Reflections and Logs
08/20
Today was the first day of school, and we covered introductions and what the class is going to look like. We worked on surveys and descriptions of ourselves. In class, Mr. Tronconi shared his screen on Zoom and this happened because he wanted to show what the presentation should look like. I had a few very minor technical problems regarding connection. I can try lowering my video quality text time to better my connection. Next, I need to start figuring out what I want to do for my Capstone project. I foresee multiple technological problems, but those seem inevitable with our circumstances.
08/21
Today we covered what to expect from this class and what we are expected to do. We worked on building a portfolio on our website and adding to the STEM entry survey. We watched a video because it told us tips and tricks on how to succeed in this class. I had internet problems the poor connection kicked me out of the zoom. I think I will use my other computer for the zoom portion next time for better connection and I will use my Chromebook for everything else so that Go-guardian is still applicable. Next, I need to gather all the materials needed for this class. I think that connection issues will continue to be a problem in the future.
08/24
Today in class we were presented with the introduction to engineering. We learned about how to create an engineering journal and make a conceptual sketch. While learning about conceptual sketches, we worked on the exploded view of a car. This means that we learned how exploded view sketches work, and we need to put those in our notebooks. We then set up our engineering design notebooks. We then were given an assignment to break into groups and create a presentation on an object that we broke apart.
08/25
Today we worked on our break it apart projects. I chose to take apart a hose nozzle, which was relatively simple to take apart but made for a thorough conceptual sketch and notebook entry. I communicated with my group to find similarities between our objects and to solidify presentation plans.
08/27
Today we presented the break it apart projects. I chose to break apart a hose nozzle that can change the setting of the water pressure and shape. After presentations, we decided on our capstone teams. The capstone teams are extremely important because we would have to work well together for the entirety of the semester. Everyone would need to pull their weight and work together.
08/28
After choosing and finalizing our capstone teams, we started creating a gantt chart, which will help us to organize our time management. We also created a padlet to brainstorm project ideas. My group and I are deciding between biomedical, chemical, or aerospace engineering. We are definitely leaning towards biomedical engineering, because there are many more tangible projects that we could think of under that field.
08/31
Today we talked about what is due this week. We got in our capstone groups and further discussed project ideas. We fully decided our project to be biomedical, so we could start on logo ideas. We added to our gantt chart and assigned projects, which broke up the project into four to lighten the work load.
09/01
Today we got in our capstone groups and discussed our projects. We decided on a biomedical project, so we had to discuss how we would present that to consumers. We also broke the tasks into four on our gantt chart and assigned tasks to everyone. Right now we are leaning towards a way to administer vaccines without the pain and waste of a needle.
09/03
Today we worked on further research, mostly regarding possible clientele. We researched what clients want in the biomedical world, and tweaked our project to fit those wants. We also reached out to our mentor to set up a meeting to discuss our plans and get feedback from a professional. We added all of our research to Padlet and organized all of our ideas there too. The final thing we did today was making a survey to collect statistics and opinions on needle-free vaccines. We sent the survey to the whole school, and the wide variety of responses made for very good results.
09/08
We were given a lot of assignments today, so time management was greatly needed. We added to our Gantt chart, splitting up the assignments among team members. This allowed us to have a very productive day in class. We completed many assignments designed for us to further our knowledge in our product. We were introduced to a new site called Coggle, where we can organize ideas and create flowcharts. We focused on the vaccine patch and pinpointed 5 major functions that we want our product to have. Then we found 5 alternative concepts for each of those functions, or ways that we could make those functions happen.
Step 1 reflection
I think that two skills I executed well in this step were leadership and communication. I felt I was able to develop a strong sense of leadership because of the circumstances. Since we are unable to meet in person, it was important for me to ask the group questions and lead everyone to get everything done. This also ties into communication because we created group chats, documents, gantt charts and flowcharts to keep us connected. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be time management and presenting. I think that now we are more comfortable with the electronic tools that we have, time management will go much smoother. We are able to quickly use our gantt chart to assign tasks and update statuses, so I think our tasks have the ability to be much more organized for the next step of the capstone project. I also could work on my presentation skills, because when we made a presentation for the Break It Apart challenge, the slides were a bit unorganized and everyone took their own path in presenting their ideas. I think by better communicating with my team, we can create more clear and concise presentations.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be time management and presenting. I think that now we are more comfortable with the electronic tools that we have, time management will go much smoother. We are able to quickly use our gantt chart to assign tasks and update statuses, so I think our tasks have the ability to be much more organized for the next step of the capstone project. I also could work on my presentation skills, because when we made a presentation for the Break It Apart challenge, the slides were a bit unorganized and everyone took their own path in presenting their ideas. I think by better communicating with my team, we can create more clear and concise presentations.
09/10
Today we mainly worked on our initial project proposal, which is due at the end of the day. The project proposal covers everything that we have done and need to do for this project. I think this will be helpful for keeping us on track with this project, especially because we were able to include a time frame that goes farther than our Gantt chart.
09/14
Today we revised our classification schemes and reached out to our mentor to get feedback. We set up a time to meet and set up a zoom call. Our classification scheme was marked down in points due to the lack of feedback from our mentor. We also revised by meeting some of the edits made by the teacher. We split up the work on the gantt chart, and planned how much work we need to do this week. We have a ton of video notes due at the end of the week, so time management will be crucial.
09/15
Today we re-revised our classification scheme and project proposal. I am finding that it is very frustrating to manage a group project through a computer screen, especially when feedback and certain assignments are unclear. I need to get better at this.
09/17
Yesterday we met with our mentor via zoom. He gave us great feedback and insight on what he does/studies. He is studying bio-engineering at UC Irvine, so he is very eager to help us out and mentor us throughout this project. In class today we worked on our classification scheme again, and selecting the three designs that work best for our project from our classification scheme. This was hard to do because the teacher dislikes what is in our classification scheme, and we are slowly learning what is wanted in that assignment. Once this is fully up to par, we can successfully select our designs.
Drawing Tutorials Reflection
This project was about learning how to create conceptual sketches and drawings for the basis of engineering projects. We took notes and created between 30-35 practice pages.
I think that two skills I executed well in this step were empathy and communication. I felt I was able to understand everyone else's circumstances better during this project, and it was easier to work around other peoples' schedules. Since we are unable to meet in person, we created group chats, documents, gantt charts and flowcharts to keep us connected. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be time management and planning. I think that this was a very bulky project given in a short amount of time, so looking at it right away and planning out how to get the work done would have really lowered my stress levels. Right off the bat, I was unaware of how much work there was, and waited a while before starting. That left me with thirty eight video tutorials to watch, take notes on and sketch in just a week. In the future I will plan out my assignments well before they are due to better my time management skills. I also feel like managing my time will lower my stress in this class because since we get so many assignments due to the shortened curriculum, some assignments get jumbled up.
I think that two skills I executed well in this step were empathy and communication. I felt I was able to understand everyone else's circumstances better during this project, and it was easier to work around other peoples' schedules. Since we are unable to meet in person, we created group chats, documents, gantt charts and flowcharts to keep us connected. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be time management and planning. I think that this was a very bulky project given in a short amount of time, so looking at it right away and planning out how to get the work done would have really lowered my stress levels. Right off the bat, I was unaware of how much work there was, and waited a while before starting. That left me with thirty eight video tutorials to watch, take notes on and sketch in just a week. In the future I will plan out my assignments well before they are due to better my time management skills. I also feel like managing my time will lower my stress in this class because since we get so many assignments due to the shortened curriculum, some assignments get jumbled up.
09/21
Today we learned about the various components that go into designs. For example, the manufacturures that make each material, the producer of the raw material, the designer of the facilities and much more. We also continued editing our classification scheme and picked out three designs to draw. After school I continued editing and worked on sketching the designs in the way that we learned in the video tutorials.
09/22
Today we started our Decision Matrix. This matrix was designed to determine which of our designs would work best to include all of our wanted functions. To find this, each member of the team created a table that included a weight for how much each function matters for our project, and the weights all added up to one. The table also included values out of 10 for how much of each function the concepts focused on.
09/24
Today we continued with our decision matrixes. Every team member finished up their personal matrixes. and then we worked on the team matrix. The team matrix took average numbers from our personal matrixes to find which concept would work best overall. We found that a microneedle patch with cheap, biodegradable materials and specific packaging would work best.
Step 2 Reflection
This project was about narrowing down our design possibilities to find what would work best for the functions that we want to include. We did so through a Classification Scheme, Mind Map, brainstorming on Padlet, Design Selections, and conceptual sketches.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were time management and organization. I felt I learned from the drawing tutorials assignment, and I looked at due dates and planned ahead to do everything before time was crunched. This project had a lot of parts to it, so time management was crucial to success. Since we are unable to meet in person, we created group chats, documents, gantt charts and flowcharts to keep us connected. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be patience and communication. Due to the bulk of this step in the project, I felt a lot of pressure to get things done, and when it felt like we weren't doing anything right due to the constant need for revision, I found myself getting frustrated and wanting to just accept the poor grade. With patience, I would have found that our project was actually coming together quite nicely, and the revisions were leading us to our goal. Communication was also an issue from the beginning because it became unclear who was in charge of what part of the project. One of our team members left during this step, so distributing those assignments and not letting them get lost was stressful. Although this step was difficult, I think that by working on patience and communication, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were time management and organization. I felt I learned from the drawing tutorials assignment, and I looked at due dates and planned ahead to do everything before time was crunched. This project had a lot of parts to it, so time management was crucial to success. Since we are unable to meet in person, we created group chats, documents, gantt charts and flowcharts to keep us connected. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be patience and communication. Due to the bulk of this step in the project, I felt a lot of pressure to get things done, and when it felt like we weren't doing anything right due to the constant need for revision, I found myself getting frustrated and wanting to just accept the poor grade. With patience, I would have found that our project was actually coming together quite nicely, and the revisions were leading us to our goal. Communication was also an issue from the beginning because it became unclear who was in charge of what part of the project. One of our team members left during this step, so distributing those assignments and not letting them get lost was stressful. Although this step was difficult, I think that by working on patience and communication, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
09/28
Today we set up our Gantt chart for the life cycle assessment. The LCA includes a research report and visual infographic diagram. The report is very lengthy and has a lot of content that needs to be covered, so we used today to plan everything out and assign tasks to everyone. Mondays are usually used for this type of work since they are shorter periods and we have just been given our weekly assignments.
09/29
Today we continued to work on the life cycle assessment. We opened Canva, which is where we plan to create the infographic design. I am working on the Raw Materials, Transportation and distribution sections. Each section requires in-depth research and writing, so this is a very time consuming part of the project. After making the report, we are supposed to add shorter versions of each section to the infographic design.
10/01
Our task today was to complete the LCA, which is due tomorrow. I finished both of my parts today, and getting a group member motivated enough to complete their task without doing it for them was a difficult challenge, because I worried that the assignment wouldn't be done by the due date. The main thing that I worked on today was the infographic design. I worked on formatting, colors and making everything flow together.
10/05
We were given our due dates for the next two weeks today, so we added them all to the gantt chart, and assigned specific tasks to each person. The main things due are research, more 3D tutorials, a lab report and experiments. After assigning tasks, we worked on the 3D models for our project so that we can set up some experiments later in the week.
Step 3 Reflection
Step 3 was about evaluating our alternative design concepts, creating a life cycle assessment for our project and learning more about 3D modeling. We did so through research documents, following tutorials for Onshape 3D modeling, brainstorming on Padlet, and Project Matrixes.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were leadership and time management. I felt I did a good job at looking at due dates and planning ahead to do everything before time was crunched. This project had a lot of parts to it, so time management was crucial to success. I think I took a strong leadership role during this step by asking teammates if they were familiar with the due dates and their contribution to assignments. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be empathy and communication. One main piece of this overall class is contribution from our mentor, but our mentor is unable to give feedback as quickly as things are due, because he is a college student with his own work to do. At first, the lack of contribution was frustrating because I knew it would negatively affect grades. After a while, though, I realized that if I were in his shoes, the amount of work thrown at me would be overwhelming. I think that having that sense of empathy from the start would have lessened my frustration. Communication was also an issue from the beginning because I was not being clear enough with team members when they needed to have certain things done. This project is very lengthy and has a lot of content, so splitting up assignments between group members is really important, and if someone isn't pulling their weight, the others will have way to much on their hands. I did not communicate this well enough, so at 11 pm before the due date, me and another teammate found ourselves scrambling to get the the third member's assignments done because they hadn't yet. I think that by working on empathy and communication, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were leadership and time management. I felt I did a good job at looking at due dates and planning ahead to do everything before time was crunched. This project had a lot of parts to it, so time management was crucial to success. I think I took a strong leadership role during this step by asking teammates if they were familiar with the due dates and their contribution to assignments. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be empathy and communication. One main piece of this overall class is contribution from our mentor, but our mentor is unable to give feedback as quickly as things are due, because he is a college student with his own work to do. At first, the lack of contribution was frustrating because I knew it would negatively affect grades. After a while, though, I realized that if I were in his shoes, the amount of work thrown at me would be overwhelming. I think that having that sense of empathy from the start would have lessened my frustration. Communication was also an issue from the beginning because I was not being clear enough with team members when they needed to have certain things done. This project is very lengthy and has a lot of content, so splitting up assignments between group members is really important, and if someone isn't pulling their weight, the others will have way to much on their hands. I did not communicate this well enough, so at 11 pm before the due date, me and another teammate found ourselves scrambling to get the the third member's assignments done because they hadn't yet. I think that by working on empathy and communication, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Step 4 Reflection
Step 4 was about coming up with detailed designs of our projects, planning and conducting experiments, creating a lab report and continuing to work on online modeling and circuits. We completed the designs, experiments and lab reports as a team, collaborating and breaking up work. We also consulted with our mentor to gain further knowledge on how to solidify our project. The modeling and circuits were individual assignments.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were communication and leadership. I felt I did a good job communicating with my group in order to divide up the experiments and to make sure everyone had the correct materials. For example, I needed a certain amount of white sugar for the experiment and didn't have it, so I reached out to a group member to get the needed materials. I think I took a strong leadership role during this step by asking teammates if they were familiar with the due dates and their contribution to assignments. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans. I also took leadership in working on the 3D models.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be time management and patience. I felt like I could've spent more time creating the Gantt Charts for this step. One main piece of this overall class is contribution from our mentor, but our mentor is unable to give feedback as quickly as things are due, because he is a college student with his own work to do. At first, the lack of contribution was frustrating because I knew it would negatively affect grades. I think that having patience would have lessened this frustration. I think that by working on time management and patience, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were communication and leadership. I felt I did a good job communicating with my group in order to divide up the experiments and to make sure everyone had the correct materials. For example, I needed a certain amount of white sugar for the experiment and didn't have it, so I reached out to a group member to get the needed materials. I think I took a strong leadership role during this step by asking teammates if they were familiar with the due dates and their contribution to assignments. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans. I also took leadership in working on the 3D models.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be time management and patience. I felt like I could've spent more time creating the Gantt Charts for this step. One main piece of this overall class is contribution from our mentor, but our mentor is unable to give feedback as quickly as things are due, because he is a college student with his own work to do. At first, the lack of contribution was frustrating because I knew it would negatively affect grades. I think that having patience would have lessened this frustration. I think that by working on time management and patience, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Step 5 Reflection
The main goal of Step 5 was to create a design defense. This design defense is a presentation that proves how we followed the principles of engineering in our design process. Overall, it really allowed us to collect our thoughts and bring all of the separate pieces of the project into one cohesive unit. We also worked on 3D tutorials, circuit tutorials, our team website, and further research during this step. There weren't many assignments due at the end of this step, but the design defense was a very lengthy task that took a lot of teamwork and cooperation.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were work ethic and leadership. I felt I did a good job completing my assignments and staying on task. For example, I was very motivated to get my parts of the presentation done, and I finished the 3D modeling and circuit tutorials early. I think I took a strong leadership role again during this step by asking teammates if they were familiar with the due dates and their contribution to assignments. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans. I also took leadership in working on the 3D models.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be communication and time management. These two skills tied into each other during this step. For example, as the deadline was coming up, I could've communicated better with my team to get everyone to record their separate parts before the deadline. I had a very busy day the day it was due, but had to wait for everyone to finish their sections in the presentation before I could record my voiceover, and I think that caused unneeded stress. I think that by working on communication and time management, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Two skills that I think I executed well in this step were work ethic and leadership. I felt I did a good job completing my assignments and staying on task. For example, I was very motivated to get my parts of the presentation done, and I finished the 3D modeling and circuit tutorials early. I think I took a strong leadership role again during this step by asking teammates if they were familiar with the due dates and their contribution to assignments. We used sites such as Toggl, Coggle, and Padlet to organize our ideas and plans. I also took leadership in working on the 3D models.
Two skills that I think would be important to work on for the next step would be communication and time management. These two skills tied into each other during this step. For example, as the deadline was coming up, I could've communicated better with my team to get everyone to record their separate parts before the deadline. I had a very busy day the day it was due, but had to wait for everyone to finish their sections in the presentation before I could record my voiceover, and I think that caused unneeded stress. I think that by working on communication and time management, I can really improve the experience for the next project.
Steps 6, 7 & 8 Reflection
The main goal of these last three steps were to finalize our project and come up with ways to present, promote and gain support for the product. Overall, I think my group worked well together, but the online aspect was very difficult. I tried my best to get everyone equally involved, but I definitely ended up taking over for some assignments if I felt like they weren’t going to be done on time. Overall though, I feel like our team got along really well and we did our best to do equal amounts of work and complete assignments on time. Having all of the team members being agreeable and accommodating was definitely valuable to the team because we were able to easily come up with and agree upon an idea. For example, when coming up with our team logo we compiled all of our ideas and had a good discussion in which everyone participated in order to choose a design. Most steps in this project went like this, and it allowed everything to go quite smoothly. This project was different from any other because we worked in the same group for an entire semester. This was both challenging and helpful. My overall takeaway from this project is that planning out tasks for each group member and staying organized is the key to success, meaning that everyone works equal amounts and everyone puts in their best efforts. I will definitely carry organization and patience throughout future group experiences.