A7 - Grader's Comments

Congratulations on completing this course! As you can begin to understand, what you get out of this course really depends on how much work you want to put into it. The grading as we go into AE391 becomes less and less particular on deliverables and leaves more interpretation to you on what deliverables will be necessary to provide sufficient information for the assignment.

A number of the teams did not comment on why all of the systems were chosen and only analyzed the system. Knowing why the system was chosen is just as important as analyzing the system as these items are related. The reasons for choosing a certain system are partly determined by the analysis of potential systems during the design process.

Congratulations again and good luck next term!

A6–Grader’s Comments

Grader To Students

When producing an analysis of systems, be sure to address the reasons why the systems you consider are appropriate particularly to your building type and location, in other words, your project specifications.

Be sure to plan ahead for Assignment 7, you are all well prepared to complete the assignment as long as you schedule enough time to complete it. Keep up the good work!

 

Grader to Professor – With JEM Comments

1. I wonder if CAV and VAV will always be the correct system to choose. Many teams gravitate towards that system.

JEM – As we discussed in class, VAV is by far the most popular because of their efficency and the number of variables they control, though that may change in the future as Dedicated Outdoor Air (DOA) systems increase in popularity.

2. For the criteria matrix, the logic of the system is described but there isn’t a requirement to reflect on the results of the criteria matrix analysis. I wonder if students think that they’re results are plausible. Discussion of results of criteria matrix could help.

JEM – I do hope that you go beyond our brief class discussion and consider the role of computer tools in the design process, both currently and in future.

3. I noticed that many students explained appropriateness based on ability to control air quality conditions, however, the rubric asks to describe the appropriateness of the system based on the specific building type. For this reason, I was looking for specific discussion on how each system would be appropriate for the building type.

JEM – Clearly there connections between the two, but reading carefully is always a good idea.

4. Not many groups addressed “Flow rate” as a parameter

JEM – This parameter is often neglected in practice, not infrequently to detriment of comfort.

5. Many students forgot to address the “excellent” criteria for the energy analysis.

JEM – too bad.

A5 - Grader's Comments

As we have progressed through this course, the assignments have become more open ended in regards to the deliverables. A good way to approach these assignments, I've found, is to practice them as if they were engineering communications you would make to somebody that is unfamiliar to the discipline. How would you present this information so that it is clear to understand? What information do you think is the most relevant and important to show? 
In regards to group work, remember that your teams rely on you to be timely and prompt with your response so that the project can move forward. Communication is very important in engineering whether it be technical writing or correspondence. Please remember that these final two assignments are weighted more than the past assignments, especially the last one. Be sure to give yourself and your team ample time to complete A7. Good luck everyone!

Also, many students are not evaluating theirs and their teammates’ work. For this reason, many of you have been getting points taken off of your evaluations. Please evaluate your work and your teams’ work. This helps me make sure that everyone in the team pulled their weight in the assignment.

Senior Design Presentations

In week-8 we ask you to attend two (2) senior design presentations. 

Here is the schedule for CAEE Presentations

Here is the schedule (not as updated) for the entire college

All CAEE presentations are in our conference room (AEL-275) which is on the second floor in the middle of the North-South corridor in AEL, the easternmost building of the Main building complex.

Note: Our conference room is NOT large.  The later in the week you go the more likely you are to find it full.  GO EARLY!

A4 - Grader Comments

As mentioned, we have now reached the midpoint of this course. It is evident that you all have an understanding of how these course assignments are delivered. As we progress further into this course, the requirements for the assignments will be more open ended. I want to stress that it is at this point that being able to effectively communicate your work is paramount. Being able to clearly and concisely express the evaluation by using tables, graphs, bullet points, headers, etc. will ensure that the evaluation makes sound sense. Also, be sure to include numbers in your evaluations as this is an engineering course and the decisions we make are based on concrete numbers. Keep up the good work.

Also, do remember to complete the team evaluations. They are relatively quick and simple to do but are very important. Be sure to provide an evaluation of yours and your team's performance. Many students have only been providing what was accomplished and not their opinion of the quality of the work.

eQuest Tutorial/Manual

Ellen Peng created a manual for those using eQuest in AE-390.  It simulates energy use in buildings of many types and sizes and is remarkably easy to use.   While the particular version on which she based her tutorial may have changed the basics should be the same.
This resource is also linked from the AE-390 resources folder.

A3 - Grader Comments

Hi everyone, everyone in my section did well receiving a B or higher. It is clear that you are all beginning to understand the delivery process of this course and engineering communication as a whole.

The information provided regarding structural systems was well done and very relevant to the goals of this class. Do not forget to argue the negative though to be complete in your discussions. Why is a system appropriate and why is a system also inappropriate? Both factors are important to consider when making engineering decisions.

Anyway, good job again everyone!

A5 - Number of Systems to Consider

This post confirms what we said in class.  Each group is to consider only one system per team member - 3 systems for 3-person groups, 2 systems for 2-person groups.  The grading criteria will be adjusted accordingly.

A2–Grader’s Comments

Hi all, congratulations on another good assignment. The class as a whole performed very well. I was impressed with the depth of analysis many of the groups performed.

A few things to note,

• when providing calculations, keep in mind the goal of this is to be able to present them in such a way that your audience can easily interpret and understand your assumptions, process, and results. Many of the groups did this well, keep doing what you're doing.
• When organizing drawings, however, some groups did not clearly title what was being shown. For example, calling a drawing "North Section" or "Ground Floor Plan" as oppose to "Section" or "Floor Plan" tells a lot more about what is being shown.
• Significant Digits -  a noticeable number of groups neglected to keep their significant figures, providing load calculations and dollar amounts to the nearest cent.
• As usual, some groups did not include all of the requirements (ie. Drawings or certain calculated results). This is probably due to the fact that they were not careful in reading the instructions.

These are all just little things that will make your work better though, as I said before, the work as a whole is excellent. Keep up the good work everyone! 

 

JEM Note on Teamwork

There were two teamwork issues raised, not to the level of needing grade adjustment, but we will be watching to ensure that they don’t happen again.  Both appeared to arise from not understanding the project expectations fully.  I urge each group to discuss those expectations at the beginning of each project, including reviewing the assignment requirements carefully.

A1a (Revit)–Grader Comment

Once again, everyone did really well for the most part. It is critical however, to read all of the instructions carefully, the rubric AND the directions. The instructions ask for very certain specifics of how to present your work. In my experience, when sending plans out it was necessary to ensure that the plans were scaled correctly and printed to PDF on the correct size paper, typically 30" x 42". We would never send a Revit model and expect the receiver to decipher through them because this could create unnecessary ambiguities. The great thing about this class is that it prepares us for real world aspects of engineering jobs besides analyzing a truss or calculating HVAC loads. It also teaches us how to deliver our work.

 

JEM Note – We apologize for the delay on the grading.  Adrian, as you know, was competing in the national AEI competition in Omaha.  Final preparation and the actual competition took their toll.  He’s catching up.

A1–Grader’s General Comments for the students:

Overall the submissions were well organized and contained well thought out responses. A critique I have to offer would be to make use of the organizational tools google sites have to offer. This could be as simple as making a heading underlined with a larger font size to laying out information in a table. A significant number of students did not proofread their work. Keep in mind that this is a good practice to keep as misspelling something in the professional world will seriously discredit what you have to say. Also, be sure to read the directions carefully, delivering all necessary criteria of the assignment. Again, overall the submissions were done very well. You all seem to have picked up how to use Google Sites easily.

 

JEM Note:

A number of you suggested that I email students before the start of the term to give you time for the assignment.  I’ve done that in past and had no comments about the benefits, but I’ll definitely keep it in mind for the next time I teach AE-390.

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