Due Date:  See course website

Personal Reflection Paper

Individual Assignment

In this class, we have completed three different projects in order to get a better view of the issues that engineering designers encounter. Each project was designed to provide a different set of learning experiences. Even though we all did the same projects together, the actual impact of each project on you as an individual is likely to be unique.

Now that the course is ending, we would like you to take a step back and think about your personal experiences in the class. Please write a personal reflective paper using examples from any of the three major projects you completed this quarter.

Deliverables

A good reflective paper need not be longer than three pages, using a 12-point font, single spaced, with headers. The reflective paper is an individual assignment and is worth 10% of the course grade. It will be graded primarily on thoughtfulness and quality. The emphasis of a reflection paper is the ideas, so please think carefully before writing and be honest in your reflections (negative experiences or comments will not hurt your grade on this assignment). Comment on the following four topics including details from each project.

(1) Implementing the Design Process

Comment on how your group implemented the design process for the different projects. For EACH of the steps listed below, give at least one example of what your group did.  You can use examples from any or all of the projects. For a given project, did some steps apply, while others did not? How well did your group perform each step? Which steps gave you the most trouble?

Major parts of the Design Process:

• Problem Definition: Determining design objectives, and identifying constraints.
• Information Gathering: Gathering information about the design problem, engineering science, available technology, and previous solutions.
• Planning: Developing an initial design strategy and identifying tasks and deadlines
• Management: Guiding the design process in response to changing or unanticipated conditions.
• Idea Generation: Generating multiple design possibilities.
• Modeling: Employing models, equations, or simulations to help make decisions.
• Evaluation/Decision Making: Selecting an idea which best satisfies all requirements.
• Implementation: Building a prototype or building the final design.
• Communication: Exchanging information about the design with others.

(2) Your experience working in groups

Reflect on how well your teams performed working on the different projects. Compare and contrast your experiences on different teams during the quarter. Use the list below for ideas.

• How did team roles contribute to the success of the project? What role did you play in each group? Leader? Organizer? Planner? Implementor?
• How were the strengths of team members identified and used? Did different learning styles (Hermann Test) of group members affect the quality of the final product?
• How did your team overcome adversity or conflict?
• Did all of the members participate equally? How did you share the workload?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of your second team compared to the first?
• Did you learn or try any new strategies to help group performance?

(3) What did you learn from each project?

What design skills did you develop during each project? Did you learn any engineering principles or fundamentals (math/science/computing)? Was there something that you did not understand? If you did come to understand it, how did you get the question answered? By the instructor? By reading? By the internet? By talking to classmates

(4) How did these projects help you understand the field of engineering?

After taking this class, how would you define what engineering is? Write a paragraph explaining what engineers do. Use examples from class and consider some of the following ideas when thinking about this topic:

• What types of disciplines and careers exist for students interested in engineering?
• What role do math and science play in the engineering design process?
• How important are communication skills for engineers?
• Is engineering a field you are considering?

Grading

Reflection papers will be graded on completeness, thoughtfulness, and clarity.  Were all the sections discussed? Did each section include enough detail to show careful thinking? Was the paper easy to understand?