Course Credits

[RiNaZ]

I know this topic has been dicussed before, but i couldnt seem to find it anywhere in the forum, i checked every single page!

well ... my question is, im done with all my classes and i have 2 more technical electives that i have to do. Most of students exchange their 6 months internship with those tech. electives.

For me, i rather do FSAE full time, and exchange that with course credits. But my advisor told me that, if it's a group project, it's more likely not to be approved by my engineering dept.

Reason being is that, they had a case a couple years back where a student were doing a thesis on SAE Aero Design, and when other team members found out that he got course credit for it, they all wanted a piece of the pie. And this creates a lot of problem because, you have a group member who does nothing and still get course credit.

So my advisor told me that unless it's an individual projec, i can forget about getting course credit for FSAE. So does anybody here have any ideas on how i can make FSAE an individual project? I mean, i could make a thesis about wing design on FSAE, but that still requires a group help on making those wings and the parts.

Any idea would be much appreciated, thanks!!!

[RiNaZ]

I know this topic has been dicussed before, but i couldnt seem to find it anywhere in the forum, i checked every single page!

well ... my question is, im done with all my classes and i have 2 more technical electives that i have to do. Most of students exchange their 6 months internship with those tech. electives.

For me, i rather do FSAE full time, and exchange that with course credits. But my advisor told me that, if it's a group project, it's more likely not to be approved by my engineering dept.

Reason being is that, they had a case a couple years back where a student were doing a thesis on SAE Aero Design, and when other team members found out that he got course credit for it, they all wanted a piece of the pie. And this creates a lot of problem because, you have a group member who does nothing and still get course credit.

So my advisor told me that unless it's an individual projec, i can forget about getting course credit for FSAE. So does anybody here have any ideas on how i can make FSAE an individual project? I mean, i could make a thesis about wing design on FSAE, but that still requires a group help on making those wings and the parts.

Any idea would be much appreciated, thanks!!!

[Igor]

I would think that as long as you do all the design of a single component it doesnt't matter who does the production part. That is of course if you're studying engineering. When you get a job later you won't be on the production line assembling your own designs either.

Igor

[James Waltman]

If you only design the part and don't manufacture it you'll be missing out on a big part of the process. You might not be on the production line assembling your own parts later but its important to have an idea how that happens too. You don't want to be one of those guys that designs something really cool but looks like an ass because it can't be made.

To answer the original question: We can set up independent study courses here to get credit for working on the FSAE car. Usually the students take a system or part and research, design, and manufacture it. These are typically set up for 2 credits but it can vary. A full time student takes 15 credits (about equal to 15 hours per week in class). School policy says that should be accompanied by a few hours of homework per credit. This should work out to about 40 hours per week. If I actually set up an independent study working on the car that followed the schools recommended credit per hour guideline I would have gotten a few hundred credits last year.

I think that you need to set it up so that what you do can be quantified and graded. It's probably not a good idea to set it up so that you have to depend on other people to get it done. A single person could do wing design and manufacture without too much trouble (depending on how you choose to manufacture them). Making it independent from the team can lead to problems as well. What happens if you plan on putting the wings on the car to test them but the car doesn't get built in time.

Last year we had one guy doing an independent study and near the end his requirements for a grade conflicted with what the team needed. Basically, he went for the grade and it set the team back a few days (maybe weeks) on a critical part. I am going to try to set it up this year so that won't happen again.

Good luck.

[Erik Whoa]

At my school, their are 2 ways that a student can receive course credit.

1. We offer an automotive design class that is worth one credit. Our FSAE team chooses the projects and they are doled out to interested students. By taking 3 of these classes and doing an in depth study of an area, it is possible to receive an exemption from one of our senior electives.

2. Our senior design teams are allowed to work on developing an area on the car. This is more involved than the automotive design course.

These options are not given to everyone, though. Like anywhere else, it helps to know people.

[Charlie]

I'd say if you outlined very carefully what you want to do for your project, dot all your 'i's' and cross all your 't's', and give a detailed summary to your advisor or professor (Dean maybe?), then that's probably the best way to get yourself in for FSAE credit. I imagine that if you show a lot of effort and committment before they even approve it, they will be impressed and that's more than most students will do.

[RiNaZ]

thanks yall for the great ideas. You have a good point there james. I think getting the car done is the most important thing than focusing on the my indipendant studies. And i think in order to do that ... management has to be the key.

I remember during my sophomore year, and i had some research on why our school has had a team for so long and yet to come up with a car. And i found out that it was of the lack of management.

And we started a new team after the last senior had decided to quit the project, i quickly volunteer myself to be the project manager. And of course, everybody thought i wanted to be the leader of the team, which was not true. Project manager need not be the team leader, but the label have made people think that it is.

Of course, you can explain that Project Managers aren't the Team Leader or Technical Directors, but at the end, nobody wants to be told to get his/her design done on certain date by the guy who was suppose to be working on the wing design.

Well ... maybe 2005 will be the year http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif ... thanks again guys for your replies!