Brandon pointed out to me the new website for the [Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Department](http://www.mme.uwaterloo.ca) has launched, featuring my logo in the document footer, similar to how [ECE](http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/)’s is.

My understanding is that there will be an official unveiling in the summer term, at which I’ll be asked to give a brief explanation of process and inspiration. So you can all come out to that with your clappers and big foam fingers… or just know that the inspiration was doodling on a tablecloth at [Montana's](http://www.montanas.ca/), and the software used was the excellent [Inkscape](http://www.inkscape.org/).

They say Engineering school is hard. But there’s a point at which you simply become numbed to it… when 78 of 99 students get a midterm mark below 50%, it’s not hard to start fantasizing about a long and successful career as a line worker screwing lids on toothpaste tubes.

And apologies to arts majors for the image. We think it’s funny. (They think it’s [funny at UBC](http://wt.canadaka.net/index.php?view=155), too…)

Last night, in Waterloo, there were two parties.

The first was thrown by a frat, and was bone dry. The second was thrown by a local employer and featured a good deal more beer and liquor than could have been safely consumed by the persons present.

Not that all Waterloo frat parties are dry, or that most employer recruitment sessions *aren’t*, but it’s a little amusing to observe the contrast between students *now* and the students who graduated ten years ago to start companies in town.

_Pronounce as ‘Cayley’_

Mike [Biggs](http://doubleplum.net/) persuaded me to go to a _Ceili Dance_. It’s a monthly affair put on by a local group with a [charmingly hideous](http://ceili.intrnear.com/) website.

But the dance was really marvelous. The last time I’d done anything even remotely similar was on a class trip in about grade 7.

###Music

Live. I appreciate that. The musician in me loves to experience what other skilled musicians create. There were about eight present, playing drums, fiddles, a whistle, and a keyboard.

And Irish music is beautiful. It’s energetic and uplifting.

(Just in case you had them confused, _Scottish_ is the one with the bagpipes, which happen to not particularly dislike, either.)

###Learning

Between the person calling the dances and the one person in my party who knew what the story was, it wasn’t that difficult to pick them up. I think we did just about everything except the waltzes.

Proper waltzing is skill I’ll learn at some later point, but Clarke Gable couldn’t waltz, so I guess you just never know.

###Friends

The group I went with was exact four gals and four guys, so that worked out quite well for the squares and lines.

I’d put something about it in my MSN name, and when I got home there was a capitalized message on my desktop from Christine S: “YOU COULD HAVE INVITED ME!” So at the next one in September, I’ll advertise. (I don’t feel comfortable promoting something I haven’t tried that costs $12 at the door…)

###All Ages

It amazed me the smattering of old folks, middle agers, young professionals, and students. It seemed like the sort of thing that a lot of people get invited to and it sticks with a handful.

I’m pretty sure it stuck with me.

But my calves kind of ache now.

A rumour has been floating around that there’s talk of scaling back or even canning PDEng due to the number of complaints about it. I can’t comment on the validity of this, but it made me consider what I meant when I said that “I don’t object to education of this type.”

It also raised an interesting question… what would a better PDEng _look_ like? Beyond knee-jerk “scrap this” and “scrap that” talk, what sort of program would actually accomplish the goal of increasing student professionalism in the workplace?

###Storytelling Is The Right Approach

[Previously](http://uwmike.com/archive/pdeng/), I pointed to [Eric's Starlog](http://uwmike.com/photos/funnies/starlog.jpg) as an example of one of the more ludicrous aspects of the PDEng programme. However, thinking of an improved PDEng, storytelling is really the correct way to go about discussing misbehaviour and the poor decisions that create a less professional worker.

But rather than a rushed 120-word journal from each fictitious student, how about 1200-1500 word chapters which involve all four characters? The plot threads could interleave as necessary, focussing on the different personalities as appropriate. Rather than forcing the story to fit the week’s theme, allow the story to emphasize its characters and build supplemental material based on the scenarios of each chapter. (Shakespeare wrote Hamlet _before_ the study guides…)

###Creating A Story

Is telling a good yarn hard? Yes. And writing it by committee is the worst possible approach. Advertise in the Languages faculty for a student who wants to make some sweet cash writing a pulp serial for the Engineers. Have the first hundred in the door submit a portfolio and an ‘example chapter’ of the narrative they envision. Pick the best one, and give them full artistic license.

A longer, more thoughtful piece would allow for very specific, complex dilemmas to arise, where multiple persons are at fault, and the solution is more than just ’saying sorry and promising not to do it again.’

Would students ever face the exact situations presented? Probably not. But general wisdom is gained through specific experiences — even those experienced only through literature. And unless my understanding of PDEng’s goals is gravely off-base, it’s about training us to be _wiser_ and make _better judgements_, not about instilling random-specific tidbits of how-to knowledge.

###Style

It doesn’t have to be a Clancy. In fact, writing that pretentious would do more harm than good. I’d honestly aim for more of a [Korman](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590255223/002-9404767-9427234)-[Sachar](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440414806/002-9404767-9427234) style.

Deliver it as a plaintext email or as an attached PDF. Don’t make me log in and click through four layers of navigation just to see the most current content.

###Comprehension Questions

It shocks me when I surf Amazon.com to check out the user-reviews on books I loved as a kid. Especially when the books were crammed down their throats by over-zealous elementary-school teachers. Of [The Golden Goblet](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140303359/), one person reports, *”the golden goblet i s very boring. i was forced to read it in sixth grade. i think i might of even fell asleep reading it.”* Of [Watership Down](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380002930/), another says, *”It was way to boring for my liking. As a junior high school student this book was assigned to me.”*

Saddening. What does this mean for my hypothetical vision of PDEng? It means that comprehension questions are few and far between. If the story is exciting and interesting, they wouldn’t even be necessary at all! Just deliver each segment right to my mailbox, and I’ll read it at my leisure during the week. At the end of the term, assign some kind of _creative_ response, such as creating a fanfic about one of the characters meeting celebrity or something… if any of them are good, seek permission and then roll them into the future story.

###Support

One complaint that came up on the forum a lot at the beginning was with regard to the UI-nightmare called [PeopleSoft](http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/ent/campus_solutions/index.jsp), which powers the whole thing (and, incidentally, Jobmine, QUEST, and presumably other administration tools on campus). Correction: It’s been brought to my attention that while PeopleSoft does power QUEST and Jobmine, the UW-ACE system is powered by the ANGEL system from [Angel Learning](http://www.angellearning.com/).

Under a purely story-driven curriculum, the content-evaluation model that PeopleSoft provides is no longer necessary. A simple bulletin board, wiki, or even private blog could provide a way for mentors to publish answers to specific questions that may arise from students. No need to bury the interactive part of the system four or five clicks away from login.

###The Future Is Unwritten

The current implementation of PDEng was created under the guidance of an [impressive steering committee](http://www.pdeng.uwaterloo.ca/people.html). Who am I? I’m nobody. I’m just a student. But regardless of what the plans are for PDEng, perhaps some of these thoughts will enter percolation.

And I’d be thrilled to hear from you. There’s a form below for public comments, and my email is on the [About page](http://uwmike.com/about/).

Mike

If you feel so inclined today, I’d appreciate if you could pray or rub crystals together or do whatever it is you do to plead with the Powers That Be on behalf of another human. I need a healthy dose of level-headedness with a side-order of professionalism.

So… what is PDEng? If you’re curious, the best place to read it is right from the [source](http://www.pdeng.uwaterloo.ca/about.html). I won’t try to explain, in this space, what it is.

It’s unfortunate that I’m one of the very few first-year Engineering students still in town this term, and it’s fallen to me to have a meeting with the directors of PDEng to discuss the collective concerns of a small body of students from my class.

I’m just compiling notes now, printing emails, surfing the old discussion threads, discarding the worthless gripes and harvesting the meaningful suggestions for improvement. Some of it is just people coming off a PDEng Module and venting, and that’s always the most amusing to read. It would never fly as an argument, and most is too lurid to be pasted into this space, but some little gems are terrific:

I mean honestly, learning style quizzes and reading journals of kids who can neither formulate grammatically error-free sentences, nor distinguish fantasy from reality? Come on! I mean, imagination is great, everyone should have one, but what person writes their ACTUAL logs like a spaceship commander?

This is with reference to the journals [such as this one](http://uwmike.com/photos/funnies/starlog.jpg) from which ethical dilemmas are the source of a number of essay questions throughout the course. (UW: If the picture is a violation of intellectual property, contact me and I’ll remove it)

Anyhow, if you’re a student in the program with suggestions, the best place to send them is your Assigned Mentor within the program itself. Failing that, contact the [director or assistent director](http://www.pdeng.uwaterloo.ca/people.html). If you’re not a student, but you have questions, you could email the Director, or you could join the public area of our [class forum](http://newtron.uwmike.com/forum/) and ask the students.

Mike

Every term that I pay tuition to University of Waterloo, there’s a number of additional fees, nominal amounts, that are tacked onto the overall bill.

Most of these, such the WEEF fee, I pay gladly, confident that their role on campus is worthwhile. Others, such as the student newspaper, I may object to elements of the organization, but I realise that they perform a necessary service on campus which requires significant financial backing to assist with.

However, during my first term, there were some students circulating a petition to have a full-scale referrendum on whether the fee to a certain WPIRG should continue to be an automatic payment. Like the Imprint and WEEF fees, it’s possible to go to their office and have it refunded, but in my mind, there’s a fundamental difference between this WPIRG and student newspaper: A significant chunk of the first-years have no idea what the organization is, let alone that it’s a highly socialist body with questionable views on rather important [issues such as racism](http://uwstudent.org/article/2004/12/03/090940207#29246).

Additionally, there’s the issue of _where the money’s going_. For a group that collects in $167,000 in an automatic fee, it’s a little disappointing that $90,000 of it pays two full-time staff. Why is it that this group over the dozens of student clubs qualifies for automatic support? Clubs like WatsFic and CTRL-A actually collect $5 a term from their members to help fund various activities and purchases.

Could we just rename the Intervarsity with something neutral like “Social and Religious Research Board” and then tack a fee onto everyone’s tuition so we can get a fancy glassed-in office and hire outsiders as full-time staff?

I’d like to see _all_ of the optional tuition fees clearly stated as such on the bill, with a tick-box for the ones you’d like to opt-out of. Not because I don’t support the organizations, but because _they_ should have to persuade _us_ that they’re worth it. They could even include literature in the envelope explaining what they do and encouraging people to pay.

Basically, it’s frustrating that the sort of group who publishes a pamphlet informing renters of their rights has to survive on fees collected from students too apathetic to reclaim them. If they carpool to Ottawa to protest non-environmentally sound new laws, they should be able to persuade students to _opt-into_ the fee.

Mike

After a 3 hour Autocad and sketching lecture-lab, our prof announced that in twenty years of teaching this material, he’d never seen so many people asleep by the end of it.

I managed to stay alert and internalize everything, but I guess time will have the final word on that. There were several assignments due at the crack of dawn this morning, all of which were more ambitious than they appeared to be from the outset. Besides that, we had a practice-midterm last night until ten, so a lot of folks were up well into the night working… and posting occasionally on our [class forum](http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~mte09), which I set up and have been administering with moderate success.

The practice midterm was a short paper with a handful of questions from each course stapled together so that we could get an idea of the difficulty level. It was deceiving to have it as multiple-choice, though, since neither of the math exams are to be that way. As it was, I scored almost perfect, but that’s because of good educated guessing where I wasn’t positive.

I’m going to try making [pizza](http://quickcook.net/recipe.php?id=40) tonight… we’ll see how that works out, but I was responsible for the crust the last time the sisters and I did it, and it was great then.

In other news, it looks like the major project for our Mechatronics course is an obstacle course in Mindstorms. The most severe limitation is that we’re only permitted to use a single kit. In terms of sensors, that limits you to two binary touch, and one photocell. Trying to reliably follow a line with a single light sensor when one of the guidelines is ‘as fast as possible’ seems like a somewhat futile exercise, if my experience with campers over the summer is any indication. I was thinking more along the lines of an encoder for very precise distance reckoning. But of course, since it’s one sensor and two wheels, this requires a devious gearing arrangement whereby a single motor powers both, but a nonfixed axle allows it to steer… differential, anyone? ([Rob](http://sparky.i989.net/rstehlik/)’s influence over me is profound)

Should be an interesting project…
Mike

> Dear Michael:
>
> Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to
Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo…
> I hope that you will choose to accept our offer of admission and join us on
campus this September!
>
> Wayne Loucks
>
> Associate Dean of Engineering
> Undergraduate Studies
> University of Waterloo