EE 109K: First Year Design Experience

  

Introduction

The First Year Design Experience (FYDE) class is currently starting the selection process for the 2022 Spring semester. The ideal student for this class is one who is curious about how the conceptual topics that they are studying will be used to design components, bigger components, systems-of-components and finally systems-of-systems.

Course Details

 

Why take this course?

The course is intended to get students motivated to start tinkering and making stuff early in their academic career as shown in the ladder diagram to the right. The ladder shows a progression of learning experiences that will start by taking this course. 

The expected outcome of this course is to:

  • Provide a well rounded first year design experience that is centered around the Texas Invention Works where the students will "Learn Design through the Process of Reinvention"

  • Provide an experience that ties key concepts from EE302/306/312/319K together by looking at them in a system application

  • Provide visibility into the engineering concepts that the students will learn in future classes and gain an appreciation for the bottoms-up learning approach

  • Provide the student skills that will help them obtain an internship at the end of their first year

  • Open future opportunities for the students such as a second/third year design experience, participation in student led companies, entrepreneurial senior design etc.

       

Why invention?

Research [1] has shown that inventing:

In addition it helps the student to:

Inventing -- building something new or making something better -- is often thought of as a purely creative act. In fact, invention demands much more than a vision[2]. It requires:

The process of reinventing an existing product will expose the student to a wide range of topics including:

Course Syllabus

Date

Lecture Topics

Assignments

Jan 19

Introduction, Product Design Methodology,

Qualtrics Survey Data

Assignment 0: Qualtrics Survey
Assignment 1: Team Member Roster & Weekly Availability Submission (Due 1/24)

Jan 26

Project Management

Time Management

Intro to Microcontrollers & Arduino

Work on Arduino Lab #1

Feb 2

Autodesk EAGLE Schematic Design

Work on CAD Exercise

Feb 9

Autodesk EAGLE Board Layout Design

Assignment 2: Arduino Lab #1 (Due 2/14)

Feb 16

Autodesk EAGLE BareBones Schematic

Assignment 3: CAD Exercise (Due 2/21 )

Work on Arduino Lab 2

Feb 23

Autodesk EAGLE BareBones Board Layout

Work on Arduino Lab 2

Work on Preliminary Project Proposal

Mar 2

Generating Bill of Materials, Component Sourcing

Assignment 4: Arduino Lab 2 (Due 3/6)

Assignment 5: Preliminary Project Proposal (Due 3/6)

Mar 9

Fusion 360 CAD & Enclosure Design

Assignment 6: Project Proposal (Due 3/13)

Work on Preliminary PCB Design

Mar 14-19

Spring Break

Mar 23

Fusion 360 2D-Drawings & Part Exporting

Assignment 7: Preliminary PCB Design(Due 3/27)

Mar 30

Fusion 360 CAM & CNC Environment

Assignment 8: BOM (Due 4/3)

Apr 6

Material Selection, Additive Techniques

Assignment 9: Final PCB Design (Due 4/10)

Apr 13

Electrical and Mechanical Testing Criterion

Work on Final Presentation

Apr 20

ECE Tech Cores

Assignment 10: Submit Final Presentation

Apr 27

Team Project Presentation

Summary of Graded Work

Assignment

Description

%

Homework

These are weekly assignments designed to practice engineering concepts from class.

25

Required TIW Trainings

A select set of weekly provided training from Texas Inventionworks (TIW) that overlap with material from class

25

Team Peer Review

At the end of the semester, each team is required to submit feedback on the participation of each member on their team.

25

Final Presentation

Over the course of the semester, each team will work towards the creation of their own product. Their final deliverable will be in the form of a presentation. A grading rubric will be posted on canvas.

25

 

 

 

 

Course prerequisites: 

Ideally, students should be registered in EE302 and EE306 during the 2021 Fall semester and in EE312 and/or EE319K during the Spring semester. That said, we are very flexible on the prerequisites.

 

Instructor:

Mark McDermott
Office: EER 5.826, Phone: (512) 471-3253
Office hours: TBD

E-Mail:

Classroom: ECJ 1.214,  Wednesday  7:00 - 9:00 PM

References:

[1] Meant To Invent, Academy of Applied Science, 2002
[2] Teaching through Invention, http://www.educationworld.com 

Electronic Mail Notification Policy:

In this course e-mail will be used as a means of communication with students. You will be responsible for checking your e-mail regularly for class work and announcements. The complete text of the University electronic mail notification policy and instructions for updating your e-mail address are available at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html

Use of Canvas and Class Web Site

This course uses the class web page and Canvas to distribute course materials, to communicate and collaborate online, to submit assignments and to post solutions and grades. You will be responsible for checking the class web page and the Canvas course site regularly for class work and announcements. As with all computer systems, there are occasional scheduled downtimes as well as unanticipated disruptions. Notification of disruptions will be posted on the Canvas login page. Scheduled downtimes are not an excuse for late work. However, if there is an unscheduled downtime for a significant period of time, I will make an adjustment if it occurs close to the due date.

Students with disabilities

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 471-6259, http://ddce.utexas.edu/disability/.

Religious Holidays

Religious holy days sometimes conflict with class and examination schedules. If you miss an examination, work assignment, or other project due to the observance of a religious holy day you will be given an opportunity to complete the work missed within a reasonable time after the absence. It is the policy of The University of Texas at Austin that you must notify each of your instructors at least fourteen days prior to the classes scheduled on dates you will be absent to observe a religious holy day.

Academic dishonesty:


Oral discussion of homework problems is encouraged. However, be sure to submit your own individual and independent solution. Labs and final projects can be done in teams. Collaboration on projects is encouraged. Copying of any part of a homework/lab solution or project report without explicit reference to its source is plagiarism and considered cheating.

Classroom Evacuation and Emergency Preparedness

All occupants of university buildings are required to evacuate a building when a fire alarm and/ or an official announcement is made indicating a potentially dangerous situation within the building. Familiarize yourself with all exit doors of each classroom and building you may occupy. Remember that the nearest exit door may not be the one you used when entering the building. If you require assistance in evacuation, inform your instructor in writing during the first week of class. For evacuation in your classroom or building:

 Follow the instructions of faculty and teaching staff.    Exit in an orderly fashion and assemble outside.


Do not re-enter a building unless given instructions by emergency personnel.

Emergency evacuation route information and emergency procedures can be found at:

 http://www.utexas.edu/emergency     &     http://www.utexas.edu/safety/preparedness/

 

 

Last updated:  Friday, October 22, 2021 08:17 AM