I’ve viewed a bunch of online classes from MIT, Stanford and Cambridge for work, mostly courses about information theory and abstract algebra (for data coding). Keeping up with the methods to learn remotely is important to me. Just because I’m retired doesn’t mean that I don’t need to continue studying.
Using safety goggles is probaby a good idea; since having my eyesight changed from nearsightedness to farsightedness last year, I have had to constantly remind myself to wear safety glasses in the shop and lab.
I’m not so sure about cut resistent gloves; IMO, most injuries caused by edged tools occur on places on the body other than the hands and are largely due to people cutting towards themselves. Of course, holding one’s hand in front of a knife or chisel will result in a nasty cut if one slips; it’s all about knowing how to use the tools, which I suppose most university students might not know. But cut-resistant gloves only solve a small part of that problem.
I can’t imagine graduating from an electrical engineering curriculum without knowing how to solder and, in fact, having had to build some things that require soldering (“ugly” construction, anyone?).
DaveD
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Oct 26, 2021, at 10:09, Jim Lux <jim@...> wrote:
?On 10/26/21 6:40 AM, Dave Daniel wrote:
That’s actually very useful. It is difficult at times (at least for me) to keep up with the latest methods for learning new things, particularly complex subjects such as advances in microwave engineering. Thank you.
DaveD
It is interesting.. the classes have always had the students using a VNA in the lab. But here they had a problem - how do you have remote learning and have a VNA - so they bought dozens of NanoVNAs, created some training videos and had live help from TAs. The latter was important (and would be normally part of the class in an in person lab).
What I found interesting (in a sort of "get offa my lawn" sense) is that they don't have any soldering (probably for safety reasons), and while they supply an Xacto knife to cut the copper foil and trim stuff, they also supply safety goggles and cut resistant gloves.
On Oct 26, 2021, at 09:24, Jim Lux <jim@...> wrote:
?Here's an interesting article about how University of Alberta used NanoVNA-H4 VNAs in a RF engineering course in the context of COVID remote learning. They sent a package to each student containing breadboarding materials and the NanoVNA. The students built their own circuits using 3mm wide copper foil tape, etc. as well as using prebuilt boards.
A. K. Iyer, B. P. Smyth, M. Semple and C. Barker, "Going Remote: Teaching Microwave Engineering in the Age of the Global Pandemic and Beyond," in IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 64-77, Nov. 2021, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2021.3102649.
Abstract: The widespread offering of online engineering classes has not been without its share of controversy [1]–[7]. There are those who question the pedagogic quality of courses made freely available through video-sharing platforms like YouTube, which feature largely crowdsourced and crowd-vetted content, despite such technologies figuring prominently in the evolving skill sets and preferences of engineering students. The same group typically considers the more traditional in-person format to be a critical element in learning engineering fundamentals, serving the secondary purpose of fostering much-needed discipline, patience, imagination, and visualization. Most established engineering institutions have recognized the value of both approaches (consider these popular examples: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [8] and NPTel [9]) and supplemented a majority of their in-person classes with a smattering of online offerings, though reservations may persist [10]–[12].
URL:
