Course Reflection

This term's course was really a great exploratory course in which our own work served as a great source of the knowledge gained. I loved how it was more of a course that was generally shown and we were allowed to go off and do our own thing, we were able choose our own methods to achieve the goals set forth in this course. Being able to choose our own methods was a great aid to our own learning and encouraging us to be a life and self learner after we leave Drexel and move into our careers.

The exploration into Revit was a great help, knowing that nearly all building engineers are moving into this realm of design. We were able to achieve a more detailed and deep understanding of Revit and the things that can be done within the program. With this sort of program there is always so many functions and tools within the program that it seems impossible to learn them all before the newest version comes out. This course helped to see the inner workings of the newest version and different elements that are held within all the different versions.

I was really happy that I was able to take this course. Being able to see what the future holds for us and I believe that it helped prepare me to expect what is to come and what I will be facing and expected to understand as I progress in my career.

Class Reflection

Prior to taking this course, I thought its content would have been more focused on the design of intelligent buildings, or the intelligent design of buildings. However, after the first class I realized it was much more than that. The class, to me, was very conceptual. While I can't say that I walked away from this class with a full understanding BIM, robotics, or databases, I can say that I have a very broad understanding of these topics. With that understanding came my ability to come up with ideas and understand how building design could be done more efficiently, and intelligently. All of the aspects of the course can be tied back to idea of designing a better building.

One misconception I discovered I had during this class was that intelligent and green buildings can go hand-in-hand, but aren't one in the same.  Professor Mitchell mentioned that Bill Gates's house is extremely intelligent, having televisions that follow people on the adjacent walls throughout the house. However, that does not make his house very "green".

Course Reflection

     When I first signed up for this “Intelligent Buildings” course, I was very intrigued by the name and how it would relate to the class. Throughout the term, we covered four major topics in class: BIM, sensors, databases, and robotics. I feel that Intelligent Buildings are a field I am much more aware of, thanks to the four major topics that we studied. For instance, I learned that BIM is important to intelligent buildings, because of the relationship it creates with the building and the designer. Like Natasha, one of my favorite guest lecturers was Eric of KlingStubbins, because his BIM presentation was really captivating from the beginning. Some of the features that his company are developing, I feel will be integral to the future of on-site design. He introduced a program similar to the Google glasses, which allows one to see different information about buildings. This also linked together the other topics relevant to an intelligent building. BIM is starting to rely more and more on databases that are stored wirelessly via a cloud, which shows the connection between the two.

                Aside from the general connections between certain topics, I like the way the course was ran. Dividing into different groups, like many others stated, was very helpful. Being able to hear someone else’s opinions only benefits us, because we are listening to something new, or  hearing it a different way that makes a topic easier to understand. Like Ben-David mentioned though, although the class was interesting, it would have been better if it was divided into two different sections. I felt that some of the topics would have still been discussed with as much detail, just divided up differently. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and learned a lot about the future of design, BIM.

Week 10: Course Reflection

This has honestly been one of the first classes in a while that I enjoyed while attending Drexel University. During the application process to colleges, a sense of creativity and ingenuity is valued in perspective engineering students and is commended during their high school years. However, for a large amount of engineering students’ college career we learn more about standards, codes, regulations, and previously rectified design methods. I feel as though the inspiration of our creative senses and imagination has been bound for so long being told “this is how it should be done.” It was refreshing to finally come across a course that asks its students to take perspective of the advancing world around us and then ask us “how would you do it?” This course reawakened my sense of creativity and has made me more aware of the advances in technology and useful tools that will help me along my career as a professional after Drexel. Also, I learned the value in being a life-long-learning engineer; once you become set in your ways and refuse to adapt to the ever-changing world around you, you slowly become obsolete and invaluable. Having an introduction to Revit and Microsoft Access was very beneficial and I see myself exploring further into these tools to become a more efficient and valuable engineer. I enjoyed learning how far BIM has come and look forward to seeing how far engineers, architects, and contractors will expand its use to further optimize the building process.

AE 510 - Course Reflection

Week 10

3/12/13

David Bregande

                Overall, I found this course to be very interesting and thought provoking in its range of topics and activities.  Each class presented a different subject as well as a different way to approach learning about it.  Between Professor Mitchell’s knowledge and that of the guest speakers, I obtained more information about engineering in the real world than in any class prior.  It was very beneficial to see how the little things we are learning about all come together in so many different fashions in the real world.  Someone I know asked about the lecture on databases and if it was interesting or not; I found it very satisfying to respond that to about 90% of the world population it would have been boring nonsense, however, I found it extremely interesting and beneficial to learn about.  It is amazing how many companies are dependent upon something that most people take for granted.  Each, more or less, seemed to invoke that same curiosity and respect for something I had previously been ignorant of.

                As asserted above, I found the most beneficial classes to be the ones with guest lectures or where Proffessor Mitchell was just speaking on his own accord.  Although group exercises are good practice, in this environment they are generally ineffective and time consuming.  I obtained the most knowledge and enjoyed my time spent the most when listening to the lecturers. The BIM and Database assignments were also very concise and beneficial.

                I felt that the blog process was very beneficial and an interesting way to communicate with the class without feeling the need to physically get everyone together and share.  Not only did I spend time each week on writing my own blog, but was also engaged in other peoples thoughts by being asked to include some reflection on them.  I wish that the grade weighted more heavily on these posts as they were a weekly requirement and continually kept the class engaged.  I felt the post themselves were actually more beneficial than the term assignment because so much more time was spent focused on them.  The term paper was sort of left hanging in the background and then at the end played a very important, and unfortunately confusing, part in the grading process.  This sentiment, along with a general feeling of difficulty with the assignment schedule, was expressed by many other people including Rita Pauliushchyk.  Either way, a very enjoyable course that was well worth the hours spent on campus late at night.  I agree with David Morrison, if the title of this course and the content presented within it does not excite an Architecural Engineer major, than the major is probably not for you.

AE-510 Reflection

The Intelligent Building course was a great tool to learn more about current ways, as well as a look into the future ways, that technology is used within the design and construction of buildings. When I signed up for the class I expected a heavy dose of building networks and sensor information which I knew could help me in my career. We did get that for a few weeks. The added lectures on robotics and BIM offered a great deal of information through the guest speaker and Prof. Mitchell’s knowledge on the topics. Exploring the database functions also offered a great deal as many students are not familiar with Access and other database software, which can be put to great use in areas other than buildings.

I would have to say my favorite part of the class was hearing everyone’s thoughts on the various topics during class. I also enjoyed getting experience with building Revit families as well as increasing my knowledge on database creation, even though I could not figure out how to get my reports and forms to work together like I wanted.

I agree with many other students in their posts that this class just scratches the surface of each topic and whole classes can be used to explore each topic further. I also think some people mentioned the workload being heavy but I think the assignments were manageable and easy to complete within an hour or two.

Having taken AE390 and AE391 under Prof. Mitchell and now this course I see that he really appreciates every student and loves teaching what he knows.

Class Reflection

I want not sure what exactly to expect when I signed up for this class. I only knew BIM so far as that Revit was a part of it somehow. Even after the first day when Prof. Mitchell told us what to expect in the class, it still turned out different then what i thought. This class turned out to be one of the most interesting classes as the variety of things it covered was surprisingly vast.

The class started as one might expect, talking about buildings and what goes into making them. However the class quickly went into a more 'what if' mind set instead of talking about what is currently the standard. This aspect of the class made it much more interesting than any other class I have taken so far. Looking at what the future could hold for out profession was fascinating.

While I'm sure a couple people got a little bored by the database information, I personally really enjoyed that portion as I am always striving to increase my computer/programming knowledge. This is the portion of the class I was also least expecting, why would AE/CIVE/ENVEs be doing database stuff? However it was quickly shown through the speakers and by in class discussion how the tools we really on the most, AutoCAD and basically any computer drawing program, are all just advanced databases.

The professional speakers brought in through out the course also helped provide some real world context to what we were talking about in class. This was especially helpful in some of the topics that were unfamiliar such as the use of augmented reality programs and how involved databases are.

The new things I learned in this class were Revit families and basic database information. The Revit families will be a very useful skill through out my career so getting a start on it now was very useful. While the database exercise was interesting, I am not sure how useful it will be to be in the future.

Like many of the other students have been saying, 10 weeks is not quite enough time to cover all the information this class could present. However I believe professor Mitchell is taking this into consideration and making a whole AE concentration based on digital buildings which, from my understanding, would have whole courses based to Revit and databases, things we covered in a couple weeks in this course.

I actually completely disagree with David Morrison when he talks about the assignments piling up. Other than the project which we had more than ample warning would sneak up on us, I did not think that the workload was that bad, I actually find AE 391 to be a busier course; a blog post every week is certainly easier than a whole website every week Then again, maybe, thanks to Drexel, I have become desensitized to a heavy work load.

AE510 Overview

Looking back I can definitely say I found this class to be one of the most interesting classes I have taken here at Drexel University. Not only did this course open multiple discussions on intelligent building topics which are not explored in undergraduate architectural engineering classes but also provide an enjoyable experience while gaining new knowledge. Taking this class has provided me with few reality checks and also provided a platform to acquire new skill sets with will be beneficial in my line of work but also help improve my resume as David Morrison mentioned.     

Taking about reality checks, for the past four years I have been attending Drexel University I have been presented with my major of Architectural and Civil Engineering from closed educational point of view. But it was not until this course I was encouraged to start looking at the career I am pursuing from a real world prospect of what I have been taught and learned during my last couple years here at Drexel. The topics of weekly blog posts and presentations of public speakers were the key features of this class which made this possible. For example entering this class I considered myself as a well experienced Autodesk Revit user, thinking of the software being still pretty new to the Architecture, Civil and Mechanical Engineering world. But after hearing the presentations of Eric Kuszewski from KlingStunnins and Huw Roberts from Bentley about Building Information Modeling (BIM) and its presences in the real world today, that my skill set of 3D modeling software is very  minimal compared to average standards employers are pursuing today. So I agree with Nathan Barry and Lorena Alvarado mentioning in their posts that the guest speakers invited to the class were well selected as they really knew what they were talking about but also presented the information in a manner which did not bore the students in the process.    

  

Two main skills I was able to gain from this course was the ability to create a family in Revit and creating a database in Microsoft Access. Now knowing how to create families in Revit I will be able to create custom structure components to provide 3D section details on construction drawings which I had difficulty doing previously during my past coop. Additionally many structural engineering concepts and methods are being carried out with computer software such as SAP2000 which are all mainly running on databases. So learning the basic concept of database and how they work provide a better understanding of the concept of how these structural analysis software works. Also having this intuition of database and its operation behind the main interface can help error screen results which the software provides efficiently. Having gained these two skill sets was the most beneficial aspect of the course.      

The course was well structured and multiple concepts of intelligent building were presented to the students as an introduction class for the topic of intelligent building. Each subtopic presented in the class can be turned into its individual 10 week class. I have heard of rumors of architectural engineering department adding a new concentration of digital building and I believe this course would make a great introduction class for that concentration.  

Class Reflection

It is the final week of this quarter and the intelligent building class goes to end. Based on 10 week study, I expanded my knowledge on building aspect; moreover, I learned several things both on technology and learning method. It is well beyond my expection.  

For technology, it gives me the opportunity to deal with BIM and database.  Compared with the first few weeks when I barely know what BIM is, now I can run Revit and draw something with it. It is a great progress to me. The practice is necessary and usually cost more time but less effort than I expect, however, I get a deeper understanding on how it works and when the building design is finished, the feeling of creation is good and we play with it more, focusing on the better developing model and more application of Revit such as cost analysis. Although it is only a preliminary try, we enjoy the process and it is worth the time. When the class is over, I still want to work on that to develop a better version.  Thanks to the class I find another powerful software---access, one type of databases.  When I did the homework, I realized I can combine my research record into it to make a better organization.  Gabrielle Carpenter’s said she use access daily to manage her finances, I agree that is a good idea.

In addition, I also appreciate the guest lecture on  sensors in the service of increasing building efficiency and database as Xiang said. They give me a more clear understanding on what I have learned because when I read the material, sometimes it is abstract and the guest lectures bring the material into real life. Moreover, the database lecture from Dr. II-Yeol Song also addressed several specific problems which I met in the practice. It really helped me a lot.

The more important thing I learn from this lecture is the self-study spirit. Unlike other class, which I can only focused on the questions and seek for the answers, this class addresses more on the exploring part. We need to find the knowledge by ourselves, especially for the update of blog.  Just because of that,  I develop my ability both on writing and reading. For example, for the first blog I needed two days to collect information, but for the last one, the same extent of searching only cost me three hours and I can spend more time on correcting the logic and structure.

In general, this lecture is designed to open-minded and we can bring whatever we learned from class, mostly by ourselves.  Although I have the same feeling as Cifligu that the material presented is plenty against this short time. I think it is the main purpose that to introduce all intelligent building based concepts during 10 weeks as Rita Pauliushchyk  said.  Based on the understanding of aspects I interested, I can further explore the extent.   

Final AE510 Blog Post

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the course, based on the title and description provided when I registered for the class, it was not at all what I expected.  I thought the focus would be more specifically on BIM and buildings designed with BIM.  Though that would be an interesting course, I believe this course expanded my idea of what is possible in our industry despite the somewhat slower pace at which it progresses compared to other industries.

What I found to be the most interesting was the beginning AI material.  I suspect this was strategically placed in the beginning to grab our attention, which was very successful.  I agree with Barry, Jeanine and Kayleigh regarding staying up to date on the new advances in technology.  I find that I sometimes tend not to do this, and this class was a good reminder of why I should and how helpful it can be.

Although I was reluctant at first, I did like the blog aspect of the class.  It allowed us to see what the other students thought regarding topics and allowed us to learn from each other.  Too often students stay quiet in class and are unable to benefit from each other’s work and ideas, only to find out too late that we had some of the same concerns or more often that our contributions aren’t as uninteresting as we think they may be.

I agree with some of the other students that said that Dr. Song’s lecture could have replaced the discussion on databases that took place the week before, as it did cover a lot of the same material.  But, that being said I found this class to be very helpful in terms of understanding what a relational database actually is and what it entails.  Most of us (myself included prior to this class) utilize them (on the front end anyway) almost every day, but have no idea of how it actually works or what goes on “behind the scenes.”

I agree with Mitchell, in that I have always enjoyed Professor Mitchell’s courses and this one was no exception.  I hope that he continues with courses like this one that are designed to open up our minds and let us decide what it is that we want to learn and take away from it.

Course Reflection

After 10 weeks of study, I think AE 510 is a very interesting class and I really enjoy that. This class presents an overview of application of information technology in the construction industry now and their future roles. We talked about the building information modeling, database and the role of network-linked sensors and actuators. Besides, this class gave us a look into the future about how computer tools will be used throughout the whole life circle of building. Just like my classmate M Lorena Alvarado said, we are not only focus on our own area. By investigating the topic mentioned in class, we also took a glimpse at its effect in other careers like computer science, network technology, optimal control and so on. I think this is a good opportunity to prepare for future changes in our field of study.

Another good aspect of this class is guest speaker. Mr. Travis Peyton gave us a lecture on sensors in the service of increasing building efficiency. Dr. II-Yeol Song talked about relational databases. I think he is our best guest speaker in this term. His presentation is not only informative but also thought-provoking and entertaining too. For myself, I learn the most from BIM part of class. This part is new to me and hadn’t worked with before. Although Prof. Mitchell didn’t taught deeply in the class, the tutorial video is very useful and Autodesk wiki helps me a lot. People who are expert in both CAD and BIM will become more valuable in the future. So like Gabrielle Carpenter said, I would have preferred if we could have spent more time on BIM. I think after this class I can confidently say I have a basic understanding of how BIM works.

Overall, I think this class is very forward-looking and flexible. I agree with Maria Gabriela Gonzalez that this class is structure in a way that it’s up to student’s decision how much work and time they want to put into it. But like Prof. Mitchell mentioned in the first class, the more you put into the course, the more you got out of it. I am truly happy to choose this course.

Course Reflection

My expectations  for this course were to learn about the concepts behind BIM and some of the emerging technologies in the industry. Furthermore, I was hoping to gain a better understanding of how buildings are monitored over their useful life. I certainly feel that all of my expectations were met at some point in the short ten weeks we had to discuss intelligent buildings. In fact, in many ways, my expectations were exceeded in this course if only by the quality of discussion and personal interest in the subject matter. As David Morrison reflects, the topic of “Intelligent Buildings” is an exciting one, especially for architectural engineers such as myself.

What felt like the course introduction, in the first two weeks, served to whet my appetite for the lectures to follow. I found the lectures given by representatives of Revit and Bentley to be particularly interesting, and useful as an overview of what these two modeling programs are about. Learning that databases are responsible for the operation of these programs made me more willing to investigate database design as we were assigned. Not only was I willing to learn, I found our discussion of databases to be extremely intuitive and edifying, especially having no previous knowledge about databases. I agree with John Scanlon that the overall format of this course is clear and informative, even for the most basic level of understanding. I further agree with Elda Cifligu that I got out of this course what I put in.

That being said, my only difference of opinion with the format of this course is the relative time spent on databases. I felt that the initial introduction to databases and the following tutorial, in conjunction with the excellent online tutorials, was more than sufficient to develop a basic understanding of databases. I would have preferred to see the second week dedicated to databases spent on further development of our term projects, or some other aspect of intelligent building (sensor use comes to mind). Other than this, I felt the work assigned was fair in its magnitude and its timing. I appreciated the checkpoints on our term project and the fact that it was due a week before the madness of Week 10 set in.

In general, the tenor of this course turned out to be far more interesting than I expected. By maintaining an overview of the topics we explored, and just enough technical detail to get our feet wet, I felt the course remained fresh and exciting for the majority of the time. I’ve always enjoyed the format of the courses conducted by Professor Mitchell, but I found the content of this one to be particularly interesting and useful. It would have been futile to attempt to teach an in depth course on all the topics covered in this class, and there are plenty of technical courses worked into my schedule already. This course was a refreshing break from the technicality of my other courses, and an eye-opening introduction to larger (arguably more important) concepts that I will be facing in my future as an engineer. In short, I felt the level of detail in this course was perfect, and the content useful for focusing my attention on relevant issues in the engineering world today.

Course Reflection

                         The overall experience of this class was great. When I came in to this class I expected to learn about BIM and how to utilize BIM capable programs. Even though we did learn a few things about BIM, like creating a simple building and looking at videos. It wasn’t as in-depth as I thought it would be and wished that we would have spent more time on that topic. Which is fine considering all that I have learned throughout this course as well as using different programs like Revit and Microsoft Access.  Creating the database was the most difficult assignment of the whole term, but it was the most rewarding. I didn’t expect that I would have learned so much about databases, like relational and object oriented. Even more I wouldn’t have imagined that I would be able to create one and how easy it was to do so. Furthermore the blog posts were a resourceful way to focus us to think specifically about a topic, while at the same time, broadening our minds. Allowing us to read and comment on other student’s posts giving us other facets about the topic originally not conceived. But most of all the best aspect about this course was the presentations. I learned so much from each and every one of the guest speakers. They gave a full spectrum of career paths that our majors can take us as well as giving us advance and insight to the industry. This alone was worth the taking the course. But I do agree with Cifligu’s post about 10 weeks being too short of a time to completely cover all the concepts mentioned in AE. The database topic spanned for a little too long, while other subjects were neglected like robotics which I found really interesting. Overall the course was an amazing experience, having given me a glimpse into the future of the industry, my career seems less daunting. 

Course Reflections

I can certainly say that AE 510 exceeded my expectations. When I signed up for the course I thought that we would just talk about the main concepts of intelligent buildings and BIM, but there were many more subjects covered in these 10 weeks. The interesting part was that these subjects were new to me or hadn’t worked with before. For example, the database assignments were very interesting because, not only I learnt how to develop one, but also the different applications databases can be used in - I had never thought that I would use databases to help conduct my work. I really enjoyed the fact that this course is interactive and that we each learn from each other. I learnt a lot from the guest speakers that visited throughout the term. Their presentations were enjoyable and interesting.

However, I think that 10 weeks is not enough to cover all the concepts mentioned in AE 510; sometimes I felt rushed due to the amount of material presented in this short time. I wish we had concentrated more on fewer concepts that are more relevant in my opinion, for instance BIM softwares. If I had one or two more weeks dedicated on BIM, I would probably try and develop a more complete drawing, or I would attempt to integrate families. Additionally, as Maria mentioned in her blog, it would be extremely helpful to have all the assignment descriptions and requirements in one folder/location instead of multiple ones; it got complicated sometimes for no reason.

Overall, I believe that this course was very beneficial.

Final Presentation - Architectural and Structural Model Link

Link to Google Docs Presentation
Link to PDF of Paper

Reflections on Intelligent Buildings

Overall, I really enjoyed this course, if you are an Architectural Engineer and the course title "Intelligent Buildings" doesn't excite you, than you might be in the wrong major (I know this course had to serve other majors as well). I think this course did a good job of living up to its exciting title.

I think Maria and Jeanine pointed out the biggest issue students (including myself) had with the class, which was that the assignments sometimes piled up very high on each other. This was sometimes a pain to deal with (I can imagine that is was just as a pain to grade in a timely manner). However, this class IS a masters level class for many students, and should be more rigorous than an average undergraduate class. I did not find the work in class to be super challenging, however the class still turned out to be a handful with the amount of work that needed to be successfully juggled, which provided the master's level rigor which requires students to have discipline to successfully complete. Everyone likes an "Easy A" class, however in a 10 week term, it is sometimes very hard to successfully learn a large amount of material without it being speedily thrown at you (just like in the real world).

I also agree with many of the other students that suggest that this course is one that you really get out what you put in. For my project, my partner Tom Ben-David and I decided to build a sensor network from scratch and then wrote a paper on the use of the sensors in a multi-sensor room. This was admittedly biting off a little more than we could chew, and we got the paper written very close to the deadline due to the time it took to actually build the sensor network (even missing some features we wanted). However, the process was very rewarding, and I feel like I got a lot more out of the project than writing a strictly research based paper.  I felt the same way about many of the other assignments in the class such as creating a report for my database that included graphs really pushed the envelope on the scope of the project and added tangible skills to my resume and skill base.

Final Blog Post

In Kayleigh's post she discusses how important it is to stay up to date with current technology to prepare for changes in your field. Rapidly growing technology is a huge part of the engineering field, and therefore it is very important to stay on top of it. I felt that this class gave us a basic knowledge of a handful of important technologies in the engineering field today. The two topics that we covered in this course that I feel will be most beneficial for me in my future career are BIM and databases.

While I know that the term is only 10 weeks long and it is hard to fit everything in, I agree with Gabrielle that I would have preferred if we could have spent more time on BIM. On almost every co-op interview I have been to, the first question they ask is if you have any experience with BIM. While I am no expert in BIM, I do feel that after this class I can confidently say I have a basic understanding of how BIM works. I felt that the project we did with creating a bookshelf and placing it in a small building was a great project to help students learn the basics. It not only showed us how to create a basic building but also gave students exposure to working with families.

For me, the most challenging part of this course was the creation of a database. Prior to this course, I knew very little about databases and how they were created. While doing the assignment, I constantly questioned myself on whether or not I was creating the database correctly. I think that more strict guidelines on what was expected may have been helpful for a technology that such a large portion of students are unfamiliar with. Overall, I found the experience to be very helpful because I felt that I gained a basic knowledge of how to work a program that I had never used before. I also feel that even if I am not able to create a detailed database, I at least understand the basic concept and would be able to further my knowledge, if needed, for my future career.

In summary, I truly thought this class was well structured and thought provoking. I agree with Maria that the class was setup in a way that allowed students to put as much work and time as they chose into it. I felt that the more you put into the course, the more you got out of it. I appreciated that the due dates for all assignments were given at the very beginning of the term, allowing you to work on things at your own pace, but I wish the due dates had been a bit more spread out. I would absolutely recommend this class as a professional engineering elective, as I gained a great deal form the course.

Course Reflection

The title of this class is “Intelligent Buildings” and that is exactly what we focused in throughout the term.  From the beginning of the term, we explored what Intelligent Buildings entails and how they are becoming popular in the construction world.  We looked into what components make up an Intelligent Building, the technological capabilities that are now available to us, how Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an up and coming process and its performance in the building industry, how databases serve as a great advantage to companies for providing accurate representations of systems, and finally we observed the capabilities of sensors and their role in Intelligent Buildings.  By going through tutorials in Revit and Microsoft Access, we were introduced to the concept of BIM and databases.  Even though we did a short introduction of these, I believe it was enough to grasp the main concepts.  Overall, this class gave us a look into the future and how our careers in the construction world will use and incorporate these technologies.  In addition, as we investigated and learned about these technologies in class, we also took a glimpse at its effect in other careers, such as computer science, programming, architecture, electrical engineering, and more. Like my classmate Kayleigh said, this was a great way to prepare for future changes in our field of study and also be knowledgeable with the current and future methods utilized. 

Considering that the company that I will be working for after I graduate is very involved in green construction and Intelligent Buildings, I found this class to be very helpful.  It gave me a good background to the new technologies that are emerging and now I feel more knowledgeable and informed to go into a company that works closely with sensors, robotics and databases.

One of the best aspects about this class was the guest speakers.  I was always so interested to hear what they had to say about their experience in their field and then relate it back to Intelligent Buildings and how they use technological advances in their profession.  Every single guest speaker was very well chosen because they were all able contribute with their insight at a topic we were covering.  This class was very insightful and a great choice as a professional elective.

Course Reflection:

The class purpose is to give students the tools to learn as much as they want about databases, sensors and intelligent/green buildings. The basic of this class is focus on student doing research for these main topics, learning and discussing the different aspects of each.

At the start of the class I believe the topic I knew most about was green and intelligent buildings, because it has become very popular in the past years.

To myself I believe I got most from the sensors, robotics and database topics because I wasn’t aware about the variety and influence they have or will have in our life and profession.

Dr. Il-Yeol Song was the guest speaker I learn the most from. His presentation was enjoyable and easy to follow with tons of new information that I had little to no knowledge about. I feel all guest speakers should do their presentations on a classroom. Being in the computer lab makes people loose focus easily from having a computer in front of them.

I would recommend Prof. Mitchell in the future to make requirements for the database project clearer. I personally feel that on my final database project I got points out for not doing forms, but when I check the assignment details I believe forms where not required. I might have missed this due to the different places where information is put at. For future, maybe only have one page people can refer to.

For the homework deadlines I feel there were weeks in which there was only a blog due and then next week there was database, blog and draft. I would personally prefer that the amount of work is spread out evenly among the weeks. 

Overall, I feel the class is structure in a way that it’s up to students decision how much work and time they want to put into it. The requirements (homework’s, projects, blogs) are definitely enough to keep people interacting and continuously researching on the different topics. I would definitely recommend this class as a professional elective. 

Final Blog: Course Reflection

At the completion of the “Intelligent Buildings” course, I can confidently say that the included curriculum has greatly exceeded my expectations. Similar to a number of my peers, I also believed that the course would be in large centered around the BIM design and construction technique. The amount of material presented on BIM was sufficient, as it broadly covered the many applications of the practice but did not detail all of the many features, as would a class on the subject. I found the speakers and their presentations of the applications to be inspiring, partly due to my construction operations background but mainly due to the futuristic but real-world applications of the technology available to my peers and I. This was a recurring trend when the class learned about artificial intelligence and the many ways that the industry can use the technology to advance designs and continue to provide services to clients and the public alike in an efficient and highly sophisticated package. The information naturally sparked conversations about morals and values with regards to the artificial intelligence, which further reinforced the consequences that engineers and designers must always keep in mind. Our work directly and indirectly affects human lives in ways that are not necessarily measurable in the broadest sense. I found the information and projects including raw databases useful because it was my first experience working with them outside of sophisticated Excel programs utilizing macros. Databases can be used to record vast amounts of information and require the designers to make provisions for the system to be designed for user interoperability as well as system efficiency. The database section made me realize that they are used for a number of tasks of which many I witnessed at my workplace. They use a few in-house databases for estimating and pre-construction purposes which are increasingly more important with shrinking margins and new construction techniques such as design-build. The marketing department is employing a database for customer relation management (CRM) to build and maintain current, past and prospective clients. I recently learned a project management software that was largely a database that contained all important project contract documents such as payment applications, schedules and budgets. The program had many of the database characteristics and required the effort early in the project to properly organize information effectively. The information presented on sensors and recording information was useful to my career because I am a MEP engineering student. Now and in the future, I expect to see a lot of the monitoring practices that we learned in class make their way into all buildings. The term project I chose to complete reinforced the ideas of the sensors and data management and allowed me to think in detail the equipment required to monitor energy required for one aspect of a building. I found it important to hear the experiences of one of the speakers which involved sensors and energy monitoring from the field point of view, as it is imperative that the product of the designers work is utilize correctly and to its full potential.

After reading Gabrielle's blog post and her feeling towards the database section, I've realized that while sometimes the least popular subject, databases can be used for a vast array of tasks. She mentions using databases for finances, for which I was surprised. I automatically use Excel when attempting to track costs and budgets, but her comment made me curious as to how the power to produce queries and reports can be used to track finances. Before this class, I would have not been interested in using databases to replace Excel with regards to computing and tracking finances.

The class was exactly what a professional elective should be; it was exciting, thought provoking and contained information relevant to industry procedures. Great choice!

In class presentation :
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11aSVuzmcpZD8IbCrQFZIo6SFaqRxDGQBwGJcrfXrJQ4/present?ueb=true#slide=id.p