The Final Blog

Elaboration:
In class, my partner and I compared our passions.  The one combination that interested me the most was "listening to music about skiing."  I do a lot of associating music with certain activities.  Music always brings pictures into my mind.  I started thinking and I realized that it is not easy to put skiing into music.  Should it be rock music because it is an intense sport, or should it be classical music because it is smooth and beautiful?  I definitely think that it should be instrumental music because skiing is about sounds and not words.  It is not a story, it is wind and snow rushing past.  Other than listening to music, I have no musical experience and so I can not give any musical information such as the proper tempo.  I do feel, that if skiing were made into music, it would be a mixture of rock or techno and classical.  Making things in life into music is a great exercise in creativity.  Listening to music and forming pictures in the mind of what the music represents is also a good example of creativity.  Both of these examples play into the definitions of creativity provided by professor Bruce Litchfield in his video lecture on creativity and innovation as a part of iFoundry.  Using the imagination with music is imaginative and original as well as producing by creating new music or images.

Listening

During my lengthy conversation with my friend, the thing that stood out to me the most was that one can not really listen and think at the same time.  If one is thinking of a response, thinking about what was said, or talking, one is not listening.  One is only hearing.  I asked my friend to tell his story in order to prompt him to talk.  This tool worked to get him to start talking, but also to get him to go into more depth.  I used the mirror tool but I brought it up later in the conversation.  My friend would say something and then later, I would bring up what he had said earlier and apply it to the new context.  I did not really use the paraphrase tool because it did not seem very useful during my conversation.  I think it is intended to be used as a sort of extension to the mirror tool.  I used the prime tool when my friend did not offer the information I wanted.  By prompting him with questions, I was able to get him to share more.  I did a good job of practicing the tools, but I was concentrating on trying the tools and so I was not the best listener.

Blog #5 The Multiple Uses of Lawn Mowers

Tell me what you think in your comments.  Please try to ignore how I started writing "problems" and scratched it out when I spelled it wrong.  Video blogs are more stressful than I thought.  Are there any improvements that I forgot to talk about?  Have you ever done lawn mower racing?

Toulmin Model Used With My Problems

When I think of recent engineering problems, the one that stands out the most is how my group's steam car did not properly function.  I am going to try to model a solution using the Toulmin Model.

Claim: The steam car failed to run on the demo day.

Grounds: It was unable to direct steam power towards the turbine.  Creating a better solder point would fix the problem.

Warrant:  The solder had melted and the pipes had shifted.  Also, leaks in the solder had formed.

Backing:  Aluminum is one of the metals, to which solder does not adhere.

Qualifier: The problem would be fixed provided that there is enough water in the boiler.

Using a model for my problem helped to organize my ideas into a simple plan.

Blog #3 Free Writing and Directed Writing

Free Writing:

Communication in engineering is more important than communication in any other field.  The reason for this is that engineering is all about working with other people in teams.  Engineers must be able to communicate an idea to the members of their team and the members of the team must be able to communicate their thought about that idea.  When communication fails, engineering fails.  Communication is similar to networking.  It works best when both parties participate.  Engineers must practice good communication skills on a regular basis because like any acquired skill, it will become rusty with out use.  Engineers can exercise the crucial skill of communication all the time.  Almost every situation will provide practice at communication.  I, personally, find good communication makes a team project run a lot smoother.  This goes for engineering too.

Directed Writing:

Quick Planning:

1.     Teamwork Communication

2.     Written Communication

3.     Verbal Communication

4.     Proper Communication

5.     Failure to Communicate

Directed Creation:

Communication is most vital in teamwork.  The industry that features the most teamwork is engineering.  Engineers must communicate their ideas to other team members.  The sharing of ideas is the only way engineers will function as a team.

Written communication is an important skill for engineers to use when they are working in a team, but are not face to face with the other team members.  Emails as well as letters play the most important roles here.  It is also important for sending status reports about a team’s project to higher management.

Verbal Communication is used most during the direct teamwork.  Face to face with people, one must be able to communicate one’s own ideas.  One must also be able to react, respond, and give feedback to other’s ideas.  Similarly, one must take feedback on one’s own ideas.  Verbal communication can also replace written communication as a distant communication since phone calls can replace emails.

Proper communication is vital to all forms of communication.  One must know the proper way to react to ideas.  One must know the proper way to turn ideas into writing.  If this is improper communication things go wrong.

Failure to communicate will cause serious issues in engineering, especially with teamwork and projects.  Things can be done with out the entire team’s knowledge.  Things can be done incorrectly because the idea was not properly communicated or picked up.

Blog #2 Networking

After thinking about it, I realized that improving a network is not only about meeting someone completely new, it is also about developing a contact that you already have.  Due to this assignment’s proximity to the engineering career fair, I sent an email to a recruiter that I knew, and who would be attending and representing the company for which he works.  I found out when he would be free while he was in Champaign-Urbana.  I arranged to meet him for dinner to discuss internships.  Now it may seem rather odd to be having dinner with a recruiter form the career fair.  I have been withholding one piece of information.  He is my brother.  He is an aerospace engineer who graduated from the University of Illinois.  I know what you are thinking.  “Well if he is your brother then how is doing stuff with him expanding your network?”  The answer is that up until now we have not been merely brothers.  Now he can give me advice about what classes, degrees, organizations, and attributes would be good to have in order to make his company as well as many others interested in giving me an internship and eventually a job.  Networks require every member to contribute.  It would not be a network if I just soaked up his information and gave nothing in return.  I will be providing him with up to date and insider information about what students are looking for in internships, careers, good questions to ask at the career fair and during interviews, and suggestions for improvement so that his company can stand out from the rest at the career fair.  I am able to talk to students and learn what they truly feel.  They would most likely never share some of the information while under the pressure of talking to a recruiter.

Through this experience I have developed a completely new kind of network with some one who was already in my other networks (family and others).  I found it to be so valuable that I will continue to network about engineering careers with my brother.  The only thing that I would have done differently is that I might have asked him some more questions.  I guess they will have to wait until the next time that I contact him.

Blog #1 Reflections On The Missing Basics And Skills That Need Development

The conventional engineering education teaches the math, science, and design needed for engineering.  The same conventional engineering education assumes that engineering students naturally have the other skills needed for engineering.  These skills include communication, question forming and asking, use of the imagination, and the ability to put observations into categories and patterns.  Many engineering students choose engineering because, besides math and science, they show skill in one or more of these areas.  It is very rare, however, to find an engineering student that is perfectly skilled in all of these areas.  The reason that these skills are considered basics is because good engineers use these skills without even thinking.  Engineers need to learn these skills well so that the skills become natural.  When this has been achieved, the brain can now think in an engineering way.  This sort of thought is composed of questions, organization, and imagination.  Through learning the missing basics, we will not only be better prepared for careers as engineers, but also better prepared for our education to be engineers.

The skills that I will develop over the course of the semester are as follows:
1. Being extroverted.
2. Looking at a problem in a completely new way.
3. Seeing the value of other people's ideas and contributions.
4. Communication

I tend to be shy until I get to know people well.  This can sometimes happen too late.  My efforts to be more extroverted will get my group work and class participation off to a stronger start.  A concrete way to combat shyness is to forget about what others might think of an idea and just voice the idea.  More often than not, the new idea will be accepted well by the audience.
Due Date: September 16th

I have noticed that many people, including myself, will just keep running again and again into an immovable wall when they encounter a problem.  The skill that I plan to develop is the ability to step back and see that further down the wall there is a door.  Once one is dealing with a problem, they will try every variation of the same method to solve the problem.  They seem to think that there is only one way to solve a problem, and if that one way does not work, they are left going in circles.  When ever I have used the skill of looking at a problem in a completely new way, I have been successful.  This is a difficult skill to develop, so even though I have used it before, I plan to continue practicing it in order to perfect the skill.
Due Date: October 1st


One's own idea, way of doing things, or opinion always seems better than that of anybody else.  This does not work well with a team.  To be a productive team, every member must value the contributions and suggestions of each of the team members.  Others may provide ideas that are just a valid as mine and that may even be better.  The best way to work on improving this skill is to present one's own idea and then to ask the other team members what flaws they see in that idea and what suggestions they have to solve those problems.  The team now has an idea that has been built with the contributions of the team.
 December 1st


 The last skill is another one that I already use to great success, but is also one that can never be perfected.  There is always room for improvement in communication.  I need to work on making my ideas clearer to others.  Connected with the previous skill, I need to better convey my appreciation when I truly value the contributions of another person.  Others seem to be better skill with this because it also links to being extroverted. I hope to constantly conscious of these strategies for better communication.
 November 1st