Welcome
Welcome to EG1311! One of NUS CDE's common courses!
Introduction
Course name: EG1311 Design and Make
Target audience: NUS Year 1 Engineering students
Purpose of the course: Students will learn design principles and tools through lectures and engage in experiential learning through group design projects.
I took this course in AY24/25 Sem 1 for my degree requirement.
Course Content
Overview of Topics Covered
Depth and Balance of Coverage
Theoretical Understanding:
This course doesn’t focus heavily on theoretical concepts. The Arduino material will be relatively easy for computing students, while the CAD Basics might be a bit more challenging. However, with effort, it’s definitely manageable and quite interesting. Since it’s a group project, it’s not essential for every member to master every skill, as long as at least one person in the group can grasp the necessary concepts.
Application and Real-World Examples:
The core of this course lies in applying what you've learned to real-world scenarios. During the first five weeks, you’ll cover some theoretical topics, but the main goal is to work in groups to implement your knowledge. In this process, the most important takeaway, in my opinion, is learning to make out your design and optimize it using limited resources within a tight timeframe. This is very similar to the FIRST Robotics Competition I participated in during high school and is a crucial skill in real-world engineering projects.
Teaching Style and Materials
Lecture: The lectures are recorded and taught by Prof. Jason. I find his teaching style to be very clear and easy to understand, making complex topics more approachable.
Tutorial: My tutorial is also taught by Prof. Jason. In my opinion, for this course, the tutorial tutor doesn’t have as much of an impact (at least that’s how I feel so far 😂).
Quiz: The quiz is the main differentiator in this course, but it’s open-book (You know 😹). The last question of the CAD quiz, in particular, is quite tricky. It requires some spatial reasoning and techniques that weren’t explicitly covered in the lectures. (However, I’ve included an important technique in this note Week 5 (CAD Advanced) that might help.)
Course Book
Reference Book: There is no textbook for this course. Even the Prof Jason didn't provide one 😂. But for the physics knowledge, like the working principle of the electric motors, if you want to gain a deeper understanding, a reference book is still needed. (However, the quiz problems regarding the physics are quite straightforward). The reference book I use is: Physics for Scientists & Engineers by Douglas C. Giancoli.
Learning Experience
I feel incredibly fortunate to have had such amazing teammates and a wonderful professor in this course! I’ll always remember the excitement during the test when our robot successfully completed all the tasks, and the fun we had trying to cut weight to reach the lighter point (even though we didn’t make it, I genuinely enjoyed the process of striving for perfection!). Thank you all for making this course so enjoyable and rewarding for me!
Conclusion
Enjoy your time working with your teammates! Jiayous!
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