B6 - Course Reflection

Throughout this course, there were very interesting topics brought up that, in some way, are relevant to either what many of us plan on doing or connected to what we’ve learned about so far at Drexel. I really enjoyed how many of these topics weren’t brought up or included in other classes but are still important to discuss as they are relevant to what we will be getting into with our careers. One thing about this class that I found to be the most useful was bringing in the guest lectures- I think this is something that’s often overlooked in many classes, but having people who do the things we talk about in the class for a living gives us the opportunity to see what they do (and what we can do) and ask questions if it’s something we also can see ourselves doing. I know we had quite a few guest lecturers come in, but I would have been happy to see more as well. I think they bring something unique and all have different points of view, and especially in a class where we have this floating idea of what the future of design/technology/etc. will bring, hearing other professional opinions on that topic was interesting.

One of the topics in this class that I found the most interesting was Revit and BIM. With his being the way most of the industry is moving, I think it’s very important that we get some sort of introduction to it. That being said, I wish there was a lot more time (in all honesty, a full course) that talks about Revit and adds in learning the idea of BIM even more. My co-ops have been a little bit different from most engineering co-ops as I have not had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in design programs like Revit or AutoCAD. I feel like this has held me at some sort of disadvantage when it comes to what many (and most) Civil Engineers are able to do. Having Professor Mitchell twice and him including the Revit introduction has helped me remember the program, but also continue to learn from it. I also think it was great to include the topic and an assignment on databases, because not everyone has the opportunity to learn about how useful they are. I’m currently taking a databases class because of my concentration, but because it is in the College of Computing and Informatics, it’s not geared as much towards engineering students and specifically how engineering students can utilize databases. Having this additional topic helped with my understanding of databases and how much they beneficial they are. I wasn’t expecting to get a lot out of the class, simply because it seemed like more of a “what could happen” continuous discussion, but the assignments, blog posts, and the guest lectures helped everything become more relevant and interesting. After graduation, I plan on working in construction management, which is another reason I wasn’t sure this class would help, but this class really tied in so many different subjects (including construction) and made me think just a little bit more about where the industry is going and how it will change going forward with all of this technology.

COMMENTS:

Maalik Kaptue – I totally agree that the sensors and robotics portion of the class was super interesting. That’s really what pulled together the topic of Intelligent Buildings with construction and engineering, which is one of the things that peaked my interest. I also had a co-op with the city, and after this class, I’m beginning to think a little bit more on how the future of technology will change how different sectors such as the Streets Department are run.

Hailey Ihlow – I also agree that the classroom setting was not conducive to how the course was set up to run. It’s unfortunate we ended up in the room, but I think the class was able to work the best it could given the environment. I also agree how this was a really nice change of pace from the other CIVE based classes – it’s nice to have it more discussion-based courses and especially for seniors, it provides more of an opportunity to consider everything that may happen in the future.

Jenny Fretta – I think it’s great that the different topics and assignments included in this class helped you in many ways, like senior design and your future career. The different subjects makes you think about how this fast-paced technology is changing our field so quickly and what’s the best job to get into that can still be around in a couple of years, as opposed to eventually being done through AI. This class also made it interesting to think more about what the future holds, which is fun.