Personal learning goals for this module
As a starting point i want to establish what it is i am looking to achieve by the end of this module to give me something to aim for and a clear focus. I thought about the title of this of my subjec and looked at the criteria and decided on some learning goals to set myself to give me some structure and a way of charting my progress. I do realise however, that these learning goals may change over the course of the learning process as I am unaware of what exactly the subject of structures involves or even if my goals are realistic.
I looked at the title itself and broke it down into three core parts;
Design and Analyse basic mechanical systems
In order to achieve this I think I will need to be able to do the following to effectively learn:
I looked at the title itself and broke it down into three core parts;
Design and Analyse basic mechanical systems
In order to achieve this I think I will need to be able to do the following to effectively learn:
- Confidently explain what a basic mechanical system is - I think that Before the design and analyse part of the topic happens i need to understand what a mechanical system is and the concepts and principles that come into play. if i can understand what it is i will be able to confidently explain and discuss the topic. I will achieve this with internet research and books
- Demonstrate understanding of mechanical systems using real life examples - Once i have a better understanding of the topic i can start to apply this knowledge to real life examples to see them in context and recognise them. I will do this by looking at products, machines, mechanical toys and other examples of mechanical systems on the internet, books and found around me.
- Explain how parts of the mechanical system are working and why (I would need a good understanding of mechanical princlples to explain to another person, if i could do this it would confirm that i have been successful in my learning). i could do this by labelling parts of example i find in books and on the internet.
- Ability to design/create a simple mechanical system based on acquired knowledge - In this stage i should be fairly confident with the topic and be able to use this knowledge to create my own designs, i could not reach this stage without completing the previous stages. I could create a little cam toy or other simple mechanical system to demonstrate my knowledge.
I decided on this structure and wording from breaking down the title of my subject written in my audit, also i feel this seems like a logical way of learning a subject based on learning i have had at school and college. I believe that once i have achieved these goals i feel i will have a good understanding of the subject. The way i have split it up is to build up knowledge gradually in stages instead of trying to tackle the whole subject at once which can be overwhelming. This also means I cannot skip to last step without achieving the previous; for example i can't explain what a mechanical system is if i don't understand/know what one is and i can't design a mechanical system unless i know how a mechanical system works and so forth. I though doing this would give me a good structure to work with and keep me on track instead of flailing around aimlessly.
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As i predicted my learning isn't going exactly as i had originally planned.... ive found in order to understand what a mechanical system (goal 1) is i need to look at real life examples (goal 2) in-order to understand what a mechanical system is. so really goal one and two seem to go hand in hand. as ive mentioned these realisation in my learning blog. In summery, in order to learn best ive needed to do a few different types of learning at the same time and not as separate entities. for example with the flash cards ive been researching on the internet looking at examples and reading books whilst doing a practical task at the same time.
i think i was correct in putting learning goal 4 last as in order to create my own mechanical system i would need to have a knowledge of mechanical principles before hand. On the other hand i think i could crate a mechanical system without tho knowledge if i knew what i wanted to the output to be, i could research how i would achieve this and build my mechanical system as i go ... i just feel it would best to have a bit of knowledge prior to this.
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As i predicted my learning isn't going exactly as i had originally planned.... ive found in order to understand what a mechanical system (goal 1) is i need to look at real life examples (goal 2) in-order to understand what a mechanical system is. so really goal one and two seem to go hand in hand. as ive mentioned these realisation in my learning blog. In summery, in order to learn best ive needed to do a few different types of learning at the same time and not as separate entities. for example with the flash cards ive been researching on the internet looking at examples and reading books whilst doing a practical task at the same time.
i think i was correct in putting learning goal 4 last as in order to create my own mechanical system i would need to have a knowledge of mechanical principles before hand. On the other hand i think i could crate a mechanical system without tho knowledge if i knew what i wanted to the output to be, i could research how i would achieve this and build my mechanical system as i go ... i just feel it would best to have a bit of knowledge prior to this.
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I think my original Learning goals for this models was too much of big ask. I thought my learning would happen a lot quicker and I would get through the first two learning goals relatively quickly.