Quartile 2

Dimensioning of Structures

7PPX0
General

The course is well organized, as experienced by students.

Lectures/Project

The quality of the lectures is quite good. However the teachers notice that especially on the Friday a lot of students don’t show up. This is something the teachers see as problematic and may be the reason quite some students fail this course. However the fact that video lectures are online is considered positive by students, the teachers don’t like this that much. They should be an addition to the lectures, not a replacement.
For next year the intention is to start up study groups like is done this year also for statics of structures. In this way hopefully students will practice more with the exercises. The con of this is that it then will be in the evening since there is no more space to place them inside the timeslot.

The practice materials will not be changed. The answers will be given, not the explanations and calculations will not be given. When this is done students will read it according to the teachers, and don’t learn anything. Studying=practising.

Examination

The study material is quite good, except of the reader for steel. This one is considered as too expensive and too hard to learn from. Sometime student find it hard to understand what is happening and formulas are not explained well enough. The reason for this reader is that it is also used in later courses, but this is only useful for SD students.
The amount of students that failed the course is quite high. The main reason for this is that a lot of students don’t attend the lectures. Some exam exercises were literally in the lectures and still many did them wrong. The teacher mentions she will try to find another moment than the Friday afternoon so hopefully more students will attend the lectures.

Workload

The workload is considered high for this course. However the amount of lectures is necessary for this course and cannot be lowered.

General

In general the course is seen as a good and structured course. It offers a challenge for the students and the lecturers are enthusiastic. This year the course has changed regarding the tutor sessions. To increase the success rate of this course, the tutor sessions of the Friday afternoon were made obligatory. The setup worked well, but a lot of students complained about the mandatory tutoring every week. They had the feeling the universal approach of own responsibility is taken away. According to Gabi the only way more students pass is for students to practice more. With the mandatory tutor sessions this is achieved.

Lectures/project

This course is very broad and therefore has a lot of different lecturers and parts of the course. This year there was a new timber lecturer. This lecturer was arranged on very short notice which left him with a lot of pressure last minute. Also it was his first time in front of a lecture hall. A lot of students noticed his nerve and the teacher was not in control over the students. Though he has a lot to learn, he really did his best and was really enthusiastic. Gabi has the faith that next year he will have improved a lot.
During the tutor sessions homework had to be submitted. Now these homework assignments were not returned to the students. In this way students can’t see what they did wrong and learn from it. For next year maybe the checked assignments could be handed out during the tutor sessions so students can learn from their mistakes. Also a lot of practice questions from the reader or book did not include the elaborations of the questions. Students therefore spend a lot of time searching for their mistake and would like the elaborations from all questions. Gabi explained that they will not give all the elaborations since students will learn less from it and they want to use these questions for the exam also.

Examination

The examination of this course is built up of one midterm of 20 percent and a final exam of 80 percent. The midterm consists of points gained by presence during the tutor sessions and by handing in homework assignments. The way the midterm was constructed was new compared to last year. In these tutor sessions there was one student assistant for approximately 50 students. The idea was that this tutor session was for students to work together, help each other out and ask the student assistant as last option. In reality it was not clear to everyone that working together was allowed and the student assistants had to help a lot. This resulted in students who had to wait a long time till their questions were answered. For next year maybe this should be better stated.
The final exam contained quite some mistakes. Some of these mistakes were corrected during the exam which resulted in student being distracted from their work. Other mistakes were corrected afterwards. For the students all these mistakes came across as sloppy. Another remark on the exam was the mechanical engineering part of the exam, which now only discussed two topics of the study material. In this way a lot of knowledge is not tested. For next year maybe more topics could be tested with fewer questions and points per topic.

Workload

The workload experienced in this course is way higher than other courses. This is due to the high amount of study material and the difficulty of the course. When looking at the numbers, the average number of hours students spend on this course is representable for 5 ects. The high amount of study material is something which cannot be changed.

AUDE Project 2

7OO5X0
General

The course is seen as informative and the average grade of the course is a 7. Sometimes the planning and organization of the course was not clear. The study guide was not exactly followed and this gave some unclarity.

Project

The reader ‘Made in Eindhoven’ has not been used by everyone and needs to be elaborated in more detail to properly function. It can be and is already a useful reader, it needs to be improved but this is already clear. The reader has been made to have a better understanding of the specific topics and will support the student during the project. When it is improved it can also be used more and better.
The study guide was most of the time not followed during the project and because of this the structure and planning of the project was not clear. The tutors were also really different from each other and project groups sometimes did completely other things. It is logical that there is a difference between the tutors, but there also needs to be a clear red line for the students. The organisation of the course needs to be improved, to give students more clarity. The subject of the course is seen as informative and useful.

Examination

Students ask for clear rubrics, to give a clearer idea of how the presentations are assessed. The feedback given by the tutors is most of the time experienced positively.

Workload

There is a high workload just before the presentations, therefore there is often a lack of time to make and prepare the presentation. The distribution of the workload will keep its difficulties, it is part of the project work.

Communication

Students most of the time lack on presentation skills. Presentations need to get more attention, most of the time students do not have time anymore to prepare their presentation.
The communication between students need to become more active. The knowledge about how projects work and points that need to get attention need to be mentioned to the next generation of students at the start of the project. This will improve the transition between the first and the second year.

There is often a lack of knowledge for the project about basic topics like analysis drawings and concept drawings. Something needs to be done about this, but this cannot be done within this project, this will also improve the transition between the first and the second year.

Time and subjectivity will still be difficult topics during evaluations of projects.

General

The project itself was interesting and challenging which was appreciated by a lot of students. There was also more opportunity for feedback from the teachers compared to the first A project. The extra feedback rounds were appreciated by the students who actually made use of them. Mostly the students who did not need extra help came to these sessions instead of the ones who did.

Lectures/project

With some teachers the regular feedback moments tended to take longer than planned sometimes. This resulted in some students not getting sufficient feedback during that session. There were already smaller groups for this project to make it easier. Another solution can be tighter schedules for the teachers.

Examination

The final examination was kind of chaotic. At first the idea was to have an exhibition, which later changed into regular presentation. Some groups got really little time to give their presentations because the ones before took longer than expected. However the posters were also taken into consideration for the grade and many tutors looked at these. The posters were seen as important for this project.
The exposition was seen as really positive by the students. So it was unfortunate that this could not be realised.

Workload

The workload was not optimal. During the first couple of weeks there was too much to do for the students which caused some of them to lack behind from the start. The planning could maybe be changed to ease this.

General

In general, the course was interesting and learning full. The location was nearby with helped a lot with adjusting new building into the current situation. The location also gave some freedom, because a lot is happening in the upcoming years around the station the student could decide to which time frame, they wanted their building to fit in the most. Because the location was nearby it was combined with a site visited to the LocHal which was a great example how to interpret and built up a library.
The same point of attention was kept of Q1, there was a lack of personal feedback in the tutor hours. This lack came from big groups around 25 persons with 2 tutors. To worse this situation not all tutors where there on the day they were expected, resulting in a week of 2 day with 1 tutor and a large group. The attention of these tutors was not equally divided between all of students.

Project

Lectures were interesting for the workshop that followed. The workshops, however, took more time than its given. The references projects were also interesting and forced the students to look into different kind of libraries and see the deference and types. This helped to understand better how a library works and what is important.

Examination

Only a final presentation was rated, even though every two weeks there was a soft deadline. With only one graded deadline the study load at the end is really high, as expected. Whit regard to a few tutors, not all feedback given during the presentation was constructive criticism but leaned towards being rude. The feedback also did not correspond in all cases with the final result; really bad feedback was given together with good grades.

Workload

The amount of hours students spent on the course is quite high, more than on every other course or the other projects. The workshops were taking a lot of time during the tutor hours.

Cours specific points

The course gives insight what to expect in the work field of architecture. It is difficult to buy materials in a group, especially if the group is larger than 5 persons. Overall the course is improving over the years.

General

The study guide in general was quite vague in instances regarding the precise type of delivery required. On the other hand, every week was well explained in its purpose for the project, but unfortunately, it does not apply to a personal design or a tutor's opinion. Maybe it would be best if it would be treated as a guideline instead of a mandatory delivery of material.
Announcements were really good and always announced with plenty of time beforehand

Examination

This The course had a lack of experience from students and little help from the study guide. But it has to be said that this is the challenge we are facing, and as architects, we have to find an efficient solution. The challenge itself was probably the most stimulating part of this course.

Workload

The planning was not great but still not so bad. It is nice that deliveries were on a Monday afternoon so you have more time to check everything needed. However, in the first week, the majority of the design is required, while as you go ahead with the program is more trying to patch up all the mistakes and not abandoning your design because of too many mistakes or the tutor's opinion. A nice solution would try to adopt a planning were only a final delivery is required while the personal design can process without constant stress for delivery. In theory, the student would be able to utilize its own approach to the design and try to stay close as much as possible to the tutor's advice instead of deliveries.

BPSD Project 2

7TT5X0
General

The second project of Building Physics and Structural Design was well organized. The study guide was clear and contained all information that was needed to do the project. It was a bit too detailed, but this will be adjusted. The group was divided over two teachers and the quality of the tutoring was good.

Examination

The project consisted of an intermediate presentation which was about different variants and a final presentation about one elaborated variant. This project focused on the Building Physics part of the building which was designed during the first project.
The tutoring was in small groups, which made it easier to ask questions. The disadvantage of this was that sometimes you did not hear what other students were doing with their project.

The feedback was not always clear and was sometimes a bit confusing. This could be improved.

Workload

The expectations of the intermediate presentation were experienced as low in comparison to the expectations of the final presentation. We suggested two options to equalize the workload. First of all the deadline of the intermediate presentation could be shifted to a week earlier. In this way the amount of time will be more equal to the amount of work that has to be done. Another option is to increase the expectations of the intermediate presentation.

Course specific points

At the end of the project the students only got the grade and no further explanation. The teacher came up with the question whether we would like to have more elaborated feedback. We advised to do so.

General

In general, the course had a overall good score. The studyguide was clear and students liked the assignment, because they had a lot of freedom. Students were also satisfied with the teachers. One disadvantage was that Ronald Rovers focussed too much on only the energy aspect and not on acoustics for example. Next year, this will be improved and the teachers are going to try to implement all the aspects of Building Physics. Overall, the students had good tutoring.
The Professional Skill about planning was handy to have, but it would be better to implement this Professional Skill in project BPSD 1. In project BPSD 1, the assignment is bigger and it would be more helpful to learn/get feedback on how to plan in this project.

Examination

The examination consisted out of a midterm presentation and final presentation. These were assessed by at least two teachers, which gave a good impression for the students.
Some students missed some pre-knowledge about Building Services. This is because they didn’t get much information about this in the course Introduction Building Physics and Material Science in the first year. There were some readers available about this on Canvas, but this was not communicated well. Therefore, this will be communicated better next year.

Workload

The workload was fine. It was equal to the 5 ECTS.

General

Canvas was used clearly for the structure and layout of the course. The weekly planning made was handy to use and helps to organize the weekly elements of the course. However, a study guide would be helpful to give a clear and concise overview of the total program of the course.

Project

The individual tutoring was helpful for the development of the program. However, the amount of tutoring hours is quite limited, especially when comparing the B-project (only 15 minutes) with the A-project (8 hours). This should be made more even between the different projects.

Examination

The setup of the final examination was sufficient to test the knowledge. Having to imply knowledge of previous course was an interesting way to develop the project.

Workload

The workload of the project would on average be more than the stated 140 hours. However, most of this work needs to be done after the midterm as than the entire report needs to be made. This makes an uneven distribution of the workload with a high peak at the end of the project.

Course specific points

Interesting to work with a new design tool/mechanism: Sefaira.
As the reports are all individual there is not a lot of contact between the group members. Discussing the work with more students at the same time would be helpful to understand each other’s work and struggles making group learning possible.
Different drawings had to be made for the final report. More clarity on these drawings should be given to improve the quality of these drawings as well as the final report.
During the presentations, it is preferred that the teacher of that presenting group is present to be able to give clear feedback.

General

Regarding the use of material and websites, the opinions were mixed. Some students found some parts of the reader confusing and more unintuitive with additional BPS investigations. On the other hand the Canvas page was well organised with a separate page on what was to do.

Lectures/project

The list of requirements did not flow properly with the other sections of the project, ending up in plenty of uncertainty when taking initiative. For example, which calculations were mandatory, which ones were optional etc.. In addition, the introduction to working with building physics was a solid challenge itself, which required extensive research in order to be solved properly.
• On the positive side, the students really enjoyed the plenty of programs and software options to work with. Ending up in more freedom for developing what suited a design best, giving a fair chance of making the project actually work.

Examination

Opinions about the tutoring hours were mixed for students. On one hand it was very well appreciated that tutoring was only an hour long, as well as collaborating and getting into contact with other students within the group.
On the other hand, this meant that feedback was too little and for some students even struggling to understand if they were on the right track or not. Together with the fact that there were only two teachers which did not provide enough feedback.

Workload

For the students, the work was not spread evenly throughout the quartile. The course resulted more uneven after the midterm, with the first weeks being very simple. While the rest of the weeks, require a lot of research and trial and error, which lead to complication for some students to get results. The last two weeks felt more as a rush to catch up to all the new assignments.

USRE Project 2

7PP5X0
General

The course is evaluated positively. The content is experienced as relevant. The studyguide and the studymaterials are very clear and the tutoring is seen as very useful.

Project

The feedback that is given is seen as useful and supporting. The purpose of the feedback is also to let students think about topics themselves.
The organization of the project is experienced positively, working in groups works out really well. Besides that the students learn to think one step ahead.
When students haven’t done the previous project, students are still able to follow this course.
The presentation of the municipality by an alumni of the university has been seen as interesting and relevant to the project.
There project of the students is continuously reflected and this reflection is experienced as very useful.
During the project there was some lack of knowledge about the stakeholders involved, however the students should have some knowledge about it after BAU studio 2. Besides that it is also a matter of thinking logically. Next time, there will be more attention and a better explanation about this matter.
Students also experience a lack of knowledge about finances, however nothing has to be calculated in this course yet. The purpose is to get a feeling for dealing with finances and students do not to need to go deeper into the finances.

Examination

The examination is experienced well and clear. The deadline in week 7 is experience positively.

Workload

The course takes a bit more effort than the average. Students also sometimes like to spent more time on their project to make improvements. Besides that the planning is very clear, this makes it hard to deviate from the planning.

Course specific points

In quartile one the groups were actually too big caused by the late description to the course by students. This bother the good students, who subscribe on time. The teachers cannot do anything about it and want the students to subscribe for courses on time. An atmosphere has to be created where every student subscribes on time.
The project is build up in layers in different scale levels, this forces students to think about all layers. When adding another layer it will probably make the project better, but it will cost too much time.

The teacher try to change from locations every year.

Next year there will be a lot more international students. This can form a problem, because there is less information available in English about the locations in the Netherlands. Location abroad are also not an option since there are completely different rules and it is easier to go to a location in the Netherlands. When doing a project abroad it can may be, be combined with an excursion of CHEOPS.

Native and internationals don’t often mix with each other, this is an attention point.

General

In general, the project was graded quite well. Students liked how the project was on a real location they knew. Furthermore, the discussion with the people of the municipality was experienced in a positive and useful way. The projects together with the discussion with the municipality gave a very good impression of the USRE
discipline.

Lectures/project

The project, in general, was assessed really well. Students liked the way how they started on a large scale and after that zoomed in into the project site. The feedback
moments were useful for the students. However, during the feedback moments, some groups were discussed more than others. Therefore some groups received more feedback than other groups.

Examination

Different to this project was that no report needed to be delivered. Only a final presentation and posters needed to be delivered. Some students did not like this kind of examination. On the poster, it was not possible to give much information with text and when during the presentation text was forgotten, then it looked like this information was missing. Therefore students would have liked it more if they could make a brochure instead of the posters. In this brochure more information could be given and that would therefore be a backup for the presentation.

Workload

The number of hours spend on the project was for most students less than the 140 hours that are equal to the 5 ECTS. Furthermore, some students experienced that the workload was not equally divided over the quartile. Students experienced that at some moments it felt that they did not have to do anything and at other moments they had to do too much.

General

The course Project USRE: Urban Systems B was a nice and interesting project. The course itself had a good structure and was nice to follow. However, the studyguide was a bit chaotic with a lot of information in the schedule and the actual assignment was a bit unclear what was specifically asked.
Another thing that was a surprise for some students is that this project continues on the first project of USRE, since a lot of students had switched between the projects of AUDE and USRE. It was a bit hard because some groups consisted of mostly people who did not do the first project and had therefore not the full knowledge of the last course, this took a lot of time to keep up with the others and continue the project with a proper knowledge of the background of Breda.
Furthermore, it was a bit hard to start the project with a site that we could not enter itself, it is hard to get a clear visual of the site by looking through a fence on one certain point. However it was nice that we had the opportunity to visit Breda within the scheduled time.

Project

For most of the students it is a nice way of lecturing when first +/- an hour of lectures and after that time to work on the project. In this way the information about the assignment and the extra knowledge can be easily given to the students in a nice way. Since the lecture part does not take the whole afternoon, it gave the opportunity to the students to also have time to work on the project itself. So the proportion between lectures and project work was good. Also it was nice to have scheduled feedback times to not wait for it the whole afternoon but knowing when to have the materials that you wanted to discuss within these meetings ready. The amount of time that each group was given was also nice because each group could get answers to all the questions within the feedback session. When there were questions about what was requested sometimes there was a difference between the tutors which gave also uncertainty to the students.

Examination

The examination of this course was through a midterm and a final presentation. However, in the beginning it was with a bigger group that was split in two after the midterm presentation. Which gave a good group size, because it was better to have a smaller group at the last part of the assignment, however the groups were suddenly with three people less which therefore needed new structure within the group.
The final presentations took a lot of time since there were a lot of groups. Maybe it is better to make more timeslots with less groups so that the presentation will be more interesting.

Workload

The workload that students experienced is good, With the 15 minutes scheduled feedback it gave a lot of time to work on the project in the scheduled hours. With the choice to work on the project within the hours it gave the students some flexibility which is good, because the students learn also to work on the project and schedule for themselves the hours they want to work on it.

Course specific points

For this course a specific point that comes to mind is the communication and continuation of the project without the responsible lecturer. It was good communication and the students did not disadvantage when she was not able to continue lecturing, Aloys did take over alright and the project could continue without a change in schedule.