Shrivats 11E Technology Evaluation

Design Cycle Stage by Stage Evaluation

I found the investigation stage to be more challenging than I thought it would be. I think my guiding questions for research were well thought-out however I knew that my research would have to be very specific to find the answers need. However I ended up researching more than I needed and covered topics such as suede which didnt benefit me at all. This was reflected in my research analysis which lacked depth because I didn't find a lot of the information to be relevant. But the problem was that I couldn't find the specific answers I said I was going to get in my research plan. This led me to broaden my research and I started taking down any information that was related to laptop holders without considering their relevance. When I started writing my final specifications after my research only a couple of them were based on my research about other laptop holder models while the rest were ones I thought of that would solve the problem in my design brief. I think my methods of testing were okay, not great but okay. I thought I would receive the feedback that I needed even though the questions were not that detailed. There was also a big similarity between my expert questions and the questions in my questionnaire; one of my methods of testing. If I was to repeat this I would try to keep my research relevant and persist on searching deep to find the information I need. I think I would have to show an improvement in two ATL's: Information literacy and Information transfer skills in order to get better answers to my guiding questions and design better specifications which could have led to a better and more interesting product. A solid investigation almost always leads to a quality product. The design stage is usually always the most difficult for me and it was no different this unit. To say that my drawings are not of sufficient caliber for Year 11 would probably be an understatement. This is why I decided to use Google Sketch Up for my Initial, Chosen and Developmental drawings. However I did include one two point perspective drawing of my final design but it looked like something I did very quickly and I didn't put a lot of thought and time into it. My design also looked very simplistic given the fact that we had 10 classes to complete our work. My written on the other hand, was very descriptive. I wrote comparisons for each of my initial design against each of my specifications, explained whether it follows the specifications or not and justified my explanation. It took a lot of time but it was the only way for me to decide which was the better than the rest. This is why I had to spend an equally long amount of time on my justification of my designs to explain why I picked it above the others. Ideally I would like to spend more time on the actual designs than the written work next time. Overall I have not shown much of an improvement from last year's design stage, particularly in the major unit at the end of the year, and I'm disappointed about that. The plan stage was quite a short one because of the extra design lesson which is why we weren't supposed to plan for the entire create stage but rather just a couple of classes. I think considering those circumstances I planned quite well considering I had to plan on a lesson by lesson basis because of all the modifications and additions I made in order to give me enough work to last 10 classes and remove a part of my creation that I didn't need (the border). I also think that certain parts of my plan lack the detail to reach the highest levels in the criterion. A major improvement would have been to include references to my templates. By doing so I would have probably made this easier for someone else to follow if there were labeled and detailed template drawings. Maybe if I had taken time to make good templates I would have realized what was wrong instead of making changes, such as the leg support addition I added to the legs, during the create process. Overall I think that my planning skills have improved since last year. However I still need to be more detailed and specific especially when other people have to be able to read and understand my directions.

The create phase of the unit was the one I enjoyed the most. Despite the changes I made to my product it was for me to be back in the workshop sawing, drilling and hammering (I found filing and sanding to get boring though). A definite improvement for me was my sawing and filing skills. I started to be able to cut more efficiently; getting the job done faster and with fewer errors than I normally would. Hand-drilling and screwing is still a skill that could use some improvement though. I decided to use the automatic hand drill and screwdriver instead of manual ones because it saved a lot of time. I am looking to try and use manual tools for those tasks during a future create unit. Towards the end of the creation stage I began to wonder if the worked I had planned to last 9-10 classes would actually be enough to keep me working for all those classes. In the end it turned out that I had almost an entire lesson (not including the first one which I didn't start creating). Of course I wouldnt have had enough work to do if it wasn't for the leg support and cup holder additions that I added to my creation which I thought of while recording my process journal notes. I think the cup holder greatly increased the appeal of my product to my target audience because it would make it more convenient for someone working for long periods of time, because they will have a place to put their drink where they could easily reach it. I tried to keep it towards the top corner of my product, this way there would be a less chance of someone's arm accidently knocking a glass full of water onto their computer or onto themselves. As I noted in my process journal, the blocks I added for support to the legs ensured that the table wouldn't wobble when weight was put on it. I tested to see whether there was any improvement by placing somewhat heavy objects (Frandsen's cupboard creation) on it and I found that the table appeared to be more stable as opposed to before where it felt slightly wobbly as if it could collapse at any time. In general I had a bit of fun during this stage of the design cycle and also improved on some woodshop skills so I'm happy about how things turned out in the end.

Environmental Impact of Design

Considering the fact that my design it mostly out of wood I dont think it would be fair to say that my product is very green especially looking at wood as a resource in todays world. Unless the trees being cut down for the resources to create my product were replanted, my product would not be able to be mass produced without a negative knock-off effect on the environment. Although wood is technically renewable, we are witnessing it being turned into a resource that is becoming more and more limited. Deforestation as a result of urbanization and deforestation for wood is the main cause of this problem. If my product was to be mass produced and released into the consumer market then the demand for wood would increase even further and so would the rate of deforestation. Although one cant imagine how one product would make a difference, there are thousands and thousands of companies across the world that put in orders for wood. My product would also result in a lot of wasted wood which would end up trashed because of the cup holder. While I dont think this would necessarily become a problem if those trees are replanted, my laptop holder will more than likely do very little than contribute to the depletion of trees and forests.

Testing against specifications and rating how well I followed them

Should be made of wood

Could have legs

Legs could be bendable (if it has)

Must be large enough to hold the tablet on top of it It was more than big enough to hold my tablet. 5/5

Should be made out of hand tools

Should not overheat when a laptop is placed on it.

Must be completed within time frame given

Should be The wood should able to hold be easy to cut an object equally as heavy as a tablet I tested this with Frandsens cupboard which was significantly heavier than the tablet and it looked like it could easily handle the weight 5/5 The wood wasnt hard to cut at all, I didnt encounter any problems with it 5/5

The design was completely made out of wood. 5/5

The product included two legs, however they were not the 4 individual legs I had originally targeted to make 4/5

The legs cannot bend, however this was a very low priority 2/5

For the drilling and screwing I used the automatic handdrills so I didnt fully meet this specification. 3/5

The wood is quite thick and can easily withstand the heat 5/5

Initially it would have been completed a couple classes before the deadline but the additions made the workload last till the end 4/5

Total: 38/45 Average rating per specification: 4.22/5 I think I managed to follow most of my specifications. The only thing I am disappointed about was the fact that I didnt end up completing the entire project by hand like I thought I was going. As for the specification about the bendable legs, I didnt prioritize them very high so in the end I thought the design was overall good enough for me to leave it out when it came to selecting the final design.

Short Survey of Classmates

On a scale of 1-10 rate how appealing my product looks? Is there anything about the product you find interesting or think is really good? Is there any aspect of my product that you don't like? Is there anything that I can do to improve it? Do you think this product helped solve my problem (to find a good laptop holder that can withstand heat)? It will probably withstand heat, but I doubt you should hold a laptop in it, as the laptop can break and it is too heavy Definitely Would you want to use this as a laptop holder? Lastly, do you think this would suit my target audience (14-16 year olds)

The drink holder

I think it Use lighter might be a wood little too heavy, especially if you want to put a laptop inside of it

Maybe if I Yes was at home, but I wouldnt want to take it out with me

The size; its big enough to place my laptop and comfortable use it.

The two legs. Since they can't fold it's harder to keep them away

Four legs would have probably made it look cooler

Maybe as something I would use if I was working for long hours but not in class

It depends, some people don't like laptop holders. But I think it will suit most people.

The cup holder

I still think there's a good chance the drink could get knocked over and spill all over the laptop

Make the cup holder deeper (I understand you can only do it to a certain point)

Of course, it's thick enough to do so.

For Personal Yes project and EE where you spend loads of time nonstop staring at the screen, this way I can still get a drink to stay refreshed while working.

Cup holder

The tiny wooden blocks look ugly I think the make the design look worse

Four legs, that way the design has more support and that way you don't need the ugly blocks

It looks like you could put hotter things on it.

Yes, (despite the blocks)

It may not appeal to them but in terms of function, yes.

Cup-holder

Doesn't look Paint it. Add Yes attractive. color to it, maybe even spray paint. It would look way better than it does now

No (don't like No, not to use laptop enough desks) appeal

7 7 7 6 6 NOTE: I chose a larger number of classmates to ask for the rating than the other questions Quantitative Analysis
0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Rating product of out 10

0% 0% 0% 1 (terrible) 2 3 40% 4 5 6 60% 7 8 9 10 (Outstanding)

Most people think that an accurate rating for my product would be 7/10. I dont find this surprising because I would have given myself about the same (I thought it was 6/10)