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Students'
Recommendations, Suggestions, and Advice
Winter 2014
From students' individual
reflections:
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If I were to take this course again, I
would do a variety of things differently. For example, I would start the
prototyping step much sooner and make more prototypes. This would be helpful to
get more ideas out there and it would lead to a better final design. Another
thing I would change, would be to make sure that our entire group was involved
and be more assertive if they were not. If they were constantly failing to
complete their tasks, I would consider to kicking him of the team so that it
would not affect the rest of us. Besides that, I would also try and get more
feedback from a wider variety of people so we could get more ideas, some of
which we might not even have thought of. In conclusion, I would advise future
students of Engr 110/210 to start early and do not be daunted if a project
looks daunting. There are a lot of resources to get help: Dave Jaffe, the
course TA's, the PRL TA's, the project suggestors, other students in the course
and community members. There is never a shortage of them. I would advise to
actively seek help because you are going to need it. There are many ideas that
you will not be able to see that a fresh pair of eyes can. Most of all, I would
advice to pick a project that you really like even if it seems difficult
because you're going to be working on it for a whole quarter. In the end, you
will come out of the course feeling accomplished because you know that your
design could possibly help makes someone's life better and that is always a
great feeling.
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If I were to redo this class, I would
have allocated more time to learning SolidWorks and actually output more
designs.
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If I were to do this again or make
some modifications in the future, which I intend to, I would do some testing
with Cathriona [sister with a disability] and get input from my parents to see
if any parts need to be moved around or if the shape of the lap tray could be
designed better.
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While I felt our project was highly
successful, there were a couple of improvements our team could have made to
have the perfect project. First, my advice to all students would be iterate
early and often. Although our final project worked, we were under a lot less
stress because we set up a time every week to work on and progress our project.
It's amazing what a solid 2-3 hours of work per week can make when making a
project over the course of a quarter. Our final prototype still had minor
adjustments that could have been avoided with one or two more iterations in the
manufacturing process to complete the project. Finally, my last advice to any
team is to pick a project you are genuinely interested in, regardless of how
much work it may seem.
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If I were to do this project again, I
would pick a project that had a wider range of possible solutions and had
easier access to the user group. I would recommend that students next year take
both of these into consideration when choosing a project.
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If I could do it all over again, I
would start the design process early.
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Dear Future Students, START EARLY!! I
cannot stress that enough. It was difficult for my team to find wheelchair
users that were willing to work with us. Because of this it delayed our project
process. Also make sure to make a clear list of what each team member’s
task is. This will keep you focused and on track. Also, you can use the list to
make sure everyone else is completing their tasks and completing them on
time.
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If someone asked me for advice on
taking the class, I would tell them to prototype early and often, and to talk
to as many relevant people as possible.
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If I were to go back and do this
again, I would take the class my junior year. I'm graduating after this quarter
so I do not have the opportunity to continue working on my project next
quarter.
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If I was going through this process
again, there are a few things I would do differently. I would have begun
reaching out to potential users to interview a lot earlier. I didn't realize
how difficult it was to find a people to interview and get feedback from due to
scheduling conflicts. I would have also begun prototyping a lot
earlier.
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I guess my rant is my attempt to share
with future students my advice to not work on projects with friends. Work on it
with people who are interested in the same topic, and seem to have the same
intentions as you do.
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If I were to go through this process
again I would talk to more people sooner. Our design progressed rapidly from
the advice and perspectives of others and I wish I had utilized the knowledge
of others more. My advice to future students is to really explore the problem
you are trying to address. I realized that at first I was so focused on coming
up with a solution that I failed to recognize where the need actually was. My
product design improved significantly when revisited and better understood the
problem. It is also important to be willing to do a lot of trial and error in
your process. My partner and I had clear idea of the overall mechanism we
needed in order to make our swing stabilizing system functional, but we had to
consider various prototypes until we found an appropriate solution. Next, it is
important to be in constant communication you're your fellow team members; my
partner and I were able to cohesively work together because we were always on
the same page. Finally, I think what made our design so successful was finding
an effective yet simple solution for a product, especially if, like us, the
intention is to eventually mass-produce the product. Overall, I had a great
time in this class. I was able to learn about an interesting and innovative
field, while gaining hands on experience in the design process. It is one of
the few classes where I feel like the course has a direct impact outside the
classroom.
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If I were to go through the process
again, I would have interviewed more people in our specified target audience
and their caretakers earlier in the process. While we created a product that
Anna would find valuable should she ever come across it, it would have been
great to collect different perspectives of asthma management from different
people. It would have greatly informed our decisions and helped us create
something that could appeal to a larger audience. Additionally, I would have
utilized Dave and the rest of the teaching staff to a greater extent. There
were a few times during the quarter when my team fell into a creative slump. In
those situations, it would have been beneficial to reach out to a teaching
staff member who could have helped us through that slump. My advice to future
students is to be as engaged as possible. ENGR110 is a course where you will
take out exactly what you put in. If you dedicate time and energy, you will
most likely emerge with a prototype that you are proud of. Additionally, you
will gain so much out of the experience simply by interacting with community
members and those with disabilities. Perspectives in Assistive Technology
provides a safe and open space where people from different backgrounds can
learn from each other and grow in the process - it is certainly in one’s
best interest to put in time and energy in order to learn as much as
possible.
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The advice I would give students is to
think big, but to not be afraid if the solution ends up being small. One thing
I do wish is that I used the class as an opportunity to dive into a field I did
not know as much about.
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I think I would try to do more
interviews at the beginning of the quarter. I would also work on more
prototypes early on. I think time is always a valuable thing at Stanford and I
would try to make better use of it if I could do this quarter over
again
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I think the main advice that I would
give to next year's students is to pick something you'll enjoy even if it
doesn't sound as cool. Because my project was very simple but I enjoyed working
on it. Although most people want to pick the project that will sound the most
impressive, I would suggest that they just go with something that they would
have fun working on.
Previous years'
suggestions
- 2013 2012
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