UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING CO-OP PROGRAM 1/3/2012 1 ME/EE/CE 4043W Syllabus Spring 2012 Course: ME/EE/CE 4043W Prerequisite ME/EE/CE 3041 4 credits Engineering Co-op Program On-Line Course for Students Working at Participating Companies Co-op Website: http://www.me.umn.edu/education/coop/index.shtml WebVista: https://www2.webvista.umn.edu/webct/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct Administrative Office: Department of Mechanical Engineering ME1120, 111 Church St SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 Staff On-Campus: Virgil A. Marple, Director Room ME 3104, 612-625-3441 [email protected] Libby Pike, Administrative Assistant Room ME1120, 615-625-5326 [email protected] Staff Off-Campus: Barbara Evan, Program Consultant [email protected] Rosemary Davis, Co-op Instructor [email protected] Jill Rivard, Co-op Instructor [email protected] Jenny Pavlovic, Co-op Instructor [email protected] Overview and Goals The Co-op Program provides engineering experience during the last two years of your academic career. During this period you will complete at least two (often three) semesters of full-time work alternating with regular academic semesters. One goal of the Co-op Program is to give you on-the-job, real world engineering experience, along with an opportunity to apply your knowledge of fundamental theory to practical problem solving. A second and equally important goal, to improve your writing, is approached by having you expand your reading skills and practice writing. It should be noted that Co-op grades are based on writing; work performance cannot be considered in assigning a grade. Course Description You will write a summary and critique of technical journal article (the journal needs to be chosen from an approved list).UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING CO-OP PROGRAM 1/3/2012 2 The 4043W Design Report is the focal assignment for the course. You will clearly and logically describe an engineering design problem and its solution in a formal preliminary report followed by a paper that is 18 to 22 pages long. The grade for the course is based on the written assignments along with participation in an on-campus workshop and your professionalism. Assignment Overview Assignment Description Grade Points Professionalism Assessment Take a short quiz on how the quality of your communication with the Co-op staff will be evaluated. 5 Journal Article Summary Write a concise, thorough 2-page summary of an article from a professional technical journal; then write a brief critique of the article. 10 SafeAssign: JAS Submit your JAS to SafeAssign, a plagiarism detection service. 0 Workshop Attend a mandatory on-campus workshop about the Design Report. 7 Design Proposal Submit a 1-page proposal describing your paper’s problem and constraints. 0 Design Preliminary Report Write 17-page preliminary draft of your Design Report. 30 SafeAssign: Preliminary Report Submit your preliminary report to SafeAssign, a plagiarism detection service. 0 Snapshot Submit an outline of your report. 0 Final Report Deliver an 18- to 22-page hard copy Final Report to the Co-op office. 45 Improvement Plan Include 1-page plan on how to improve your writing based on the Co-op instructor’s comments on your draft. 3 All of the above assignments need to be turned in before a final grade can be given. Writing Assignment Descriptions As noted above, there are two main assignments for the 4043W course: the Journal Article Summary (JAS) and the 4043W Design Report. The following is an expanded description, but for full details you will need to read the course instructions on WebVista. The JAS assignment has you select, summarize, and critique a professionally-written technical article. This assignment introduces you to the world of published engineering research and asks you to evaluate a small portion of it. You choose an article from an approved list, read it, summarize it in two pages, and then thoughtfully evaluate the way it was written.UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING CO-OP PROGRAM 1/3/2012 3 The main assignment for the course is an 18- to 20- page report that solves an engineering design problem. To make sure you are on the right track you will first write a one-page Design Proposal that is approved before you begin the preliminary report. Usually the topic is based on something you are learning at work, but exceptions can be made. In the report you will discuss the limitations of the current design, present several different ways to solve those problems, show how each of the designs presented meets or does not meet the constraints you have listed, and then select the best design solution. A preliminary report is required for the Design Report; this preliminary report is rigorously reviewed by the Co-op instructor and then re-written as a final report. The final report is to be turned in (or mailed) to the Co-op office as a hard copy. If you have to turn it in after-hours bring it to the ME Mail Room 1101, across the hall from the main office, and put it in the mail slot labeled "Co-op Program." Sample final reports are available for review at Co-op office from 8:00 to 4:30. These may not be removed from the office. However, arrangements can be made to look at them after hours. Late Assignments See the assignment grading forms (located on WebVista) for the late penalties for each assignment. All assignments need to be turned in to receive a grade for the course; otherwise, an Incomplete will be issued. An Incomplete becomes an F after a year. If your assignment is going to be late, you need to contact your Co-op instructor or you will lose professionalism points. Text A writing manual by Diana Hacker. There are numerous manuals and they are updated yearly. Use a recent version that you find the most helpful. Some examples are: A Pocket Style Manual Rules for Writers A Writer's Reference with Resources for Multilingual Writers and ESL Grading Scale A 93-100 B+ 87-89 C+ 77-79 D+ 67-69 F Below 60 A- 90-92 B 83-86 C 73-76 D 63-66 B- 80-82 C- 70-72 D- 62-60UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING CO-OP PROGRAM 1/3/2012 4 Required Work-related Co-op Forms These forms and their instructions can be found on WebVista (and the Co-op website) and are to be submitted to the administrative