of Week 12

______________________________________________________

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4. Technical Design Assignment.

Professor A Kondoz

... in which we provide the opportunity for the student to present a structured report using design tools used both on the degree course and in industry. This is the first opportunity to use the knowledge gained in the earlier parts of the EDPS course on a specific project.

4.1 Aim of the design assignment

This is the first opportunity to use some simple design tools in common use, in an experimental environment. The overall aim is to produce a well-structured document using the knowledge gained in previous elements of the course. The student needs to be able to research the project effectively, use various design tools for circuit layout and produce a document aimed at a specific target audience.

4.2. Target Audience

The target for the report in this case, is the level of a DIY technical magazine. Imagine you need to write an article which explains the principles of high and low pass filters and their operation, plus provide a PCB layout for the DIY electronics construction. So the article must be easy to read, contain enough technical information to explain the operation and enough detail on the construction and technical drawing side to enable the target audience to construct the device.

The main element of your report is the documentation. This should include the following elements:

A detailed description of the task A higher-level block diagram of the system and a summary of its operation and

specifications Lower-level circuit diagrams for each of the low-pass and high-pass filters

above A description of the operation of each of the above filters using standard

formulas from circuit analysis, an interpretation of these formulas, the determination of the filter cut-off points and plots of amplitude and phase responses.

A PCB layout of the overall design as detailed above. Only the final design should be included in the documentation. This should be obtained by removing

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the so-called “Top-Silk” layer so that component outlining and labels are not included.

Drawings of a box with co-axial input and output sockets for the PCB board to be contained in. Again no physical construction is required just one or more 3D sketches (possibly from more than one views) comprising a box, the board, the sockets and any other auxiliary elements i.e. wiring between the PCB terminals and the sockets, elements allowing the mounting of the PCB to the box etc.

A parts / components list for all

There will be a one hour lecture and two workshop sessions with access to the design tools and to Microsoft WORD to allow you to generate both the document and PCB layout. It is however recommended that part of the research and elements of the report writing be completed outside the limited time available for the workshops.

The final report needs to be handed in at the end of the second workshop session. Feedback on report structure will be provided the week following submission.

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5. Presentation Skills.

Professor B L Weiss

... in which we introduce the need for developing verbal communication skills in order to present technical information to a wide variety of audience

5.1 Why give a Presentation

There are a variety of reasons for giving oral presentations. This can include, but is by no means limited to, because you need to inform an audience, or convince them, to inspire an audience or make them enthusiastic about a proposal or to win people over to your own way of doing things. Essentially these represent similar reasons for giving written report, but with one key difference - oral presentations have immediate impact: you usually have your audiences undivided attention, and they will judge you to some extent on how you deliver your presentation as much as what you say during your presentation. This lecture is therefore about giving you some of the skills in order to get your audience ‘on your side’.

5.2 What makes a good Presentation?

The key features that are usually present within a successful presentation are:

Clarity Structure Memorable Keeping to time.

Conversely many of the common faults in bad presentations include

Faulty or poor preparation Voice problems – often too quiet Poor visual aids Nervousness Lack of impact

We will now examine some of these common faults and how, as beginner presenters, you can overcome and avoid some of these pitfalls.

5.2.1 Preparation

One of the common beginners faults is often deciding to 'wing it’ with little or no preparation. One or two people can manage to pull off this kind of fete, but not many – it takes supreme confidence in yourself and the little amount of information that you have to hand. This, always

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give yourself adequate time to prepare a presentation. And remember that preparation also includes actually doing a rehearsal to check the presentation runs to time.

Presenters can also sometime over or under estimate the level of knowledge in their audience. Thus a talk which is either too trivial or too complex will send an audience to sleep! Also, reading from a script will often end up looking like a dull reading from a dull person. By all means have notes, but avoid reading word-for-word – use your notes to prompt you to cover key points only.

Lack of structure is another common fault which can occur, if beforehand you have not given adequate time to deciding exactly what ‘story’ you want to tell. So, once you have announced the title of your talk and introduced yourself, ALWAYS,

Tell them what you are going to cover (e.g. via a list of bullet points) Say it, and then, Tell them what you have just covered.

5.2.2 Voice problems

Project yourself, project!

Mumbling while you stand in front of an audience is often a sure fire way to send your audience to sleep. Remember you will need to raise your voice when talking to a room full of people. Speak clearly and slowly, and louder than you think is needed.

Another classic voice problem is the great temptation to talk at the blackboard whilst writing something or talking at the projector rather than your audience. Remember that as soon as you dip your head or turn away from your audience, then half of your volume is lost.

For those feeling rather nervous, there is also a great temptation to gallop along as fast as possible trying to get as much information conveyed as fast as possible. This can make understanding very difficult for your audience. If you really have too much material, then think about cutting some of it, rather than talking to fast in order to cover everything.

In fact the ideal approach is to speak clearly and slowly – your audience will always think you are going faster than is apparent to you as the speaker. But also give yourself time to pause to let your key points sink in. This gives you a moment to think about what to say next, lest your audience digest your last point, and gives your voice a short rest.

5.2.3 Visual Aids

There are a variety of visual aids which can be useful during oral presentations. These include having a stick or laser pointer to highlight key points on your slides, or even just having example products or other props if this can help your audiences understanding.

However, for this lecture we will concentrate on the quality of PowerPoint slide as this will often be your main visual aid. If using an Overhead Projector, it goes without saying that before starting you should ensure that the equipment is in focus, and that OHP slides are actually placed the right way up. But beware

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using small handwriting or font size. Also, whilst neat handwritten slides can look attractive, make sure your handwriting is legible.

If preparing on a PC, it is best to use a minimum font size of 14 point or so. Using Geneva/Ariel, particularly for titles can also be very effective.

Also keep your visual aids simple!

[The space below is for you to sketch a bad example of a complicated slide]

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[The following page is for your own notes on slide structure]

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5.2.4 Nervousness

Everyone gets nervous! But there are a number of ways to minimize this effect. These include:

Arrive early! There is nothing worse than arriving late, fumbling around for your OHP slides while your audience starts murmuring about what a disorganized dishevelled mess you are! Better to arrive 10 minutes early, set up calmly, and mentally rehearse you opening lines.

Chat with your audience beforehand. This can really help break down any barriers you feel about how you might be judged. Talking to the audience also helps them find out that you are actually a nice person worth listening to.

Walk around – just moving around across your audience by a few paces can help add dynamism to your talk. Better than planting yourself on the floor like a statue!

Have some water handy – is easy to get a slight tickle in your throat when talking loudly. A sip of water can refresh you, and provide a useful pause for your audience.

5.2.5 Lack of impact

[The following space is for you to make your own notes]

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5.3 Assignment Classes III and IV Presentation Skills Workshops

Learning Objectives:

(i) to provide students with the skills and confidence needed to speak in front of an audience;

(ii) to provide practice at preparing a presentation with visual aids;(ii) to provide practice at observing and critiquing fellow students' presentations.

This workshop is intended to provide an opportunity to practise the ideas and skills discussed in the Presentation Skills lecture - the workshop is an opportunity to present a 10 minute technical presentation which you will have prepared before hand.

5.3.1 Presentation Skills Workshop

The subject of the presentation is your choice. However, you will be marked on the quality of the preparation, aids used and the delivery so it is important that you prepare thoroughly for this workshop.

Each student will be required to the formal presentation session. Any student who fails to attend either workshop will have their overall EDPS1 mark divided by 2!

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6. Product Design & Analysis

Dr Kevin Wells

in which we start to develop the Design process, considering time management and making professionally informed judgements and how criteria for assessing products/designs/services/ personnel can be developed.

In a change to the usual EDPS format, there is no preparatory lecture for this part of the course. Instead, we provide the following text to brief you on what to expect at the Design Workshops that will be held over a 4-week period in the spring semester. This will be closely coupled with work to be undertaken in the laboratory programme. In conjunction with the Design Briefings, we aim to develop your skills and confidence in tackling unfamiliar design work, and the planning needed to effectively implement and test such designs. You will also gain proficiency in comparing designs and evaluating these quantitatively and qualitatively. Some further details of these activities are laid out below.

6.1 Design Review Workshops

There will be 4 Design workshops that you will attend. Each contributes credit to the overall EDPS assessment.

In a professional context, engineers will often be required to not only undertake design work themselves, but also to make assessments and critical judgements of Design work, services, actual products and the abilities of individuals in an engineering team. In order to make an informed judgement, the professional needs to avoid resorting to ad-hoc processes and procedures, and wherever possible, minimise the effects of personal bias. Instead, there exist a plethora of approaches to allow the pros and cons of any particular situation to be brought to the fore. In these 4 sessions we start to introduce some simple approaches to developing these evaluation skills.

A subsidiary aim of this structure is also to enhance your performance in the laboratory and hence, the assessments made in the laboratory: following the design review sessions, you are encouraged to revise your initial designs and work plans prior to attending the corresponding Laboratory session the following week.

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6.2 Design Review workshop #1

6.2.1 Making Critical Evaluations: Ranking vs. Prescribed Criteria

In this session each student will informally present his/her Design and Work Plan undertaken for Design Briefing #1 to a small self-selecting peer group. (Do not prepare a formal presentation of any kind). Students will be able to see for themselves, and discuss, how their peers have tackled the problem. If you see any aspect of the design or the work plan that you think is a good idea then note it down and update your own work accordingly prior to the practical lab session.

In this workshop you will then start to develop your understanding of how to make systematic judgements and decisions. As a first step in developing evaluation skills, you will be briefed on how to undertake 2 forms of peer assessment (PA) as part of the Design Review Process:

6.2.2 Intra-group Peer Assessment I

After each piece of Design and Planning work has been presented, student groups will attempt to qualitatively rank the work of each member of their team. Ranking is often used by Review Panels to allocate resources or to determine the winners of a competition. An agreed per centage mark will then be assigned to each piece of work.

One of the major challenges here is to be able to recognise both outstandingly good work, and correspondingly outstandingly poor attempts, without letting personal bias cloud your judgement. This can make for a potentially uncomfortable situation - learning to handle this professionally, maintaining everyone’s’ dignity, is an acquired skill.

6.2.3 Intra-group Peer Assessment II

Students will then consider a simple 3-category 5-point marking scheme. Each category will have a mark assigned to it. The marks will be aggregated and then a second ranking scheme obtained.

Note: attempts to ‘jury rig’ the assigned marks will mean the entire group scores zero for the workshop. This applies to all Design Review workshops.

6.3 Design Review workshop #2

6.3.1 Making Critical Evaluations: Anonymous Review vs. Intergroup Review

In this session Intragroup Peer Assessment from prescribed rather than self- selecting groups will be undertaken. As you will now be familiar with the process, we will also then undertake an Inter-group Assessment:

Logbooks will be swapped between groups. Each student will then be required to act as the advocate of the logbook author assigned to him/her. The same process as above will be undertaken with qualitative ranking and mark assignment followed by adherence to a prescribed marking scheme.

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6.4 Design Review workshop #3

6.4.1 Team-based Industrial Design Exercise

In this session Intergroup Peer Assessment will be undertaken once more, but in this case using prescribed groups. As you will now be familiar with the process, we allocate half the allotted time as the previous week. For the remaining time you will undertake a team exercise, stepping through each stage of the Industrial Design Process from Product Specification to Testing. More details will be provided at the session. You will also be introduced to several creative design processes including mind mapping and brainstorming.

Note this intensive session will last for 3 hours.

6.5 Design Review workshop #4

6.5.1 Criteria Design Exercise

In this session you will undertake anonymous peer assessments of Design Briefing #4, using a prescribed marking scheme. The design work draws on many of the principals you will have seen previously within the laboratory. The work plan component will draw on your experience of planning and testing that you have previously undertaken within EDPS.

We anticipate that most students will now be fairly proficient at undertaking this process. We have therefore again reduced the allotted time to undertake this process in order to make time for the remaining activity.

As stated at the beginning of this chapter, professional engineers will need to make informed decisions and judgements in a variety of different settings. In this segment of the course we have so far attempted to arm you with some first principles on how to undertake such evaluation procedures. Now, in this final Design session, you will draw up a Design Criteria of your own. We will use the end of year Laboratory project as the exemplar that you will use in designing your Assessment Criteria. Before coming to the session, you may wish to think about what aspects of learning and what aspects of the actual project/product should be assessed, and how this assessment process should take place.

It is worth stating that this is not just an academic exercise. Each of the criteria drawn up by the groups in each session will be voted on. The winning criteria design will be rolled out and used as a PA scheme in the Projects Showcase sessions held during the last week of the Laboratory Programme. Using the winning criteria design, the marks awarded by student assessors will be aggregated, and after eliminating outliers, will represent 30% of the Spring Semester laboratory module assessment.

Note this session will last for 2 hours. As this is an intense session, please ensure you arrive promptly – latecomers can expect to be penalised.

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