Week 10 Blog

This course was very interesting for a structural engineer such as myself. I feel that intelligent building design will be very important going forward, and will have a major impact on the careers of everyone in the class.

The various topics that Professor Mitchell presented in class, such as sensors, databases, networks, robots, BIM, etc. were all very intriguing. At first glance, many of these topics would seem to be only tangentially related to building design. However, Professor Mitchell was able to link all of these to Intelligent Building design in a logical way, and teach me many things that I previously had not even thought about. Overall, I think that this class helped to make students more well-rounded and challenge them with topics and ideas that they are not exposed to on a daily basis. This will make all of the students better engineers because they can better interact with people in other fields.

I thought that one of the most valuable parts of the class were the guest lecturers that were brought in to present. These people were able to bring a valuable perspective as those working in industries that all of us will be a part of soon. It was very interesting to hear about what these individuals thought was important, and to see what topics they did not cover or feel did not need as much attention. This will help me to focus my studies in the future, and will help me to learn the things that are important while not stressing about topics that aren't actually used in industry.

The two major assignments were also very helpful learning exercises. The Revit assignment helped me to discover aspects of Revit that I had not used before, which is valuable because Revit is such a prevalent program in industry. I was already fairly familiar with Revit, but that assignment was helpful in expanding my knowledge. In contrast, I knew nothing about Microsoft Access prior to the assignment in this class. The assignment was helpful because it forced me to learn a new program and how to use databases. While these may not be focal points of my engineering future, it is valuable to have added these skills to my experience.

Overall, this class was helpful in exposing students to new fields and ideas. It made students more aware of what the future of engineering may hold, and helped to prepare them for careers in the field. It was a valuable experience, and I feel more prepared as a future engineer because of it.

Comments:

Mike's blog: Your opinions are bad and you should feel bad. ;(

Audrey's blog: Very insightful. You inspire me to become a better engineer day after day. ;)