Project planning, Henry Gantt, and cookies

Image by ccarlstead via flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Image by ccarlstead via flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

It has been said that “a good plan is like a road map; it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.”[1] Of course, we all know what it is like when we try to get things done without a plan. Perhaps we have done poorly on a school project that was left to the last minute. Or we have endured disorganized meetings that were a waste of everyone’s time. Or maybe we’ve been forced to make an “emergency” purchase that could have been avoided with a little forethought. We understand the important of good planning, if only because we know the consequences of proceeding without it. Continue reading

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Measuring students’ use of content in D2L

Photo by Skip via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Photo by Skip via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

We live in an age of metrics. We wear devices to measure our steps, heart rate, and blood pressure. Our social media engagement is discretized into hits, and clicks, and “likes”. Even academic productivity is judged by numbers: publications, citations, impact factors, h-indices. It is not surprising then that instructors would also want to gather data on their students. Continue reading

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Design lessons from the silent snap

Image  by Eoin Gardiner via flickr (CC BY)

Image by Eoin Gardiner via flickr (CC BY)

Football stadiums can be incredibly loud places. On September 29, 2014, the fans of the Kansas City Chiefs set the world record for the loadest roar at a sports stadium.[1] The crowd noise was recorded to be 142.2 dbA, or roughly equivalent to the sound you would hear standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Continue reading

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

A newbie’s reflections on SAE Baja California 2016

#BajaSoCal, because it is not an official event without a hash tag.

#BajaSoCal, because it is not an official event without a hash tag.

Better late than never, they say.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of SAE Baja; however, it is only the first time that I’ve had the privilege of attending an event. I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect on the four-day competition and provide a newbie’s wide-eyed take on the engineering awesomeness involved. Continue reading

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Interview with the Laurentian University 2016 OEC Consulting team

The Laurentian University Bharti School of Engineering 2016 Consulting Team (L-R): Jasmina Omri, Joey Fyfe, Tyler Provencal, Frédérique Bélanger.

The Laurentian University Bharti School of Engineering 2016 Consulting Team (L-R): Jasmina Omri, Joey Fyfe, Tyler Provencal, Frédérique Bélanger.

I had the opportunity to sit down with the four chemical engineering students (Jasmina Omri, Frédérique Bélanger, Tyler Provencal, and Joey Fyfe) who made up the Bharti School of Engineering’s Consulting Engineering team to ask them about their experiences. The group came in first at the 2016 Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) in Waterloo and then fourth at the 2016 Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) in Montreal. Continue reading

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail