To Professor: Crystal Rodwell

From: Nadeem Alli

Date: April 22nd, 2021

Topic: Self Reflection

Documenting your Sources Self-Reflection Memo

The discussion concerning documenting your sources discussion was created so the students can have a better understanding of what they need to look for when researching for their proposal. The discussion’s only requirement was to list your sources and how you are using them, and make suggestions to other peers. Although there were different proposals being worked on by both groups and individuals, the entire discussion had a similar consensus. Most responses were concerned about two factors, the cost and the innovation itself. This allowed for a simplistic summary of all the discussions that were posted, since everyone gave the suggestion of implementing a source to help find the cost of any materials being used. My teammates and I decided to include that outside sources showing the benefits of a proposal should be found and implemented into their proposals. This was included at the end of our summary because there weren’t many individuals proposing this idea even though it was a great tip. 

As student leaders within the discussion, we were responsible for keeping the discussion going. Initially, we attempted to split the workload two ways. First, we assigned individual students to different student leaders but we opted against it because some students might not contribute to the discussion so it wouldn’t be fair. Additionally, we tried to respond based on the order students posted their reply to the discussion. One leader would reply to the first and fourth comment, the second would respond to the second and fifth comment. Due to time constraints and lack of initial responses, we ended up just requiring that each of us respond to four students within the discussion. The discussion itself helped develop and improve different Course Learning Objectives. Specifically, it improved our source use practice and using the internet to locate appropriate sources. We improved our source use practice because individuals had both analyzed and summarized their source and described how it was used. Anisa Haxhi is a prime example of this, they mentioned “ I am replacing the black plastic material on top of the mouse with transparent material, acrylic. The first link has information about the mouse, and how it looks from different points of view.” (Haxhi, 2021) This post by the student shows that they analyzed the source and decided that it was best to use this source as a schematic or an illustrated parts catalogue to highlight the area she is focusing on and she also summarized the article for the readers by mentioning its giving information. Additionally, the discussion also helped improve the skill of using the internet to find appropriate sources, a student mentioned that, “I don’t think a DIY on how to build one is necessary.” (Richardson, 2021) This was posted in response to a student giving a link on a speaker’s DIY of a speaker. The student pointed out that the source is not relevant in relation to their proposal highlighting their ability to find appropriate sources.

                                                                                             02/02/2021

160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031

Hello Professor Rodwell,

My name is Nadeem Alli. I am currently pursuing an Electrical Engineering degree in City College in the Grove School of Engineering. I am currently 19 years old and the eldest sibling within my household, so I was very unsure of what major I wanted to study in the future, so I let my parents decide. Initially, I was attempting to learn Aviation Maintenance, but due to COVID-19, it shut down the school I was practicing at and preventing me from following a career in maintenance. When I was introduced to a technical high school, it created a liking to electrical engineering or engineering in general. However, due to COVID-19 and the new online learning, my interests have dulled because I’m at home all day staring at a screen so I picked up a new hobby and liking to the stock market over the pandemic and although I do not have that much knowledge on how to trade stocks or pursue a career within the stock market, I have started to dedicate more time and effort towards it in hopes of having that knowledge in the future. As for Electrical Engineering, I still plan on pursuing it because I am aware that often individuals do not know what they want to follow or what they want in a few years, so in case the stock market does not work out or cannot support me full time I would still have a bachelor’s in engineering, so I do not end up homeless or jobless in the future.

            Electrical Engineering is still interesting to me, but I do not have the same enthusiasm as before. I believe this mainly occurred because of the lack of hands-on and physical work I have to do, since we are online I can’t work with my hands-on school projects that I would be doing in a college campus setting. I still think that Engineering will be very useful in the future since a wide variety of technological advances are being developed and the need for Engineers are rising because more computer and AI-based technologies are being used in everyday life. I believe this will result in higher job demand for electrical engineers to upkeep the technologies and help maintain them. Electrical Engineering in the long term is a solid long term career path to follow, it provides much more than the stock market in terms of health care and other benefits, and room for growth, but I still want to pursue both paths because they both provide different benefits that I would need in the future. The Stock market is often seen as a gamble, when in reality there is tons of statistics and numbers behind everything, and with the right amount of research I think it can be quite an interesting field to follow, which is why I definitely see myself studying it in the future, whether its part time or full time.

                                                                                                                 Sincerely,

                                                                                                                 Nadeem Alli