Self-Assessment Essay
Over the course “Writing for Engineering 21007”, taught by Dr. Maria L. Plochocki, I was able to accomplish a handful of Course Learning Objectives. When I first started the course, I was not capable and aware of the linguistic differences different writers as well as readers have. I would solely write my papers based on my way of language understanding and draw only on my own sources and rhetorical sensibility. Eventually, I was taught that doing so will bring difficulties in understanding my writing to the readers. It was more sensible to acknowledge other;s range of linguistic differences along with my own. I was also taught that no papers comes as perfect as we want to the first time we write. All papers one writes can be enhanced by using strategies like reading, drafting, revising, editing and self assessing. I applied most of these strategies to all my papers including Diagnostic Essay, Lab Report, Technical Description and Final Proposal, which are included below. Although I have to say that I am not perfect at finding my own flaws in my writing, I have more to learn on these strategies efficiently in order to master the subject matter. While writing my Technical Description on the different types of vehicles, I considered my audience’s knowledge and different conventions of genre, medium and rhetorical situation and doing so helped in developing and engaging social aspects of writing process. While writing my lab report on Seed Germination, I practiced using various library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate sources appropriate to my topic. For example, in order to sufficiently cite other important reports from past experiments on Seed Germination under various light conditions, I located a similar report from the library resource. Also, I had to collaborate with one of my fellow classmate, Adham Morsy, for my Final Project, for which we analyzed and engaged collaboratively throughout the writing process. Along with that I have strengthen my source use of practices including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing and citing all of writings for this course.
Diagnostic Essay
Revised Version
STEM program is one of the major important programs offered in a university. Due to its high demands in the work industry and constantly developing innovations around the world, many youngsters are inspired and motivated to put their feet onto the grounds of science and innovation. Students devote their full energy and time towards learning new materials. They feel prepared with all this new knowledge to jump into the working field. Some of them exceed in their work and gain successes. But some of the starters experience difficulties in communicating new findings and ideas out to their colleagues, bosses, and out to the world. Most students who have good writing skills and experience are most likely to succeed in STEM jobs. They not only have the necessary knowledge but also, the right skill to move forward in communicating new ideas.
During the four years of university, students tend to only focus on their specific major. They only gain knowledge and new information related to a certain subject. They are relatively less exposed to the demands of the real world. Because not all of our colleagues or clients will most likely be from a specific STEM major, like us, which makes it challenging to explain and convince the way we do things. In this situation, writing classes designed, specifically, for STEM majors helps in communicating and addressing this issue. Writing skill is a life skill for every student in all majors. Many STEM majors anticipate that writing is not mandated, therefore, not required for such profession. In fact, as they move their steps from colleges to work, many of them realize the importance of having the skills to write and showcase your work.
Students in their time at college should be more encouraged to take courses outside of their major and courses that are not requirements. This way, they will be aware of the various skills and knowledge they will be expected to have as they move outside of the learning phase in the universities.
Edited Version
STEM is one of the significant programs offered in a university. The demands for the needs of students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math is increasing. As a result, college freshmen and many young minds are motivated to venture into the realms of science and innovation. STEM professionals are required to communicate effectively through a variety of mediums, most importantly, writing. Writing courses should be required as part of the STEM majors to enhance the ability of STEM students to communicate real-life solutions through these, non-real-life findings to non-STEM majors. With this, they will not only have the necessary knowledge but also the right skill to move forward in communicating their ideas.
Research showed that written communication is a top priority in hiring new employees, and, in the process, employers look for candidate with “a stronger focus on written communication skills at the college level” (Hart Research Associates, 2015). During these four years in university, students focus entirely on the content of their specific major. Knowledge and new information are attained, but, only on subject matters related to their specific major. Too often, college graduates leave university without any proper knowledge of writing. This limited writing experience might prove to be an obstacle in becoming fully prepared as possible for their career. According to Merkel (2016), “The facts of life in the working world are simple: the better you communicate, the more valuable you are” (p. 6). There seems to be the relatively less exposure to writing courses, as STEM majors, over the four years spent. Therefore, universities should offer writing courses that require students to work on more writing assignments.
Writing is a life skill for students in all majors. In this tech-driven century, we communicate through many forms of writings such as emails, proposals, policies, release notes, references and so on. Writing courses will help STEM students to become more comfortable with communicating their knowledge through writing. Most STEM majors offer only a few of the writing courses which leads to anticipate that writing is not important in such majors. In fact, graduates starting to work in the STEM field come to realize the importance of good writing skills. In this situation, writing classes designed, specifically, for STEM majors help in communicating and addressing this issue. Many universities have started to set their own curriculum content, reading and writing assignments, and class lectures and discussions, to target the communication needs of STEM students Rusnak, n.d). Targeted courses, like this, will help prepare students for upper level STEM course work and specific job requirements. In addition, students in their time at college should also be encouraged to take courses outside of their major and courses that are not requirements. This way, they will be aware of the various skills and knowledge they will be expected to have as they move outside of the learning phase of the universities.
Today, we hear almost everywhere how important it is to graduate more students in fields like science, technology, engineering, and math. Yet, employers in every sector want students to possess knowledge on both science and writing; students who are able to both apply and describe advance knowledge and experiments themselves. STEM majors, in their time in university, devote their full energy and time towards learning new materials but fail to communicate the finding to their colleagues and clients. Therefore, writing should be a requirement to graduate for STEM majors.
Works Cited
Hart Research Associates. (2015, January 20). Falling short? College learning and career success. Retrieved November 5, 2016, from www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research/2015-survey-results
Merkel, Mike (2015). Technical Communication with 2016 MLA Update. 12th ed. Boston; New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s.
Rusnak, A. (n.d.). Writing for STEM Disciplines. Retrieved March 23, 2019, from https://www.writingforstem.com/
Technical Description
Electric Vehicles
Vehicles are one of the leading causes of air pollution. It also has the greatest growth
rates within the entire world. Nearly one half all Americans, an estimated one hundred fifty
million, live in areas that do not meet the federal quality air standards. The health risks of air
pollution are extremely serious and increase the risk of life-threatening conditions such as cancer
and respiratory illness. Electric cars have arrived in reducing transportation-related pollution
which is able to contribute to less warming emissions. There is a greater need to meet future
mobility by replacing today’s fuel driven vehicles by more efficient and environmentally friendly
alternative technologies. Electric Vehicles are examples of such alternatives that will help us decline our dependency on oil (Eckard Helmers & Patrick Marx, 2012). Electric vehicles use power from a large variety of sources, including fossil fuels. There is a great amount of confusion surrounding Electrical cars. Electric cars are one of the different
types of electric vehicle (EV); the term “electric vehicle” refers to any vehicle that uses electric
motors for propulsion (the action of driving or pushing forward), while “electric car” generally
refers to automobiles on the road powered by electricity. An electric car can be powered by
different sources and they are refereed differently, for example, an electric car powered by
sunlight is a solar car, and, an electric car powered by gasoline is a form of hybrid car.
The three types of hybrid-cars that will be discussed in this technical description are Hybrid
Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV).
Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) or Gasoline Vehicle
Pure Electric Vehicle (EV)
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)
Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV)
Only IC engine Only electric motor Both IC engine and an electric motor
Both IC engine and an electric motor
Charged with gasoline Charged externally Cannot be charged externally
Charged externally and with gasoline
Example:Honda Accord Example: NISSAN LEAF
Example: Toyota Prius
Example: Chevy Volt
Figure 1. Gasoline Vehicle Electric Vehicles. IC- (Internal Combustion), This figures illustrates four different types of vehicles and its functions along with one example of each. (Lama Tamang, 2019)
Internal Combustion Engines are traditional engines powered by gasoline, diesel, biofuels
and natural gases. We are most familiar with them because it makes up most of the vehicles on
the road. As shown in Fig one, ICEs consists of only an internal combustion engine, thus,
permitting solely gas to be used for provision. Pure Electrical cars are vehicles that runs on
electric power and can be charged only with an electric power source. Petrol or diesel cannot be used as an alternate source of energy to refuel a pure EV. One of the most commonly used
alternative fuel vehicle are hybrid cars. Both HEV and PHEV are considered hybrid cars. They
have the benefit of combining both motors, electric and gasoline, to satisfy different goals of a
vehicle. HEVs are powered by a combination of ICE and electric motor. According to the Canadian Fuels Association (2016), electricity is either stored in batteries or in some cases, by
converting the vehicle’s kinetic energy into electric energy in HEVs. Meanwhile, Plug-in Hybrid
Vehicles are very similar to the HEV in that they have both an IC engine and an electric motor.
One biggest distinction between these vehicles is that PHEVs are often charged by plugging into an electrical supply, however, HEVs cannot be charged through an electrical supply (para. 3).
Description of an Electric Vehicle:
An Electric Vehicle does not appear any different from other vehicles from the outside. But, the inside of an Electric Vehicle consists of less number of parts compared to a fueled vehicle. This is because an electric vehicle mostly does not require gearbox and a lubrication system for the oil, and sometimes, not even a cooling system.
There are three main parts inside the hood: 1) A rechargeable battery 2) A controller 3) An electric motor
An electric motor is required to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy in order for the vehicle to move. The motor receives electric power from a controller and the controller gets the power from the batteries. An Electric Vehicle runs on an electric current. It uses batteries to provide power for the motor and the motor then uses the power received from the batteries to rotate a transmission, and the transmission turns the wheels causing the car to move forward or backward.
The batteries are charged electrically when plugged into a wall socket or by using other energy storage devices. Some electric vehicles have onboard chargers which allow a computer controller to adjust battery life; others plug into a charger located outside the vehicle. Both types, however, use electricity that may contribute to air pollution, still, EVs are considered zero-emission vehicles as a result of their motors; the motors generate no exhaust or emissions.
The principal parts of an electric vehicle consist: the potentiometer, batteries, direct current (DC) controller, and motor. See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Principal parts of an electric vehicle
Potentiometer: It is round in shape and is attached to the accelerator pedal of a vehicle. It, basically, indicates the controller how much power is suitable to deliver to the motor. The potentiometer can deliver zero power- when the car is fully in rest, full power- when the car’s accelerator pedal is pressed, and any power levels in between.
Batteries: The batteries are there to provide power for the controller. The three different types of batteries include lead-acid, lithium ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries. The kind of batteries differs from different brands. For example, Tesla uses lithium-ion battery for its model whereas REVA uses Lead-acid. Electric cars operated with lead-acid batteries are cheaper in comparison to lithium-ion battery. Nickel metal hydride batteries do not offer enough power and have a worse environmental impact compared to Li-ion batteries (Eckard Helmers & Patrick Marx, 2012).
DC Controller: The controller is an important part of the electric motor because it delivers power from the batteries to the electric car’s motor. The controller reads the settings from the two potentiometers and regulates the power in accordance. If the accelerator pedal is 25 percent, the controller pulses the power so it is on 25 percent of the time and off 75 percent of the time. If the signals of both the potentiometers are not equal, the controller will not operate. (Brain, 2002)
Motor: The motor receives power (pulses) from the controller and arouses the transmission. The pulses received from the controller causes the motor to vibrate at a frequency. The vibrations are not heard to human ears. The transmission helps the motor to turn the wheels and cause it to move and the vehicle to run.
Operation of an Electric Vehicle
The operation starts when the driver floors the acceleration pedal. The two potentiometers will send the signal to the DC controller concerning the amount of power to be delivered to the electric motor. The controller reads the setting of the accelerator pedal from the potentiometers, receives the power from the batteries and delivers it to the motor. The motor receives the power from the controller and uses this power to cause the transmission by converting electrical energy to mechanical energy. Transmission is then able to move and turn the wheels.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Electric vehicles have key benefits in comparison to ordinary gasoline-running cars. They emit no pollution at the tailpipe which means they considerably have less impact on the environment. According to the United States Department of Energy (DOE), EVs can reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change, improving public health and reducing ecological damage. (para. 5) However, EVs may be only able to cover a limited distance, battery packs are heavy and expensive to replace, and recharging consumes a sufficient amount of time, unlike, ICEs recharge within seconds. But since the electric is available everywhere, there is a variety of options for charging: at home, at work or on the road. (para. 3)
Conclusion
An EV is suitable in sustaining measures that will help towards maintaining a more sustainable mobile future. It is an alternative to help decline our dependency on fuels. The efficiency of electric cars is advancing and it is very likely that the use of electric cars will also increase in the coming future. Electric cars are already becoming very prevalent in other countries. However, they have some disadvantages, like any other vehicles; The batteries can be heavy and expensive. But they also have more advantages and benefits over the internal combustion engine and hybrid cars. Ultimately, the future of EVs are promising and most importantly, they contribute to a cleaner and greener earth.
References
Brain, M. (2002, March 27). How Electric Cars Work. Retrieved from https://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car2.htm.
Canadian fuels association. (Sep 15, 2016). ICE, HEV, PHEV and BEV – What they mean and what’s under the hood. Retrieved from https://www.canadianfuels.ca/Blog/September-2016/ICE-HEV-PHEV-and-BEV-%E2%80%93What-they-mean-and-what-s-under-the-hood/.
Eckard Helmers, & Patrick Marx. (2012, April 26). Electric cars: Technical characteristics and environmental impacts. Retrieved from https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/2190-4715-24-14
Principle parts of an electric vehicle. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2019, from https://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car2.htm
Reducing Pollution with Electric Vehicles. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/reducing-pollution-electric-vehicles.
The Daily telegraph. (July 19, 2018). What’s the difference between a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid and an electric ‘EV’ car?. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/difference-hybrid-plug-in-hybrid-electric-ev-car/.
Lab Report
ABSTRACT
Helianthus annuus, also known as common sunflower, is a plant that has been long used for experiments and research focus for scientists. Scientists use Sunflowers as a model for understanding solar tracking and inflorescence development (Badouin, et al., 2017). Most studies show that natural light i.e. the sun acts as a better source of light, while germinating seeds, than artificial lights such as lamp. In this experiment, we will test if this is the same in the case for sunflower seeds because sunflower seeds are predominantly known to grow better outdoors in the natural light. Measurement of the total number of seeds germinated was the major parameter for detecting the conclusion for this experiment.
INTRODUCTION
Agricultural producers face one most challenging as well as frustrating problem i.e to figure out what happened to the crop that failed to grow. Major losses of crops have been estimated due to planting seeds of inferior quality from the billion- dollar seed industry operation. Germination occurs when the embryonic root emerges from the seed coat. Unfortunately, you cannot tell if the seeds are viable from the outside. But, external conditions such as, light, that can be leading to the failure of the crop can often be prevented. Seed germination is one of the techniques, before planting the seeds directly into the soil, to check the viability of the seeds. High temperatures during seed formation of Helianthus annuus’ seeds have been identified as the main environmental factor affecting the ratio of linoleic and oleic acid content, which is two of the essential nutrients contained in sunflowers (Berglung, 2007). The experiment will be conducted under a controlled variable, the source of light. The hypothesis is that more Sunflower seeds will germinate in exposure to the sunlight over the exposure to the artificial light.
MATERIALS
- 30 Sunflower Seeds
- 6 Petri Dishes
- 6 Coffee Filter Papers
- 6 Ziplock Bags (6.5 inches × 3.5 inches)
- Measuring cup or a pipette (5 ml)
- A Lamp with 100-watt bulb (Artificial Light)
- Sunlight (Natural Light)
METHODS
In this experiment, sources of light i.e. artificial light vs. natural light, will be the
controlled variable. While, the measure of successful seeds which might or might not germinate, will be the dependent variable. Once all the materials are gathered, prepare the petri dishes;
Label “Natural Light” for 3 petri dishes and “Artificial Light” for the remaining 3 petri dishes. Place 5 sunflower seeds in each of the 6 petri dishes. Next, use the measuring cup or a pipette to measure 5 ml of water for each dishes and sprinkle on top of the seeds. Then, cover the seeds using a coffee filter paper. A wet paper towel can also be used as an alternative, but in this experiment, I used coffee filter papers because they are stronger and holds moisture for longer. After that, cover the watered seeds with the petri lids and, wrap the petri dishes in Ziplock bags to help the moisture remain for longer and in place. Finally, place the petri dishes labeled “Natural light” under the sun and the dishes labeled “Artificial light” under the lamp. Since, the sun cannot provide light for 24 hours whereas the lamp can provide light for a continuous period of time, therefore, I left both petri dishes for only 6 hours, a day, under each light. I made sure the dishes are placed in such a way that they receive the same amount of light. The seeds will be kept inside a stored box after the seeds are exposed for 6 hours in the light where the seeds will receive no light. The seeds remained in place for a week. After a week, I simply unwrapped the filter paper and recorded the number of seeds that germinated.
RESULTS
The results of this experiment were quite shocking. The number of seeds germinated under the lamp was more than the number of seeds germinated under the Sun. Only 3 out of 15 seeds were successful in germinating under the natural light, while 7 out of 15 seeds germinated under artificial light.
| Source of Light | Average % of seeds germinated ( no. of seeds germinated/ total number of seeds*100) |
| Artificial Light | 3/15 *100 = 20 % |
| Natural Light | 7/15 *100 = 46.6667 % |
Fig.1 Average % of seeds germinated under Artificial and Natural Light
DISCUSSION
As shown in Fig.1, artificial light was more successful in germinating seeds compared to natural light. This might be because the sun does not provide constant light as lamp does. Another factor that was noted, while collecting the data, was that some of the ungerminated seeds were contained with mold (on Day 5). There is no given explanation for the mold appearance, but it is believed that the mold had something to do with the ungerminated seeds. Mold does not need a lot of water or moisture to grow. The moisture present in the filter paper inside the ziplock bags may have caused the molds to appear. Studies have shown some kind of pathological defects in seed germination experiments caused by fungi or bacteria. This creates inconsistency in the prediction of field performance of seedlots by various laboratories (Olembo 1985). Sunflower seeds are originated from North America which makes us to think- temperature higher than 70℉ will lead to successful germination. However, the results indicate that regardless of the type of light, seeds will germinate. If I was to do this experiment over again, I would consider the light and heat intensity. As light intensity increases, increasing temperature will have the greatest effect on reaching a higher rate of photosynthesis (Benckiser, n.d). In this experiment, how close the lamp was set to the seeds and the heat produced was an important factor that was failed to be examined. Also, timely checking of the mold appearance may help obtain a more accurate result.
REFERENCES
Badouin, H., Gouzy, J., Grassa, C. J., Murat, F., Staton, S. E., Cottret, L., . . . Langlade, N. B. (2017, May 22). The sunflower genome provides insights into oil metabolism, flowering and Asterid evolution. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22380
Berglund, D. R. (2007). Sunflower production. Retrieved April 26, 2019, from https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/rowcrops/a1331.pdf
Benckiser, R. (n.d.). Rate of photosynthesis: Limiting factors. Retrieved April 26, 2019, from http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/content/filerepository/CMP/00/001/068/Rate of photosynthesis limiting factors.pdf
Olembo, Sarah A. H., “Effect of fungal contaminants on laboratory germination tests ” (1985). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 7875. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/7875
“Understanding Germination May Be Key in Figuring Out Why A Crop Fails.” Noble Research Institute, Sept. 2003, www.noble.org/news/publications/ag-news-and-views/2003/september/understanding-ger mination-may-be-key-in-figuring-out-why-a-crop-fails
ps://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/7875
“Understanding Germination May Be Key in Figuring Out Why A Crop Fails.” Noble
Research Institute
, Sept. 2003,
www.noble.org/news/publications/ag-news-and-views/2003/september/understanding
germination-may-be-key-in-figuring-out-why-a-crop-fails
Writers’s Checklist for Lab Report (First Draft)
- Yes. The title of the lab report conveys my focus of the study I have performed. There is no complex idea, word, or phrase used for the title and no abbreviation used. The title is informative enough to let the writer decide whether the report is of interest to them. – The Abstract sufficiently states the question that will be used to determine the study of whether or not Sunflower seeds, predominantly known to grow better on the sun, will have similar tendencies, like most seeds, to grow better in natural light. It does not include the conclusion but, it does include the process of determining the conclusion. – I have included relevant research to my study and discussed agricultural failures caused due to external conditions. Also, provided a simple definition of germination in support of the purpose of my study. The introduction also consists of the hypothesis. – The materials and equipments used are clearly mentioned, the procedures are described as necessary, subjective measurements are also mentioned, and lastly the procedure is provided in logical order. – The result section summarizes the data produced and excluded data irrelevant to the topic. Used graphics to show the data and interpreted about the data later in the Discussion. – Discusses the hypothesis introduced in the introduction and unexpected emerged data from the study. It needs more relevant work of other researchers to help comment and argue on the topic. Also, comments on the negative results. – Conclusion section is excluded. – The references lacks the source of the Figure. Follows MLA.
Persuasiveness Checklist
Seed Germination: Artificial Light and Natural Light ❖ Why is this topic important? One challenge that most farmers face is to answer what happened to the planted crop that failed to grow. Understanding germination can be one way to find out the missing/inadequate component. Similarly, observing seed germination under natural and artificial light can be helpful to determine the variation of results due to weather conditions. ❖ What have others already learned about the subject? Everyone has little or some knowledge on how plants grow and what factors come into play. For example: temperature, type of soil, water supply, etc. ❖ What remains to be learned about the subject? We cannot figure out if the seed is healthy from the outside and/or if the seed is going to germinate successfully, but, there are several ways to test if the seeds are viable. ❖ Why are you using this methodology, as opposed to other methodologies, in carrying out the work? External conditions that lead to unsuccessful germination can be prevented by correcting the errors made earlier. Therefore, I chose one of the external condition that is capable to hamper a germination, light, to answer the question to “what happened to the planted crop that failed to grow?”
Final Project: A proposal for CCNY Online Website Assistant
Date: May 20th, 2019
To: Senior VP of CCNY Department of Academic Affairs,
Senior Associate of Department of Academic Effectiveness
From: Adham Morsy,
Rishika Lama Tamang
Subject: Proposal for The CCNY study website
Purpose
The purpose of our proposal is to request launching of an official website with the goal of creating a set of online tools with access to class lectures, notes and study guides to help CCNY students who faces barriers like work, family and income, towards achieving their highest academic successes, throughout the semesters.
Introduction
In today’s day, education is a necessity for every individual. Skills and education prepare successes for individuals and for the world. As a result, a college education remains the best investment a student can make in his or her future. Juggling work and study together had been the standard. College students work to pay for their school and the fact is that it has been that way for decades. But what has changed is that where earlier generations could earn enough to cover tuition and other expenses, today’s students are taking out loans to make ends meet. According to the report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, a quarter of college students are now both full-time workers and full-time students, and many more are working closer to full time. (“Reports”,2018) According to the U.S Department of Education, “Recent college students feel the weight of their students loan payments holding them back from achieving their full potential; And far too many college students feel that they are simply priced out of the education they need to set themselves up for the future success. (2017) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is among the lawmakers who has advocated for student-loan reform, pointed out that, “when she was student, a summer job was sufficient to pay for school. Now, a student working full-time earning minimum wage would make around 15,000 in a year, which is less than tuition and living expenses at most schools.” (Emily DeRuy, 2015) All of this data calls to a solution, for every hard-working student juggling between work and school, who deserves an opportunity for high-quality education that offers a clear path towards a successful future. We believe that the website we are proposing will be able to help our students either directly or indirectly in providing assistance, more like a helping hand, to their given situations caused by obligations to work and study.
However, our website will definitely help students who are obliged to miss their lectures under various unfavorable conditions, for which their studies and grades might be hampered. Many students attend University while working a part-time or a full-time to job, which doesn’t give them much time to be on top of the school work. Other Students could be shouldering family obligations like helping a family member who is sick or disabled. By the time those students study and keep up with the school work they realize that they have forgot some of the information they learned in class, and they will need to rely on notes or textbooks which are not very helpful. Especially during final exams, where students need to study materials for a whole semester in one or two days. Students will benefit from a website that contain all they need to study for their classes in one place, they only need to put the time and effort.
Proposed Program
We propose launching a school website that will contain lecture materials for students to use when they miss class explanations or review before major tests. The website will contain real recordings of lectures, recordings of review questions and answers in details given by either professors or tutors from that departement. It will also include a section for questions that will be sent directly to tutors and should be answered within 24-28 hours.
According to the Survey we performed on seventy-seven CCNY students, 91.1% of the surveyed students said that, at some point in their course, they have found difficulties understanding class lectures, and also 89% said that they sometimes use online resources like Youtube to either learn what they missed in class or topics that they didn’t understand in the first place. (see Appendix A for data)
College students, all around the states, take the use of tutoring services available to them as much as possible. These students seek for help hoping to understand and pass the courses. In a survey conducted by San Valley College on the students from 2012-2015 academic years, students who received tutoring services during the 2012-2015 academic years had an overall success rate of 7% higher than the campus-wide average for students who did not receive tutoring help (Valley College, 2016) (see Appendix B for bar graph representation). Some students also admitted that while they felt a private tutor would have helped their overall performance in certain courses, cost played a role in their decisions. (Shaikh, 2018)
This proposed proposal will consists of two phases: Phase I and Phase II. Each phase is determined based on overall consideration of how practicable and achievable it can prove to be. We have arranged both the phases, keeping in mind, that CCNY students are the ones hopeful of this website coming into reality and in given time, will be taking full advantage of this useful tool towards achieving a successful education, as they deserve.
Phase I
In this phase, we aim to launch the website for the Fall 2019. We found from the data we collected from CCNY students that 50 % of the surveyed students find themselves struggling in Math and more than 85% in Sciences. These struggling students were either confused or needed further explanation. This data justifies how urgent and important it is to bring this issue into proper action, therefore, these two subjects- Math and Science, will get our prime focus. Course materials related to Math and Science subjects will be available to the students first through this website. The website will be launched before the start of the fall semester 2019. One section of each course will be recorded and posted one by one so that fall 2019 students can benefit from this, and by the start of Spring 2020 semester, all of the courses that were offered during the summer will be available on the website. Some students asked for exam reviews and detailed questions and answers on the website. We will also use help from college peer tutors in order to upload short videos and exam reviews into the website. The website will also include a questions section that will be connected directly to peer tutors which need to be answered within 24-48 hours.
Phase II
Before the start of the Spring 2020 semester, we will post a survey on the website for courses that they want to be recorded. As in the Phase I, we will choose one section from each course to be recorded and posted on weekly basis on the website during the Spring 2020 semester. For this phase, we will dedicate two tutors per subject class in the website (In example, we will have two tutors for Math 201 and two tutors for Physics 207) as we expect more people to ask questions, and peer tutors will have the option to post the question with its answer if they see it may help other students. We will first start with a maximum of 3 peer tutors to answer the questions posted on the website. Then, eventually increase the number of peers as with increase of student engagement from the website.
Qualification
In this project Adham, as a sophomore biomedical engineer, who has experience in coding and web design from previous classes, will be responsible for the wireframe. The wireframe is the framework for storing visual work and content elements. He will also be responsible for coordinating with the professors and recording lecture materials.
Rishika Lama a freshman Computer Science major, who also has experience in programing languages HTML and CSS. Rishika will be responsible for content management, which would be uploading the lecture materials, videos/ audio lectures and designing the webpages of the website.
Task Schedule
1. Discovery and planning (weeks 1- 4)
2. Design (weeks 5-12)
4. Development and programming (weeks 12-19)
5. Beta testing and review (weeks 20-22 )
6.Maintenance and Enhancements (ongoing)
Budget
| Process | Cost |
| Website setup | Host: free if we use the ccny hostHiring a professional to set up: $200 |
| Website design | Custom designer for 6 weeks: $8000 |
| Content building | Professors will get their same pay Peer tutors: 15/hour |
| Website maintenance | Estimated annual payment : $500-$1000 per year |
Table of the estimated budget for the project in US dollars (Morsy, 2018).
Evaluation Techniques
- Instructor and student technical competency
- Course-creation process
- Collaborative course design
- Course maintenance
- Course assessment and evaluation
We would pay particular attention to whether or not our website work seamlessly in providing a user-friendly website that offers more useful resources/tools. Most of the comments we received from the survey was to make the website as easy to access and as understandable as possible. Also, the organization of the content was a key concern among the students because if the content is not organized properly, students will find similar difficulties as to using other already available resources like YouTube, and the website will not come up to its purpose. (See Appendix A. Fig 5)
The evaluation of the website will also determine to what scale has the project achieved its stated goals and objectives in the Proposed Plan. We will also determine the actual budget spent and the stated budget. Along with that, every month the Project Director will convene a meeting via email of the participants with major responsibility to review progress and gather to resolve any problems in the website that may develop as the website is launched. The entire group will discuss and consider feedbacks from students and other faculty members and based on the information, make corrections and adjustments, as necessary.
Appendix A
Pie Chart Representation of the Survey results conducted on 79 CUNY students
Fig 1. “CCNY Survey 2019-2020”. Survey Question 1.
Fig 2. “CCNY Survey 2019-2020”. Survey Question 4.
Fig 3. “CCNY Survey 2019-2020”. Survey Question 5.
Fig 4. “CCNY Survey 2019-2020”. Survey Question 9.
Appendix B
Success Rates for Students who received Tutoring vs. Campus Average
Fig. 5. Valley College, S. (2016). The Effects of Tutoring on Academic Performance. Retrieved from https://www.valleycollege.edu/about-sbvc/offices/office-research-planning/reports/tutoring-performance-measures-final-revisions-review.pdf
References
Emily DeRuy, N. J. (2015, October 28). At Universities, More Students Are Working Full-Time. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/at-universities-more-students-are-working-full-time/433245/.
Definitive Guide – How Much Should A Website Cost You? (May 19). (2019, May 02). Retrieved from https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/building-websites/how-much-should-a-website-cost/
U.S Department of Education. College Affordability and Completion: Ensuring a Pathway to Opportunity. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/college
Reports. (2018, October 05). Retrieved from https://cew.georgetown.edu/publications/reports/
Shaikh, A. (2018, January 16). Private tutors provide another financial hurdle for low-income students. Retrieved from https://www.michigandaily.com/section/administration/private-tutors-provide-another-financial-hurdle-low-income-students
Valley College, S. (2016). The Effects of Tutoring on Academic Performance. Retrieved from https://www.valleycollege.edu/about-sbvc/offices/office-research-planning/reports/tutoring-performance-measures-final-revisions-review.pdf
Final Group Proposal Presentation Slides
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BRDcH80r5z0MV8iVMX7frc6xqXpE5ojriwITOd99U-c/edit?usp=sharing
