ENEG11001 Engineering Skills 1 2011

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health

ENEG11001 – Engineering Skills 1 2011

Project 2: History of Technology

Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, FLEX

Introduction

An important part of joining any profession, including engineering, is being aware of

what has gone before. Engineering has been responsible for some of the greatest
developments society has had, as well as some of the greatest disasters. This project will
help you to understand the context of current engineering practice by appreciating the
history of technology and engineering activities.

Project Scope

Much of the theory that we rely upon as engineers is complex, and must be simplified,
with the result that there are many unknowns in Engineering. Many standards are built
on experience – whether that experience is success or failure. Your company has been
contracted to develop an expo to inform designers of the issues relating to success and
failures of the past. Your team will be responsible for one important historical
engineering development or significant “disaster” in the expo. The event will have had a
significant environmental or social impact.

The Contract manager has negotiated that the expo will be a series of posters (each
developed and presented by the research team) that details the following:

Developments:
• A clear, comprehensive account of the development
• The social and economic framework in which it occurred
• The impact of the development on society, the economy, the environment and
future technology
• Evidence to support your claims

Disasters:
• An accurate historical account of the disaster
• The cause of the disaster paying special attention to the factors which are often
found in many disasters, such as the use of new technologies or the extension of a
technology to a new level, design errors either due to incompetence or the
neglect of an unexpected physical effect, flawed construction techniques, poor
communication, time or organisational pressures, economic pressure or
corruption.
• The economic, environmental and social costs

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 ENEG11001 Engineering Skills 1 2011

• The recovery phase if an extensive period of rehabilitation was required

• Changes, if any, to engineering practice that occurred as a result of the failure
• Any guilty parties and examines the penalties they suffered
• An analysis of how the disaster could have been prevented

Learning Outcomes

This project should help you achieve the following learning outcomes:
1. Discuss the role of a professional engineer within a business environment,
showing an appreciation of the interactions between the technical aspects of the
role and the social, cultural, environmental, economic and political contexts
3. Apply information literacy skills and information technology skills to engineering
projects
5. Describe, apply and justify risk assessment and workplace health and safety in
engineering activities
7. Articulate an appreciation of the complex nature of engineering activities
including ill -defined situations and problems involving uncertainty, imprecise
information, and conflicting technical and non-technical factors
9. Provide evidence of a professional capacity to communicate, work and learn;
individually and in peer learning teams

Project Submission

Week 4 Annotated Bibliography & Poster – 4 pm Friday 25th March 2011

As the outcomes of your project will inform professional practice, they need to be
presented in three formats:

1. An annotated bibliography of the resources you have found. You are

required to find at least ten different references, with at least four different types
of references (such as books, journal articles, newspaper articles, websites etc).
You are also required to detail the process you went through in finding the
resources you have used. It should be emailed to your lecturer by 4pm Friday
26th March 2011.

2. A Poster that details the required information in the scope on your

engineering development or disaster. The poster should be A1 in size and portrait
in orientation. It should be emailed to your lecturer by 4pm Friday 26th March
2011.

3. You will then present this poster to your peers and other engineering staff.
All students must be in attendance for the entire poster presentation session.
This should be a team presentation. Flex students will present via teleconference.

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