Reflections

Reflections:

When I first came to Southern Utah University, I knew I would eventually have to do a multi-semester project. I decided to do a project that would help me to sharpen my skills needed for my future career. As a civil engineer my job will be to work with different materials to design different types of structures. At SUU I learned in my school work to work with steel and concrete, so I decided that I would use my project in order to learn how to design with wood.

This project challenged me in many ways. In the beginning of the project I had to set up all the management documents. These included a schedule, budget, objective and the requirements and constraints. Having to make these documents allowed me to see what it would be like to be in charge of a project in the job field. It is a lot of work to keep these documents up to date and correct. After setting these documents up I read the entire textbook on wood design to familiarize myself with how to work with such a material. I then used my new found knowledge to do all the calculations needed to design the house. The last step was then to use Revit to make a computer rendering of the house.

The goal I set for myself at the beginning of this project was to complete the plans necessary to construct a small energy efficient house for use on Dust Devil Ranch. Over the course of the last year I have been able to reach this goal. The client was very happy to receive the plans and hopes to implement them in the near future.

This project was started in order to deliver the outcome of a finished set of plans, and pictures of me working to prove I was the one doing the work. I was able to hand a finished set of plans over to the client this last spring. It was a great feeling to know that I had done all this hard work and could now hand it over to the person I did it for with pride. If interested these plans can be found on my portfolio.

Throughout the project I feel that I learned a lot about how to design a house and about engineering. To complete the house, I had to teach myself how to work with wood. This is usually taught as an entire semester long class. I taught myself using the textbook, and with the help of one of my professors at Southern Utah University. Being able to learn how to build with wood will help me in my future career. I can now work with wood, steel, and concrete. I also believe having to teach myself an entire class will help me to learn on the job once I am employed full time.

I think the reason SUU put the EDGE program in place was to ensure that students at least try to learn in an experiential way during their time at college. I think most students already do projects like this without the help of the EDGE program, but it could possibly help those who might not.

To me the metaphor EDGE means the edge of learning. We learn so many different things in the classroom at college. The EDGE program is a way to go right to the edge of learning and learn how to put our knowledge into practice. It can be very hard sometimes to see how the things we learn in the classroom will apply to the job world. With this program we can see how that knowledge applies.