Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• develop communication skills, both written and oral, in professional areas.
• raise awareness of the appropriate use of different writing styles (e.g. essays, technical reports, academic journal articles).
• improve confidence and ability to take a lead as an engineer.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• make an oral presentation of technical material to a non-specialist audience in an accessible way.
• critically analyse the treatment of data in technical articles in popular journals or the media.
• write a good report on a laboratory experiment, including treatment of errors and uncertainties.
• prepare and present balanced arguments on a controversial technical topic.

Content

During the eight weeks of Michaelmas term you will take part in three exercises:

Your exposition leader may introduce alternative forms of these exercises.

Journal Club

A “Journal Club” or similar oral presentation for 15 minutes, in which you will report on a current issue of a technical periodical or similar topic agreed by your leader followed by 5 minutes of questions.

Laboratory Report

A Laboratory report on AC and DC circuits.  There will be discussion about writing reports, following which you will produce a first draft which will be criticised by your peers.  You will then write a final draft which will be assessed by the exposition leader. The Guide to Report Writing on the Exposition website will help with this exercise.

Technical Discussion/DebateA

A discussion or debate on a technical but controversial topic agreed with your leader. You will plan with your colleagues how to split up the material and you will work as a team to present one part of the argument.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• develop communication skills, both written and oral, in professional areas.
• raise awareness of the appropriate use of different writing styles (e.g. essays, technical reports, academic journal articles).
• improve confidence and ability to take a lead as an engineer.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• make an oral presentation of technical material to a non-specialist audience in an accessible way.
• critically analyse the treatment of data in technical articles in popular journals or the media.
• write a good report on a laboratory experiment, including treatment of errors and uncertainties.
• prepare and present balanced arguments on a controversial technical topic.

Content

During the eight weeks of Michaelmas term you will take part in three exercises:

Your exposition leader may introduce alternative forms of these exercises.

Journal Club

A “Journal Club” or similar oral presentation for 15 minutes, in which you will report on a current issue of a technical periodical or similar topic agreed by your leader followed by 5 minutes of questions.

Laboratory Report

A Laboratory report on AC and DC circuits.  There will be discussion about writing reports, following which you will produce a first draft which will be criticised by your peers.  You will then write a final draft which will be assessed by the exposition leader. The Guide to Report Writing on the Exposition website will help with this exercise.

Technical Discussion/DebateA

A discussion or debate on a technical but controversial topic agreed with your leader. You will plan with your colleagues how to split up the material and you will work as a team to present one part of the argument.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• develop communication skills, both written and oral, in professional areas.
• raise awareness of the appropriate use of different writing styles (e.g. essays, technical reports, academic journal articles).
• improve confidence and ability to take a lead as an engineer.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• make an oral presentation of technical material to a non-specialist audience in an accessible way.
• critically analyse the treatment of data in technical articles in popular journals or the media.
• write a good report on a laboratory experiment, including treatment of errors and uncertainties.
• prepare and present balanced arguments on a controversial technical topic.

Content

During the eight weeks of Michaelmas term you will take part in three exercises:

Your exposition leader may introduce alternative forms of these exercises.

Journal Club

A “Journal Club” or similar oral presentation for 15 minutes, in which you will report on a current issue of a technical periodical or similar topic agreed by your leader followed by 5 minutes of questions.

Laboratory Report

A Laboratory report on the Statical Equilibrium of Plane Frameworks experiment which you will undertake in the Michaelmas term (a virtual form of the experiment is available at www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/mmg/teaching/statics for students whose laboratory session is timetabled late in the term).  There will be discussion about writing reports, following which you will produce a first draft which will be criticised by your peers.  You will then write a final draft which will be assessed by the exposition leader. The Guide to Report Writing on the Exposition website will help with this exercise.

Technical Discussion/DebateA

A discussion or debate on a technical but controversial topic agreed with your leader. You will plan with your colleagues how to split up the material and you will work as a team to present one part of the argument.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• develop communication skills, both written and oral, in professional areas.
• raise awareness of the appropriate use of different writing styles (e.g. essays, technical reports, academic journal articles).
• improve confidence and ability to take a lead as an engineer.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• make an oral presentation of technical material to a non-specialist audience in an accessible way.
• critically analyse the treatment of data in technical articles in popular journals or the media.
• write a good report on a laboratory experiment, including treatment of errors and uncertainties.
• prepare and present balanced arguments on a controversial technical topic.

Content

During the eight weeks of Michaelmas term you will take part in three exercises:

Your exposition leader may introduce alternative forms of these exercises.

Journal Club

A “Journal Club” or similar oral presentation for 15 minutes, in which you will report on a current issue of a technical periodical or similar topic agreed by your leader followed by 5 minutes of questions.

Laboratory Report

A Laboratory report on the Statical Equilibrium of Plane Frameworks experiment which you will undertake in the Michaelmas term (a virtual form of the experiment is available at www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/mmg/teaching/statics for students whose laboratory session is timetabled late in the term).  There will be discussion about writing reports, following which you will produce a first draft which will be criticised by your peers.  You will then write a final draft which will be assessed by the exposition leader. The Guide to Report Writing on the Exposition website will help with this exercise.

Technical Discussion/DebateA

A discussion or debate on a technical but controversial topic agreed with your leader. You will plan with your colleagues how to split up the material and you will work as a team to present one part of the argument.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Highlight the role of design in engineering
• Introduce a structured design process
• Provide a real-world design challenge to work on
• Provide an opportunity for teamwork.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Investigate a specific context to identify opportunities for design interventions
• Formulate a problem statement and specify the requirements for a solution
• Generate and explore diverse options for solution concepts
• Evaluate, prioritise and refine suitable design concepts
• Communicate the relationship between the design context and the design solution
• Communicate the design process clearly, including aspects related to teamwork.

Content

The course introduces a four-stage design process, which student teams will work through to address challenges in a specific context (incuding social, environmental and economic factors). Additionally, the course provides guidance on how to communicate about the problems, solutions and processes that have been considered.

1. Investigating the context

Identifying and reviewing relevant information that provides insights into the factors that characterise the context in which you will intervene. 

2. Defining the problem

Formulating and reframing the problem to clearly articulate the design goals and the characteristics of a suitable solution.

3. Generating solution ideas

Developing a broad range of ideas for how the problem could be addressed, and expanding that range of concepts through the application of creative design techniques. 

4. Selecting and refining solutions

Evaluating design concepts against the requirements, and iteratively developing the selected concept(s) to improve them. 

5. Communicating about design

Establishing the audiences with which you must communicate to initiate change, and identifying their informational needs; developing media that illustrate the key features of the relevant contexts, the problems identified, the solutions developed and the processes used.  

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

 
Last modified: 15/08/2024 09:03