ENGG 2100 Course Overview and Schedule

ENGG 2100 Course Information

• Course offered at the University of Guelph
• Course components: Engineering & Design, Oral Communication

Schedule "A" (Even Tutorial Section)

• Course schedule with weeks, topics, deliverables and deadlines for various assignments and activities
• Includes oral communication components like presentations, coaching and feedback
• Key assignment types include: design project intro, design project deliverables, presentations, concept sketches, 2D drawings, assemblies, animations, final reports/projects, and tests
• Office hours available for support

Design & Engineering

• Key difference between design and engineering is the use of engineering science in the design process.

• Examples of engineering science include; thermodynamics, mechanics, fluids, circuits, dynamics, heat transfer and control theory

• Engineering design often requires safeguarding health.

• Characteristics of designers include imagination/insight, ability to visualize, organization, drive/motivation and knowledge.

• Characteristics of engineering designers include all the above, plus knowledge of engineering sciences and tools (project management and communication skills)

• Is every engineer a designer?

L02 Summary (Key Takeaways)

• Brief history of Canadian engineering organizations.
• Reasons behind the existence of professional engineering organizations.
• Definitions of engineering and differences between design and engineering design.
• Characteristics of a designer and an engineering designer.

Communication in Engineering

• Importance of effective communication skills for engineers, through presentations for professional life
• Delivering clear ideas through effective presentations is important.
• Seminars (in the course) will provide a low-stress environment to practice oral presentation skills

What makes a good presentation (and other points)

• Examples of tools (like YouTube) for preparing presentations and information sources (slido, etc)
• Presentation tips like "hooks" and visual aids are emphasized
• Details about using visual aids (using visuals to make a point/reinforce the text and examples of appropriate visual aids)
• How to use voice: tone, clarity, prosody and other aspects of delivery (e.g. register, timbre, prosody

Tips for presentations

• Strong, clear and easy-to-listen-to voice with enthusiasm.
• Well-organized plan that was successfully executed
• Audience learning something new
• Thoughtful and well-organized slides
• Eye contact was important

Characteristics of Poor Presentations

• Budgetary and time constraints
• Poor speaking qualities (e.g. quiet, mumbled, or monotone voice)
• Absence of structure/poorly planned presenters
• Inappropriate use of body language (poor eye contact)
• Lack of effort

Slide Design

• Content layout affects understanding due to overwhelming and distracting aspects
• Extraneous information detracts from main message.
• Tips include using effective images and grouping similar info to improve slide readability.

Cognitive Load Theory

• Information processing is limited by working memory, with unlimited long-term memory
• Cognitive overload impacts the learning process, impacting the learning process

Working Memory

• Working memory has a short half-life (information is quickly forgotten)
• Its limited capacity (7 +/- 2 items)
• Overloading the working memory stops transfer of information into long-term memory.

Expert-Novice Divide

• Experts can recall information in chunk form
• Example provided for this expert-novice divide was learning a dance routine or chess placements.
• Slides can be simple for experts, but overwhelming for novices.
• Focus on offering simple information to improve for learning by novices.

Conclusion

• Other studies emphasise that dense anode-supported cells commonly break down during redox cycles.
• This demonstrates multiple factors affecting anode instability.
• It emphasizes the effects of operating temperature, the number of redox cycles experienced, and the duration of exposure to redox conditions on anode instability.

Pop quiz

• Inquiry regarding factors influencing anode instability.

Dual Channel Theory

• Principles relating to verbal and visual channels
• Working memory storage capacity for speech and images is limited
• Explains how one channel overload leads to cognitive overload.

Dual Channel Theory - Slide Design

• Use visuals to reinforce text (e.g. images).
• Avoid text-heavy slides when reading text aloud.
• Simplify visuals and text where possible.
• Allow adequate time for reading slides
• Highlight important points through design.

Other aspects of Slide Design

• How to consider previous (and current) knowledge as a learning tool
• How to use concepts of both top-down and bottom-up attention, and avoid distractions

Gestalt Principles

• People automatically group similar visual objects
• Grouping by colour, proximity, motion, size and continuity is important in design.
• Apply grouping concepts in slide design to group related information.

Slide Design Summary

• The importance of avoiding exceeding working memory (visual and auditory channels)
• Keeping presentations simple and focused
• Effective use of images, and grouping similar information
• Minimize distractions and clutter.

References

• Reference sources for information and various aspects of the course

Explore the structure of the ENGG 2100 course at the University of Guelph, focusing on the relationship between engineering and design. This quiz covers key components such as oral communication, design project assignments, and the importance of engineering science in the design process.