December 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 4

Thank you everyone for participating this semester. See you again next semester.

December 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 3

The winner of the bridge building competition are:

3rd Place

2nd Place

1st Place

All of the bridges failed because of buckling.

December 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 2

Here are the results of the non-member survey:

Not a member because:

-          A few did not know (1 person)

-          A few were not interested (2) or did not like the club (1)

-          Most were too busy (10) or the meeting time was not suitable (8)

Interested in joining:

-          Most do not know if they can join next semester (9)

-          A few know they want to join (5) and a few know they will definitely not want to join (4)

Non-member interests:

-          Non-members are very interested in projects (9), with 4 people specifically wanting building related projects

-          Fields trips are popular (7) while speakers are less popular (2)

Most people who were not members had time conflicts or were too busy, and many of these people will probably have the same conflicts next semester. Unlike members, non-members are more interested in projects and less interested in speakers.

December 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 2

Here are the results of the member survey:

Speakers:

-          Majority of people want more speakers (5 More, 2 Same, 0 Fewer)

-          People liked the information they gained about life experiences, careers, and internships although it may have been too technical at times

-          People want more information about transferring, industries/technologies not covered (tech industry and signal processing), and entrepreneurship

-          Other speakers may include entrepreneurs and students who have transferred

Tours:

-          Majority of people want more tours (4 More, 1 Same, 0 Fewer)

-          Overall people liked the tours a lot

-          Other tours people want are NASA Ames, labs, colleges, building sites, factories, and robotics labs/factories

Projects:

-          The number of projects we had was about right (2 More, 1 Same, 1 Fewer)

-          People are split evenly about their preference for short-term and long-term projects (4 Long, 4 Short)

-          People prefer small groups over large groups (4 Small, 1 Large, 1 Mid-range)

-          People think the amount of time required for the projects was about right (1 Too much, 7 About right, 0 Too little)

-          People think the Arduino presentations were at least somewhat helpful (8 Help, 0 Not helpful)

-          Overall, people enjoyed the group projects. People do have concerns that the advanced and beginning students were not balanced evenly, there was inconsistent attendance, parts were too weak, and the projects felt too rushed and did not allow enough time for planning

-          People would like to see more building projects, programming related projects, roller coasters, and 3D printers

Club Management:

-          Majority of people visited the website (7 Yes, 1 No)

-          Majority of people are somewhat interested in being a club officer (1 Yes, 0 No, 6 Maybe)

-          Overall, people were happy with the efficiency of the club’s management

-          People would have liked more public interaction and events, bigger projects and contests, and study sessions 

We were going to have more speakers, but we were so busy with the projects that we did not have time. The last speaker was going to be a former student who had recently transferred, but this was pushed off to next semester. We wanted to do more tours, but many tours cost money or require a lot of planning. Some people want more long-term projects. This can be challenging for a club with members that have very different interests and amounts of time to spend. Also, larger projects can cost more and require more technical knowledge. A single large project with several small and medium size projects may be best. People want more programming. There is a computer science club, so the club may want to team up with the computer science club for help. The website was viewed more than I thought, but I do not think a lot of time and effort should be invested in the website because its functionality and viewership are limited.

December 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 1

The Tech Shop tour will be Saturday, December 8, 11:00 am.

December 7 Meeting: Preview, Part 3

This is the last meeting of the semester. Come say good-bye, and help plan for next semester.

Here is the end of semester survey. Come to this week's meeting and fill it out to help us plan for next semester.

December 7 Meeting: Preview, Part 2

The Tech Shop tour will be this weekend, Saturday. We will need to finalize the time at this week's meeting.

December 7 Meeting: Preview, Part 1

We will finish the last bridges and test them this week. Arrive early if you would like to help finish the bridges.