Tuesday
08 JAN 2019

Course overview
Student questionnaire
Introductions
Diagnostic writing exam

Professional engineering society chapters at UCSB

Formation of product study teams

Notes:
This quarter, you will be expected to participate in a professional engineering society of your choice. A list of UCSB-affiliated societies has been drafted by the College of Engineering to assist you in your search. You may also work with unlisted organizations; however, they must be recognized, professional engineering societies (see me for help with this). Your choice of assignments this quarter include any or all of the following:

• Attend a UCSB chapter meeting and report on the meeting in your journal
• Interview a society member and summarize your interview in your journal (this may be either a UCSB chapter member or a working professional member)
• Read and summarize a published journal article published by the society you have joined (this may be from either a hardcopy publication or the society's website)
• Attend a society conference and report on your activities

Your report-summary is due NLT the end of January (2 pp. minimum in your journal).

Review list of professional engineering societies at UCSB, then contact one (if you haven't already).

Begin the UCSB Human Subjects Module. You must pass the online test NLT the end of Week 2. To log on, see Note 1a.

Swap contact info from your teammates

Wednesday
09 JAN 2019

Thursday
10 JAN 2019

Consolidate product study teams and select products

Assignment #A: Company history

Patent research: prior art

Product research: device evolution

Assignment #B: Product evolution

Product research at UCSB Davidson Library

Notes: We will first meet in class today, then relocate to the second floor (and north side) of the library to research our products.

Reading
Beer, Chapter 8;

Engineering disaster reports (by team—TBA)

Tuesday
15 JAN 2019

APT writing for audience, purpose and tone

Business correspondence: letters

Assignment #1: Query letter to company

Science and engineering report writing

Reading:
Beer, pp. 78–83; see also pp. 237–248

Bring your products to class

Writing about Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

Assignment #2: FMEA matrix

Groupwork: design test rubric for product

Designing matrices for documents

Reading
Beer, Chap. 3; pp. 157–163

Assignment #1:
Query letter

Engineering disaster groupwork (in class)

Review of query letters to companies

Usability testing and reporting

Product study and note-taking: desiging a product test stratagem and writing field notes

Complete UCSB Human Subjects Module exam

Assignment #A:
Company history

Assignment #B: Product evolution

How to maintain and use a lab notebook

Intellectual property issues for engineers

Engineering disaster group ignite reports

Assignment #3: Usability Report

Assignment #2:
FMEA matrix

NOTE: Bring two copies to class.

Reading
Beer (pp. 95–102)

Product study and note-taking (cont.); tool safety orientation

***Bring products and digital cameras to class!***

Comments:
We will be photographing our products and testing them today in class for later use in technical documents. Be sure to bring your digital camera(s) and—very important!—set your picture file size to a smaller format (about 800K max.).

Reading
Beer (pp. 98–101, 149–154)

Assignment #C: Query letter (final team draft)

NOTE: Bring your final group letter and a first-class postage stamp.

Product study and note-taking (cont.)

***Bring products and digital cameras to class!***

Comments:
Today, we will be dismantling our products in class, testing for usability and taking notes. As we take our products apart, the emphasis is on metrics. Measure everything and write it down: size dimensions, weights, electrical resistances, abrasion characteristics, temperature—everything. Your reporting later will only be as good as your notes today. Bad note-taking = bad reporting! Again, be sure to bring your digital camera(s).

As you gather data in class, your notes will be scrutinized. Throughout testing and disassembly operations, you should maintain at least one notetaker to write down everything while someone else photographs.

Document everything!

Product study and note-taking (cont.)

***Bring products and digital cameras to class!***

Comments:
Today, we will be dismantling our products in class, testing for usability and taking notes. As we take our products apart, the emphasis is on metrics. Measure everything and write it down: size dimensions, weights, electrical resistances, abrasion characteristics, temperature—everything. Your reporting later will only be as good as your notes today. Bad note-taking = bad reporting! Again, be sure to bring your digital camera(s).

Reading
Beer (Chap. 7)

Basics of reporting numbers

Citing sources and formatting the bibliography

Widows, orphans, and formatting of figures within documents

Assignment #4: Engineer interview

Assignment #5: Material study

Visual documentation: incorporating photographs and technical drawings into text

Public speaking for engineers

Preparing for ignite talks and end-of-quarter group presentations

The engineering ethics of specsmanship: writing specifications for products and services

Assignment #E: Final Team Presentation

Reading
Beer (Chap. 9)

IGNITE TALKS: engineering disasters
*20 slides of 15 seconds each, for 5 minutes. For this assignment, your slides should focus on the most basic facts and use lots of photos. Everyone in your group should talk during the presentation. The three key objectives for each talk: 1) what happened? 2) how did it happen? 3) what was learned?

Assignment #D: Design Team Memo

Writing memos

Report formats for engineering documents

Assignment #3: Usability Report

*Reminder: please return rewrites of assignments #1–3, #A, #B as soon as you finish them.

Reading
Beer (pp. 82–84)

Assignment #F: Final Team Report

Working with PowerPoint and similar electronic presentation media

Electronic presentation checklist

Executive summaries

Reading
Beer (Chap. 6)

Groupwork: completion of oral presentation PowerPoints and reports

Assignment #D: Design team memo

Page layout, design and coordination within writing teams.

TOCs and indexes

Assignment #5: Material study

Groupwork: Final preparation for team presentations and final reports

Writing self-assessment

Assignment #4: Engineer interview

In-class essay assignment
*Bring a "blue book" exam booklet*

• Reading
• Prompt

Groupwork: Final preparation for team presentations and final reports

Team appointments (in classroom)

8:00–8:15: Electric toothbrush

8:15–8:30: Hand mixer

8:30–8:45: Toaster oven

8:45–9:00: Steam iron

9:00–9:15: Can opener

9:15–9:30: Mr. Coffee

Portfolio reviews

***Group Presentations***

Instructor evaluations

Assignment #E: Final Team Presentation

Please note that the report you turn in today should be a polished rough draft: it should contain all of the required sections and allow you to focus on your final exams during the next week.

Assignment #F: Final Team Report
(polished rough draft)