IAN WHITE INDEPENDENT STUDY SCHEDULE

WEEK 01

MAR 25 /
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
Met to brainstorm and frame mutually beneficial goals. Concluded that by quarter’s end and a 3-4 hours/week commitment that we want (1) web-based tutorials serving to rapidly train a new students important skills like molding, circuit board fabrication and microprocessors (2) be published by spinning off the web page tutorial into a trade/hobbyist magazine article
WEEK 02
APR 1 /
WEB PAGE INFRASTRUCTURE
Objective: (1) Begin web page (2) Begin molding tutorial
Due this week (or early on in Week 3)
-IRT-hosted HTML-pure web page, i.e. don’t use a Web-specific authoring tools or Word-to-HTML converter, that has one graphic (e.g. your photo) one hyperlink (e.g. your email address). Email me the URL of your page
-Email an outline for molding a motor pillow-block that’s compatible with LEGO
-Order materials needed to make mold (e.g. Smooth-on)

WEEK 03

APR 8 /
MOLDING A MOTOR PILLOW-BLOCK FOR LEGO – PART 1
Objective: (1) Complete 1st draft of the LEGO motor pillow-block web page
Due this week:
-A web page first draft with the following:
  • Motivation behind creating the pillow block and foreseen impact of the tutorial. State approximate time and material cost to complete tutorial.
  • Assumptions of what background the readership’s skills
  • List of materials including vendors, vendors’ part numbers, part prices, vendor contact info (e.g. address, phone number or web page)
  • Step-by-Step Construction Details (outline is fine)
  • Conclusion: speculate future projects the reader could do now that he couldn’t do before reading the tutorial.

WEEK 04

APR 15 /
PART 2
Objective: (1) Complete final draft (2) Outline magazine article
Due this week:
-Demo the final on-line version of web page tutorial. It must have:
  • Photo of finished molded pillow-block in the beginning of the tutorial
  • Step-by-step Construction details fully described and complimented with photos
  • Helpful hyperlinks on molding and to any web pages potentially doing the same LEGO motor pillow-block project
-Contact Nuts and Volts magazine regarding interest in writing article and collect magazine article authors’ guidelines
-Outline of magazine article

WEEK 05

APR 22 / PART 3
Objective: (1) Complete 1st draft of magazine article (2) To be determined
Due this week:
-Magazine article 1st draft as per authors’ guidelines

WEEK 06

APR 29 / PART 4 (LAST)
Objective (1) Submit magazine article (2) To be determined
Due this week:
-Final version of magazine article that was submitted to publisher

WEEK 07

MAY 6 / CIRCUIT-RELATED PROJECT TO BE DETERMINED
Half-way through term – Progress assessment

WEEK 08

MAY 13 / CIRCUIT-RELATED PROJECT TO BE DETERMINED

WEEK 09

MAY 20 / CIRCUIT-RELATED PROJECT TO BE DETERMINED

WEEK 10

MAY 27 / CIRCUIT-RELATED PROJECT TO BE DETERMINED

WEEK 11

JUN 3 /
LAST DAY

Writing Lab Tutorials

There are some sample chapters under the Application Manual link on Each chapter begins with an Introduction and Motivation section that leads the reader into what to expect and why to perform it. Next, a section including a part list, any schematic or special software is presented to alert the reader for what’s needed to perform the tutorial. The construction section highlights, with photos typically, particular details in building circuits. A Programming section might also be included or might replace the construction section if nothing is to be built. A results section, detailed with graphs and/or screen shots, shows what the reader to expect. A section giving concluding remarks and reiterating the objectives finished off the tutorial.

Grading Structure

Item / Amount
Week 02
-IRT-hosted web page demo
-Outline
-Assure me that parts have been ordered. Note: Don’t borrow Bob Croston’s material. Instead we want to make sure anyone in the US can get them mail order. / 5%
Week 03
–Web page 1st draft / 5%
Week 04
-Web page uploaded final version
-Authors’ guidelines and article outline / 10%
Week 05 and 06
–Article first draft
–Article as submitted to publisher / 5%
15%

-If late, i.e. not submitted on the week item is due a 10% deduction/day is incurred

-A = 85-100, B = 75-84, C = 60-74