B1.2 Showcase Pleun Heeres
0SAB0 | USE-basics
USE –User, Society & Enterprise- is a course focussed on ethics. This course existed of weekly lectures and study material combined with a group assignment to take the knowledge to a real life test. The group assignment was focussed on finding a technological dream and make it 'USE proof' to prefend it from becoming a nightmare. This was done by making an historical and ethical analysis of the dream and improve it in order to make it more morally accepted.
The groups were randomly formed, and existed of students from different departments. This was a bit difficult for me some times, but a real lesson in the Teamwork competency. I have learned that you can’t always be lucky with motivated members and that some people are just not as easy to work with as others. I have to take in account that these things can happen and that a lot of work and time can be lost due to this.
Making an historical analysis, I did a lot of research on historical forerunners and this helped me find new ways to search for scientific sources. These ways can be useful in the future and developed my DRP-competency. Also I became more familiar with a proper way of referencing that fits scientific papers.
This course has made me more aware of the social part of Social Cultural Awareness. Realising that designing is also about how designs impact society as a whole. I am now more aware how I should behave as an engineer/designer –for example code of conduct-.
0LEB0 | Introduction to Modeling
from problems to numbers, and back
Engineers solve problems, by use of models. In order to do so, you have to be able to see the problem in mathematical terms and interpret the results back to the original problem.
That’s exactly what I was introduced to by the Basic Course Modelling. Learning to see reality through a scope and model it in order to mathematically solve it. Through weekly web lectures and study material I learned what makes a complete modelling-process and the mathematical tools that are part of this process.
What worked really well for me was applying the theorem learned in lectures into a real group assignment. I was forced to really work with the theorem rather than only learning it. This made me competent in identifying and formulating a problem statement and turning this into an easy mathematical model. I am also really proud of the group work we delivered at the end. We did do this by working efficiently and keeping each other to deadlines. The report can be read in the link.
I think in the future this course will show its value more often. As a designer you can use models to make it easier to justify design decisions. For example making decisions more plausible by showing potential impacts and calculations. This course has shown me the importance and made me fully aware of the fundamentals of Descriptive & Mathematical Modelling. Now the task is mine to continue developing this competency by putting learned skills to the task into future projects.
3NAB0 | Physics
The first part of this semester I focussed a lot on passing the physics resit-exam. I did this by attending extra classes and practising every week. This resulted thankfully in passing the course.
This has shown me that I really have to spend a lot of time and effort in practising the mathematic skills and is something I am going to do next year with Calculus. I did find Physics more interesting because it focusses on knowledge that you really use and is applicable to real life situations. Think for example of building a circuit.
I am happy that Physics updated my existing knowledge from highschool. It also reminded me that I am still becoming an engineer and therefor must keep on learning subjects like this. I see the relevance now.
