System Design - EE321X Civilizations and Cultures Reflective Essay

1. System Design - EE321XCivilizations and Cultures Reflective Essay Topic: Evaluation Criteria, System Specification, and Alternatives Kelley, Miller, Jordan, Pulias, Morse Date: 2/18/14

2. Evaluation Criteria: • Three- to five-page reflective essay (1000 to 1250 words) • States what you know and how you came to know it • Identifies distinctive cultural factors influencing design (may be something that it has in common with another culture, or it may be something that makes it different than others ) • States what activities and assignments in the course have facilitated your learning about the culture(s) • Identifies the course activities and assignments (collected as artifacts) which have informed and shaped your understanding of the culture factors influencing system design • Advances a complex, insightful thesis/ focus for the essay that identifies distinctive components/ practices of the target culture(s) (for 5 rating) • Presents a complex, insightful analysis of a selection of substantive, varied, and revealing artifacts which fully support and develop the essay’s thesis/focus (for 5 rating) • Meaningfully reflects on the relationship between what the writer learned about the target culture(s) and how the writer came to learn it through the ePortfolio process (for 5 rating) • Implied: Publish reflective essay and supporting artifacts in ePortfolio; Use the style of documentation (e.g., MLA, APA, or The Chicago Manual of Style) ; form a thesis then write a draft and submit to writing center; essay uses examples drawn from ePortfolio artifacts, is cohesively structured, and expressed in clear, carefully edited sentences. ; artifacts required to be placed in the “showcase” ePortfolio (with reflective tags); choose artifacts that advance and develop your thesis most effectively. : essay will contribute to your final course grade (10%); must be submitted by the last day of classes

3. System Specifications: • An essay written in correct English spelling, grammar, and proper MLA format, focusing on three cultural aspects of engineering. Information is derived from cultural artifacts, which help form and shape the understanding of the assignment, and must be tagged correctly. The essay will be 1000 to 1250 words and stored and collected into an E-Portfolio. • *Taken from the syllabus of EE-321X

4. Alternative Topics • Culture affects the usability of a product in different areas, some cultures would have more problems using a product than others due to language barriers • Transportation design should be modeled after patterns seen in a region's culture, not a universal standard • Engineering, used as a humanitarian effort, can be used to effectively bridge two cultures. There are often groups with what becomes known as a silence (not necessarily violent, just non-communicative) and technological advancements can be used to help one another and create an allied bridge. • Team behavior is influenced by individual cultural backgrounds • Design is most culturally influenced by the natural, modern evolution of technology over time. This is mostly seen in the Western Culture movement.