Engineering Projects: EPICS

Spring 2017

Course Syllabus

INSTRUCTOR: Jeff Sayers

ADDRESS: Indiana Academy, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306

OFFICE:Elliott B027APHONE: 765-285-7418

OFFICE HOURS: M W 11 A. M. – 1 P.M.; T12 –7 PM; TH 12 - 2 PM (by apt in BU 209)

TEXT: Service-Learning: Engineering in Your Community, Lima & Oakes; Engineering Your Future, Oakes, Leone, & Gunn

Course Description:

The engineering classes at The Indiana Academy are result of our participation in a national program from Purdue University: EPICS High School. EPICS(Engineering Projects in Community Service) is a service-learning design course in which teams of students work together on long-term projects that benefit the community. Project work often centers on the engineering, technology, and/or computing needs of a community partner, but interdisciplinary team interaction is an integral element for project success.

Most EPICS projects are intended to last at least one semester, though partnership with the community organization may be ongoing for an extended time period. Projects are intended to solve real problems, are defined in partnership with their community partners, and span the complete design process cycle [problem identification – specification development - conceptual design - detailed design - production - service/maintenance – retirement].

Student projectsat the Academy do not have to be service oriented but these types of projects are encouraged.

Course Outcomes:

Students are expected to show evidence of development of proficiency in the following:

Discipline Knowledge: ability to apply material from academic disciplines to the design of community-based projects

Design Process: an understanding of design as a start-to-finish process

Lifelong Learning: an ability to identify and acquire new knowledge as a part of the problem-solving/design process

Customer Awareness: an awareness needs of the customer

Teamwork: an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams and an appreciation for thecontributions from individuals with various skills

Communication: an ability to communicate effectively individuals and groups with widely-varyingbackgrounds

Ethics: an awareness of professional ethics and responsibility

Social Context: an appreciation of the role that their discipline can play in social contexts

In EPICS, it is expected that you will learn and experience:

Multidisciplinary Design: Learn how to be better designers, gain design knowledge and skills; learn how to apply disciplinary knowledge to real and possibly ill-defined problems; learn how to identify and acquirenew knowledge; learn to collaborate with people from other disciplines and develop an appreciation forcross-disciplinary contributions in design.

Professional Preparation: Develop the broad set of skills needed to be successful in the changing global workplace and world:

Service-Learning: Provide significant service to the community while learning; gain an understanding ofthe role that engineering (and their disciplines) can play in society and the broader issues related to theneeds we are addressing.

You will develop the skills in the following Skill Set Areas:

Design

Disciplinary and cross-disciplinary thinking

Teamwork/Leadership

Oral communication

Written communication

Critical thinking

Professional ethics

Grading:

In EPICS, students work on teams and their final individual grade will reflect the quality and quantity of the student’s documented individual accomplishments and learning and skill development, as well as the team’s accomplishments. The “Grading Summary” table provides a summary of the assessments. Grades are determined using rubrics that provide the characteristics for A’s, B’s, etc. and are provided to the students. The rubrics are intended to provide guidance to the instructor for

evaluating the quality of the work of individuals and teams. For purpose of computing semester grades, points will be assigned according to the scale given below. EPICS students may receive Grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, or D* as indicated on the Grading Scale.

All team members are responsible for the progress of the project. Teams will work together to identify team project goals for the semester. Individual roles and responsibilities within the team and projects will beidentified and documented in the Individual Memo. In addition, the Individual Memos will be used todocument a student's individual learning and skill development and individual accomplishments (role(s) and project work) throughout the semester, and to propose modifications to the responsibilities ifappropriate. Formal assessment of the learning and accomplishments will be done at mid-semester, and then at theend of the semester for final grading. Evaluation will be based on the following components:

  • project proposal150 points
  • design notebook (Engineering Journal)150
  • self-assessment of learning andaccomplishments 50
  • the formal project presentations and reports500 points

(Includes poster 125, PowerPoint 125, class presentation 125, deliverables documents 125)

  • informal lab presentations and demonstrations100
  • peer evaluations 50

Total Points1000 points

GRADING SCALE:( percent of total points possible)

90% - 100% = A

88% - 89% = A-

84% - 87% = B+

80% - 83% = B

78% - 79% = B-

74% - 77% = C+

70% - 73% = C

65% - 69% = C-

0% - 64% = D*

POLICY FOR MAKE-UP WORK:

Make-up work will be allowed only for the excused absences. You must make arrangements for the make-up work before or immediately after the excused absence. You must make every effort to make contact with your instructor in this regard personally or by a written note, p-mail, or phone.

ACADEMIC PROGRESS REPORT:

Your performance will be evaluated periodically through the semester. If any problems is encountered an academic alert notice will be sent out as per the Academy policy.

Tardy and unexcused-absence policies:

A student late to class/lab up to 5 minutes will be marked ‘tardy’

A student late to class/lab for more than 5 minutes will be marked ‘absent’.

A student who is sleeping in class will earn an unexcused absence.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY POLICY:

Academic dishonesty may be detrimental to a student’s grade for the course.

Academy dishonesty includes but is not limited to:

  • Plagiarism
  • Falsifying data to for projects
  • Copying report material from another student
  • Copying in the tests and exams

For details, please refer to the Academic Dishonesty Policy in the Student’s Handbook

Time Requirements

Students will work on a selected project during most class meeting. Lectures and other activities that require class time will be announced in advance. Unexcused absenceswill negatively impact the course grade. Additional meeting and work times outside of class are to be scheduled by the project team members in consultation with the instructor..

Individual Requirements for All Students:

Individual memos: In each individual memo, individuals should state individual responsibilities for

the semester and accomplishments appropriately, based on when in the semester they are

submitted. A template and instructions will be provided for the memos. They will be due

during weeks 4, 8, 12, and 15.

Design notebooks: All students are required to maintain a Design Notebook. All activities related

to the project, including individual efforts and ideas, reflections, relevant material and discussions

from lecture, contacts, team sessions, and conversations and meetings with the project partner,

are to be date-recorded or referenced in the notebook. Design notebooks are legal design

documents, potentially used for patent purposes and must therefore be kept in ink. Notebooks will

be turned in for review during weeks 4, 8, and 15.

Design Process Documents:There’s a document pertinent to each phase of the design process.

Each project should have its own electronic file in the team’s folder. Each team member should have a copy of the folder. The file will contain updated documents through the completed design process stage.

Design notebook documentation does not meet these requirements.

The stages and their respective documents are:

Design Phase: EPICS Document:

1. Problem Identification Project Charter

2. Specification Development Specification Document

3. Conceptual Design Conceptual Design Report

4. Detailed Design Detailed Design Report (with prototype completion)

5. Production Delivery Checklist (with final project completion)

Delivery Report (with delivery)

6. Maintenance Fielded project report

A more descriptive document about design process phases will be provided.

Peer Evaluation: For grading purposes, students will each complete an evaluation of the other

team members at mid-semester and at the end of the semester. Instructions will be provided for the format for the peer evaluations.

Final Reflection: Individuals are to complete a final reflection during finals week. Instructions for submission will be provided at a later time.

Teams:

Semester Plan: Based on consultation with all team members, the team should finalize the Semester plan. It will provide reference for reporting progress to be made the rest of the semester

Project Proposal: Teams must develop a Project Proposal to describe the project it will

work on and is developed in consultation with all team members. Written Project Proposals are

due in lab in week 4

Design/Project Review: A formal review by reviewers external to the team completed during

Week 11.(Teams must prepare documentation prior to the review to send

to the reviewers. After the review, teams are responsible for documenting how issues raised in the

review were addressed.

Delivery Review: The delivery review will be held in conjunction with the Design Review for

projects that are to be delivered this semester. A Delivery Checklist must be completed and

returned by week 12.

Team-Instructor meetings: If required, one during weeks 2-3, one during week 12-13 and others as required by the instructor.

Formal project presentation: All teams will make a formal presentation during or prior to exam week. This will include the preparation of a poster suitable for display and a PowerPoint presentation to the class.

Dates indicated in this syllabus may be revised during the semester as needs arise.

Use of Laptop Computers in Classroom

  1. You may use the laptop in the lecture. You have option ofwriting notes on your laptop or in traditional notebook.
  2. Unless told otherwise, please boot up your computer as soon as you arrive in class so that you will be ready to go to work as soon as class starts.
  3. You are responsible for maintaining the power of your computer.
  4. Keep your laptop on until the class ends for the day.
  5. The volume on your laptop should be turned all the way down during class. Your laptops should be silent except for the clicking of the keyboard.
  6. You may not read or send e-mail, play music or games, “IM”, participate in chat rooms, or download any files during class. If this becomes a chronic problem, you will be asked to leave the classroom, with an unexcused absence for that day.
  7. You may take class notes using your laptop, but you also need to be prepared to use pen and paper when asked.
  8. You are responsible for maintaining your computer. Please make sure your computer is working before coming to class. If your computer is not working or is not able to connect to the wireless server, you should follow the help instructions in your laptop management document.
  9. Print assignments before coming to class.
  10. Remember to save your work frequently. Loss of a file by accident is not an acceptable excuse.
  11. Close your lid/screen half way during discussions or class presentations or when otherwise requested by the instructor.

12. Do not hide toolbars (the dock). Keep all items you are working on visible on the screen and available for teacher inspection.

Tentative Course Calendar

Week / Reading / Assignment / Comments
1/9 / Course Syllabus
LO Ch 1
OLG Ch 15 / Load software / Course Introduction and Planning; Community Partners if applicable; Intro to Design
1/16 / LO Ch 2
OLG Ch 15 / Identify teams and projects; Begin Project Charter / Engineering in Societal Context; Team Formation; Begin Eng. Notebook;
1/23 / LO Ch 2
OLG Ch 15 / Engineering in a Societal Context;
1/230 / LO Ch 3
OLG Ch 13
OLG Ch 9 / Eng. Notebook Due; Project Charter due / Engineering Design for Service Learning
2/6 / LO Ch 3
OLG Ch 13 OLG Ch 9 / Engineering Design for Service Learning
2/13 / LO Ch 4
OLG Ch 7 / Engineering Analysis Skills
2/20 / LO Ch 4
OLG Ch 11 / Engineering Analysis Skills
2/27 / OLG Ch 8
OLG Ch 12 / Eng. Notebook Due / Project Design and Development
3/6 / Spring Break
3/13 / OLG Ch 9
OLG Ch 12 / Project Design and Development
3/20 / OLG Ch 10
OLG Ch 12 / Project Design and Development
3/27 / OLG Ch 14 / Project Design and Development
4/3 / OLG Ch 14 / Eng. Notebook Due / Project Design and Development
4/10 / Project Design and Development
4/17 / Project Design and Development
4/24 / Eng. Notebook Due / Project Design and Development
5/1 / Final Project Presentations
5/8 / Final Exams / Final Project Presentations
5/15 / May Term
5/22 / May Term

Send me an email after you have read the Syllabus, answering the following question: What is the lowest percentage for a passing grade?

Engineering Projects Course Syllabus