Sara Taylor

Introduction to Engineering Design

Article #1:

For the Virtual Design Challenge, students were asked to pick between five different projects to create for a client. Students were placed in pairs and expected in the end to make one final project. My partner and I decided to create a goblet case that would be able to fit four in the original flight case with given dimensions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By completing this project, I learned a lot about dividing up work and setting my own due dates. In the challenge, we were required to create a Gantt Chart (a chart that lists all tasks and dates by which each task should be completed by). I had never made one of these before, but found it quite useful. This multi-step project would have been a lot more overwhelming if I wouldn't have had the Gantt Chart. I also learned to divide work among a team. During the challenge we had to have a project with at least eight parts. At the beginning, my partner and I developed a list of group norms ("laws" by which each partner will agree to). We decided to each do half of the parts we made for our project. This worked well because we finished twice as fast as we would have if one of us had made all of the parts. It helped me gain leadership skills because I had to keep my partner on track in order to keep myself on track/time.