Before my first day of classes, I thought that my first year at the University of Illinois would revolve solely around mathematics and science. However, my ENG 198 class introduced ideas called “The Missing Basics” which are skills that every engineer should have but many lack.
I suppose it's understandable why many of these students would not have these “missing basics” - As engineering students, we all expect to take part in labs, lectures, and discussions about science and technology, not learning about asking better questions or making lists. We enter college knowing that most of our curriculum will be science-related. For instance, electrical engineers are required to take a 4 hour composition course called RHET 105. This is the only required class that is related to communicating ideas to others. This is nothing compared to the 31 hours of basic math and science courses that EE majors must take. And though the EE courses must be heavily math and science oriented for us to get a good understanding of the field we will be working in, it is heavily unbalanced
it terms of missing basics and science classes.
And these missing basics are so useful – they can be applied immediately once acquired. Learning how to ask better questions could help me gain important advice from other EE majors on how to be a better student. Gaining better communication skills may help me land an internship or help me be more successful in collaborating with other students. And breaking larger problems into smaller ones may (hopefully!) help me manage my time better with studying and help me get more than 4 hours of sleep.
To improve my questions, I plan to talk with my ECE mentor at least once a week and ask him about ways that I can make the most out of my education. To improve my communication skills (besides the obvious way of talking to others), I intend to write everyday. And I'm going to practice decomposing problems by laying my homework over the course of a week rather than a night (it would be good to do this as soon as possible).
I hope to see improvements in all of these missing basics by the end of September
Are there any other missing basics that need work other than like communication and questioning?
ReplyDeletehey there I really liked your idea of using the huge amount of HW as a tool to practice decomposing. I always thought of complex projects when it comes to decomposing; however, it HW can can pretty complicated too especially the ones you drag to the last night :D
ReplyDeleteThe RHET 105 example is very well orchestrated. I now wonder if skipping that requirement via AP scores is a good thing. I for one...do not care to write about most "forced" things such as literature. I do however enjoy posting these sort of blogs in so far as they are open ended and based on constructive opinion.
ReplyDeleteDarwin!
ReplyDeleteDude, great post! I'd say that was the beat one I've read yet. You articulated all your ideas very well, and you didn't sound like you were writting a formal essay. Great tone, wonderful structure, and a good read overall. Nice!
Nice post man, you had a different take on homework, which is probably good considering how much we will soon have. RHET 105 is defenitely going to be a huge asset if we want to better pitch our ideas. Even this post, shows that you are well on your way to becoming a better writer
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly is taught in RHET 105? I tested out of it but from what people told me before it didn't sound too useful. I think ENG 198 will be better for working on communication and composition. we'll see at the end of the semester if this is really the case.
ReplyDeleteI love the ideas you have for improving on the missing basics. Leaving all the homework for one night and at the last minute is a problem i suffer from myself and spreading it out is an easy way to improve. I also really like the idea of meeting with your advisor once a week, this is the person who will be helping plan your education so it's very smart to get to know them very well.
ReplyDelete