Reflection
ABET Outcome Survey
AE 481W/482 Course Reflection
AE 481W and 482 are courses designed to test the knowledge of the student
in multiple disciplines of Architectural Engineering. In AE 481W, we looked
at presenting the existing conditions and providing an overview of our projects.
In order to be successful, I feel that preparations should begin the summer
prior to taking this course. I was fortunate enough to have an excellent
and cooperative project team over the summer, which helped me obtain many
resources that were used frequently throughout the semester. The report
due dates were evenly spaced, and with some planning and diligence, they
are able to be completed without any major problems. Overall, AE481W helped
me to look at existing systems in place on my thesis building and propose
systems that could be changed / analyzed the following semester in AE482.
Building contacts with industry members is vital for both of these courses, but it is more so with AE482. AE482 enabled me to conduct research on a popular trend in the industry, explore this topic in-depth, and even expand on current knowledge. This course also allowed us to propose changes to our building, design the changes, and then evaluate their effectiveness and impacts to the project. These analyses gave me the chance to strengthen my understanding of different disciplines within the building industry, mainly the mechanical and structural disciplines.
As I mentioned, industry contacts are extremely important. In my case, they were used as a source of interviews, design questions, and overall logistics questions. There is only one caveat to using these contacts: one must allow sufficient time in order to obtain a response, as these industry members are already busy with their daily work. I believe that developing a plan of action in the beginning of the semester and setting hard dates for the completion of each analysis is a great way to ensure things get done. This allowed me to complete each analysis without feeling the traditional “cruch-time” stress at the end of the semester, and it allowed time for industry member feedback. Overall, AE482 was an effective course at challenging students to think outside of their option.
CPEP & Discussion Board Reflection
A technologically-savvy user is able to communicate on a very effective
level. The CPEP websites are an excellent example of this technology. Despite
the large learning curve I experienced when it came to web design, I eventually
was able to produce a valuable tool that could display my thesis reports
and findings. It was not uncommon for me to be contacted by industry members
who were interested in my topics after reviewing my thesis web site. Overall,
I found the CPEP website a little difficult to maintain, but I still was
able to update it as was necessary throughout the semester. The template
that was given to us in the beginning of our thesis experience was invaluable.
It already set up the style of the page and all of the menus. Without this,
I would have had an extremely difficult time producing the web page and
an even larger learning curve.
The discussion board is an excellent idea to tie students to industry members.
Responses to students’ questions seemed to come faster though this
network of communication. Unfortunately, I did not really use this tool
first-hand, but I did learn a lot from reading other questions / responses.
For my thesis, I mainly relied on direct communication, either by phone,
email, or in person. I felt that these direct forms of communication would
yield results that could benefit me more. Since it was slightly more intimate,
it allowed me to get a better grasp on the subjects that I questioned. My
main hesitation to using the Discussion Board was the fact that everyone
would see my postings. I would rather have a one-on-one channel of communication.
But, from what I observed, the discussion board was a great aid for many
students.