Skills Development Exercises

tl;dr; During the first 5 weeks, students will complete a weekly technical exercises that put into practice content from instructor tutorials. These assignments will require them to experiment with code and circuits to program lightweight IoT solutions relating to the material introduced in class that week.

About Skills Projects

These projects will be an opportunity to put into practice concepts, ideas and approaches introduced during class and during the lab session on Thursday.

To accompany each instructor-led technical tutorial, you’ll be given a short exercise where you’ll complete a step-by-step project that builds out into a simple IoT solution (or component of a larger solution). Through these exercises, you’ll be asked to explore concepts and methods for prototyping and implementing connected hardware

Simply put, these exercises will ask you to put the stuff introduced into class into practice and give you the chance to try it out for yourself in low-stakes assignments before you apply in your creative projects.

Each skill project will be due before the next class.

Learning Objectives

As part of the exercise, students will:

  • help to build their experience with programming in Particle and IoT solutiong using the Wiring language;
  • help to build their experience with working with electronics, circuitry, and components (sensors, inputs, actuators);
  • learn about key concepts in IoT prototype development through applied exploration; and
  • build confidence in reading, understanding, debugging and deploying code and circuits.
  • Learn to creatively rework and remix circuits, code and connectivity i.e. hack and make experience prototypes;
  • Learn to work independently to prepare a interactive prototype.

Deliverables and submission

You should document your skills development project thoroughly including:

  1. The outcome itself and how it works.
    • This should provide at least one clear illustration of the final outcome (photo or video as appropriate).
    • It should ideally have several supporting images as well as a video demonstrating the working prototype, circuit diagrams, etc.)
    • Add completed code and any supporting documentation and file (and/or a completed zip folder containing all of your source code)
    • a clear overhead (or top-down) photo of your completed circuit
  2. The process you underwent to reach the outcome (problems encountered, how you resolved them, as well as, experiments, hacks, tests, refinments, iterations, failures)
  3. A short personal reflection, next steps and future directions.

Documentation should be posted to the Gallery as a new proejct in the relevant pool. Guidelines on working with this platform can be found here.

Submitting your work:

You’ll submit your work as follows:

  1. Documentation should be posted to the Gallery as a new proejct in the relevant pool. Guidelines on working with this platform can be found here.

  2. You should document your project thoroughly including:

  • Outcome: The outcome itself, a description of it, and how it works. Include supporting images, a video of the working prototype, circuit diagrams, etc.). Describe any experiments or explorations you undertook.
  • Process: Describe how you arrived at the outcome. Outline the process you underwent to reach the outcome (experiments, hacks, tests, refinments, iterations, failures)
  • Next Steps: Outline things you didn’t get to do but would have liked to, as well as any next steps and future directions.
  • Reflection: WReflect on the process of making this project. What did you learn? What would you do differently?
  • Add/upload code and any supporting documentation and files.

Notes

  • Screenshots of code are not code. Make sure to add your code as a text block to your documentation.
  • Consider how you document and take photos of your work. A top-down and

Grading

Each skill development project is 6% of your total grade (30% total). You’ll complete 5 over the semester (optional extra credit skills dev’s may be provided too). Full details can be found in the Grading Policies section.

Grading Rubric

These projects will be graded on a 0-3 scale.

Each skill development project will be accompanied with a series of steps to be implemented. They will break down a problem into a series of steps. Each step must be completed to gain full points for the project.

  • 0: will represent a failing grade where no attempt has been made to solve the problems posed or does not meet even the most basic requirements of the problem set presented

  • 1: will represent one of the steps has been achieved successfully, but there is no effort to attempt all parts of the problem set.

  • 2: will represent one or more of the steps has been achieved successfully, and there is a demonstrated effort to attempt all parts of the problem set.

  • 3: will represent high quality work where all aspects and requirements have been met and/or shows creative and high quality solutions to the problems posed. Superlative or exemplary work and/or initiative beyond the description of the problem.