Padlet Post #3: Engineering Design Cycle

This is third of a three-part blog post series on the use of Padlet during distance learning. This post DEFINITELY represents something I am very excited about and I sense is working very well: capturing student work during an engineering design cycle in the distance learning format. 

Using the "Shelf" option in Padlet, I set up various columns for students to post evidence of progress as they iterate on projects in my engineering class. For example, two weeks ago students worked on a cycle called "Olga" where they imagined and the designed (via CAD) solutions for a character, Olga, from a Little House on the Prairie episode who was born with one leg longer than the other. Click here for the edited video clip I provided students which served as the prompt for the project. 

Before students began the project I set up "Shelfs", one for each phase of the cycle. For this cycle, the four phases were as follows:

• Step 1: Rapid Drawing
• Step 2: Revised Drawing
• Step 3: CAD

By setting this format up via Padlet, students not only see their process emerge as they transition from imagining their idea  to a CAD prototype, but they also see one another's ideas emerge and develop. Keeping this in mind, the visible nature of their progress creates an intrinsic sense of motivation to perform as their work is public and can be critiqued. I have noticed huge improvements in student work when the iterative process is no longer behind a google doc firewall, but visible for all to see. Click here for the complete Padlet engineering design cycle for the "Olga" project. A screenshot of one student's submission during the process is included below.

Following the above project, students transitioned to a similar workflow using the "Shelf" feature in Padlet to outline the design of a carrying case for my father's cochlear implant. Given the 100% distance learning format, often a CAD final product is the project deliverable. Click here for the complete Padlet engineering design cycle for this project. A screenshot of the process is included below as well.

Currently students are in the middle of an engineering design cycle where they are, from a distance, leveraging the MakeyMakey circuit (ordered and delivered to their homes) to build out assistive technology controllers for individuals suffering from severe physical disabilities. We are in the middle of this project, and given the hands-on nature (not simply CAD) of this work, the cycle is more involved and the thus, more "Shelfs" are added in Padlet to capture work. Click here for student progress thus far and see a screenshot of one student's progress below as well.