I am Patrick Harwood. I am currently
studying Mathematics, Further Maths Physics and Chemistry A levels at More House
School sixth form in Farnham. I have been at More House School since I was
eleven. It is an all-boys school that specialises in teaching bright students
with learning disabilities. It was established in 1939 and at one point it was
a circus. Now it is an ever expanding School with incredibly dedicated teachers
and outstanding facilities.
I chose these A level subjects
because I enjoy calculation, solving problems and intricate logic of how things
work on a fundamental level. I thought these subjects would pair well together
and play to my strengths and interests and my dyslexia does not hinder me as
much in these subjects.
I am definitely planning on going
to university and I hope to study maths. I want to do a more applied course
involving Operational research and statistics. Given this I like the prospect
of a sandwich course giving me the opportunity to apply my mathematical
knowledge. I haven’t decided on any universities yet but I do have a few in
mind.
Why I applied for the placement
It seemed like a great opportunity
to see what it would be like at university and to get a better idea of what
kind university I would want to go to and to see what the people there would be
like. I was also interested in the prospect of working under a scientific
professional, researching interesting science and learning new skills. I
believe this placement has capitalised these aims.
The Placement
The placement was titled
“Innovative learning resources for Undergraduate Electrical and Electronic
Engineering modules” I like to call it “Electronics labs ‘How to guides’”. This
project was about creating how to videos for lab equipment and processes such
as:
- · How to labs (a guide to lab rules and etiquette)
- · Digital Multi Meter (DMM)
- · Cathode Ray Oscilloscopes (CRO) + Digital Oscilloscopes
- · Log book
- · Soldering
- · Breadboard
- · “Veroboard”/Stripboard
- · Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp)
- · Toolkits
- · Prep (tips and guides for pre lab work)
- · Power supply
- · Debugging
For the research, Abigail and I
looked at how-to videos of these topics on YouTube, to both learn the topic and
learn tips and tricks for our videos. Such as how to demonstrate certain things
eloquently, what details to focus on and what didn’t make sense in some videos.
We also put focus on common misconceptions so we could address them in our
videos. Abigail and I split the topics between us and researched them
independently. We decided on this strategy because it seemed the most time
effective. We saved links to the more useful videos we found. These are
included in the full report. Some of these were difficult to research in this
way so Dr Sporea instructed us on the equipment himself.
For each topic the person who
researched it would be the one who wrote the script for its video, as they
would have the better understanding of the subject matter. After we got all the
necessary information we scripted the voice overs and wrote down what images or
videos we wanted with them. In some cases we wrote the voice over to explain a
demonstration we would film. We did it like this because we recorded sound and
video separately to improve sound quality. Once we drafted a script it would be
sent around to certain members of the faculty who would comment and add
information. After a script was finalised we would start filming and taking
photos of relevant objects and actions. To ensure quality Dr Sporea did most of
the filming and photography as he had the most experience. We constructed setups
and acted out demonstrations for the videos. During this process Abigail and I would
go to the sound recording studio to record the narration for the videos. We
were writing the scripts for other videos whenever we weren’t filming or
recording.
After
all the filming and recording was done Abigail and I started producing the
videos with “Final Cut Pro V 7.0” software. We distributed the videos between
each other based on which videos we researched and scripted, working on them
separately. Progress was slow at first because not only was the software new to
use, but neither of us were familiar with macs. (Which were the computers we
had to work on in the editing rooms).
The
first stage for producing each video was to layout the audio and remove any
mistakes or errors in the recordings. The next stage is to over lay the
relevant images and videos to the relevant narration. After this stage was
broadly done, we would show our videos to Dr Sporea and he would give us a list
of improvements and adjustments. After the improvements were made we would show
the video again. This back and forth continued until the video was completed to
a high standard.
After the body of the video was finalised we
would overlay the Surrey University logo in the top right hand corner of the
video and add the intro and outro music and transitions, along with the title
card and end credits. For the music we used royalty free music and asked how
the composer would like to be credited. The music was “Therfield Theme” by
James Richardson. I will leave a link for his website at the end of the
document. The logos were from the Surrey asset Bank website link at the end.
On the final week of our project we
presented a couple of our videos to members of the faculty and the remaining
placement students. The audiences ranged
from Electronics physicists to marketing. Afterwards we got very positive
feedback from everyone. We got commended on our videos by a student
administrator who had qualifications in video editing. She was very impressed
we were using “Final cut pro V 7.0” as she felt it was quite out dated and
difficult to use.
Dr Sporea thought that these videos
would be useful for teaching undergraduates these skills and techniques in a
more visual way. Another useful feature of these videos was that they could be
used out of class to better utilise the student’s time with their professors. Abigail’s
and my lack of knowledge on these subjects gave us a useful perspective on how
the information in the videos should be expressed in order to be understood by
a person with no knowledge of the subject matter.
My benefit from the placement
During the placement I learned
about all the subjects in the videos in depth. From the functions and controls
of cathode ray and digital oscilloscopes, to the proper debugging procedure of
simple and complex circuits. I found these technical subjects very interesting
and videos such as Log book and Prep have very broad useful information. I
learned more useful technical language.
I also learned a variety of useful scripting,
filming and editing skills, which have given me a new and greater appreciation
for videos and films.
I met many new and interesting
people during the placement, including other students in different placements.
It was great discussing each other’s placements and I learned a lot of new and
interesting things, such as how solar panels work. I got to see one of the
students’ printing ink circuits onto laser cut templates.
This was a great experience working
on a large project to deadline. I feel like this has changed my attitude toward
working.
Overall I really enjoyed working on
the videos, working with Abigail and Dr Sporea and I am proud of the videos I
made.
I also received a bursary to fund
all my costs and travel expenses which meant a great deal to me and my family.
Music from
Surrey University asset bank
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