Dear Students,
Welcome to LSECN100, Research and Report Writing. In this class you will become a class author for a chapter in a RKM Book on Technology and its role/history in society.
As a class we will decide on an overarching theme. We will conduct our studies under the TfU framework that you will all become familiar with shortly. As a class, and due to your choice as entering the field of Engineering, we will have a main Generative Theme set as Technology. The overarching goals are twofold.
First, the main goal is to help us all develop our general knowledge and problem solving skills, through research, to become better informed as Engineers. You will spend 15+ weeks researching a topic that interests you. You will need to collect articles, file these in a processfolio, and develop a chapter to a book demonstrating an increase in knowledge. You will be required to present these findings to the class on a regular basis informally and formally.
Second, and equally important, is to the goal of developing your research skills. This is interconnected to goal one (above). You will need to learn how to read better, write better, reference sources regularly, and write a chapter to a book in an acceptable way.
It is great to have you in this class, it is a class I enjoy teaching, and I will enjoy learning with you. You will truly become a class specialist on a topic, and a generalist on many other topics.
For your first posting please reflect on the introduction lessons using the TfU guideline that has been provided. What are some Generative Topics that fall under the overarching topic of Technology? How can we approach this? What elements might we include? What topics interest you now? How will a processfolio help you see where you have been and where you need to go? What are the benefits in becoming a class specialist, and a generalist?
