I'm teaching/supervising some first years students - AMA

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
02/06/2017 at 10:46 • Filed to: None

So I’ve got a new side job at university supervising and helping first years students with getting to grips with Matlab. I like helping people to learn stuff, and I’m quite fluent in Matlab, so it’s a fitting side job, and I like to think it looks nice on my CV.

However, none of them have questions at the moment, so it’s getting kinda boring. To make matters worse some of them are leaving, which I can’t prevent since this part of the course isn’t mandatory.

Anyhow have an Alpine A310 for your time, and ask me anything, I guess.

DISCUSSION (26)

TheHondaBro > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 10:55

Do you like movies about gladiators?

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > TheHondaBro
02/06/2017 at 10:56

I guess gladiator movies are okay, not my favourite kind of movies though.

InFierority Complex > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:03

Wait, they’re just walking out of the session?

punkgoose17 > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:03

If it is a class format try and ask them more questions. My best professor made everyone answer at least 1 question per class. I wish my school had something like what you are doing. We didn’t have a class that taught us Matlab we just used it in some classes, and every class I had to reteach myself.

What are you teaching them at the moment?

Star for the Alpine.

BritishLeyland™ > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:04

Have you ever participated in the “Cremation of Care” ritual at the Bohemian Grove?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheHondaBro
02/06/2017 at 11:05

I was totally expecting a question about MATLAB and how evil it is.

MrDakka > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:09

Are you having those students create scripts for functions already native to MATLAB?

For Sweden > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:11

Is this the A310 thread?

Kinja'd!!!

Also, if they aren’t making GUIs, they don’t know enough MATLAB

ThePenguin > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:17

I hated MATLAB.

Took it last year and almost failed the class. Didn’t help that our professor was the only one using MATLAB while the other 3 classes used some other program.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > punkgoose17
02/06/2017 at 11:20

Yeah, Matlab is a really important tool at our university, so getting to know the basics as early as possible really pays off. At the moment I’m teaching the real basics(arrays and stuff), but the guide they have to follow is really long and boring on those points, which probably makes them decide to leave.

I’ll try to make it a bit more interactive next time, because your right, the best teachers try to involve their students. The problem is that they see me more as a peer, since I’m only a couple years older as them.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > InFierority Complex
02/06/2017 at 11:22

To be honest it’s more of an instruction session than a lecture, but yes, that’s what they are doing. It’s regarded as perfectly normal by students here though, at least I and my mates thought it to be normal before we decided we needed to study more seriously.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > For Sweden
02/06/2017 at 11:29

Well, your probably right, though I’m haven’t been taught how to do GUIs either, I had to learn that by myself.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > ThePenguin
02/06/2017 at 11:30

Since almost every course here uses it, it kinda makes sense, though I get that it can get difficult when learning it while using other programs. In what kind of field were you using it?

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > MrDakka
02/06/2017 at 11:32

Not yet, but later in the course they’ll need to do that. Mainly since I believe that using a function already present doesn’t require any skills, whereas scripting something from scratch does.

MrDakka > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:37

Yup, totally agree. IMO that’s probably the best way to learn.

ThePenguin > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 11:38

Aerospace engineering at UT.

The plan only requires one semester of an intro programming course so I’m

glad I got that over with early.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
02/06/2017 at 11:39

Matlab is not evil, it’s a friend.(Says the guy who spend his past weekend cursing at his computer while trying to make a model of a diesel engine.)

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > ThePenguin
02/06/2017 at 11:42

For some reason I expected matlab to be as common in the Aerospace field as it is in the Automotive and Electrical Engineering field, apparently I was wrong.

ThePenguin > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 12:08

I can’t speak for other institutions, or even following semesters, but at least at UT, this was the only class that semester that used MATLAB.

ThePenguin > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 12:09

I know there is a computation class as well that is highly recommended but optional but I don’t know what that class uses.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 12:34

I have an Aero Eng degree. We used MATLAB quite a bit in University and I use it every day in my job, though admittedly it’s because I like it and myself and several of the other young engineers convinced our manager to buy several licenses about 8 years ago when we showed him how fast we could get things done with it.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 12:49

The biggest problem teaching MATLAB to first year students is that they don’t really have any exposure to the kinds of large data sets that MATLAB is so good for reducing yet. On top of that it isn’t really a great tool for learning the basics of programming. I can write more efficient scientific code in C++ and write better GUI just as fast in Python. But give me some obtuse amount of data and a repetitive task and MATLAB wins every time, which is why I use it nearly every day in my job as a test/research engineer. Most folks I’ve talked to have their “A-ha” moment with MATLAB the first time they realize how much quicker it can generate plots for a report than using Excel. I’d suggest making a project involving some “real-world” stimulant data set. Say for instance you have a made up instrument that measures velocity vs. time on the runway on takeoff. But you need to know peak acceleration, because the structure fails at 3.2G or something like that. Now say the data set has something like 50,000 points. So in Excel it’s easy enough. Make two columns for the data, make a third for a DV/DT and plot. Make another cell with an =MAX() for the peak. Make a chart. Easy enough. But then say we do 50 tests and need plots of all of them and peak G from all of them, then need the peak G’s plotted vs. ambient temperature or something like that. All of a sudden all the copy/paste in Excel starts to be pretty cumbersome compared to putting it all into a loop in MATLAB. Next, you can start to do things that are even more “hacked” in Excel like, say, now we also need the G’s at a common t=5.0s from each test plotted vs. test number. It’s a simple two lines of code after all the processing that’s already been done. I’d try to work in that angle some how.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
02/06/2017 at 13:31

Thanks for your input!

The problem is that they need to be somewhat skilled with Matlab before being able to do such an example. Now they will need to simulate the functioning of different adaptive and communicating cruise control systems near the end of the course, for which they will receive large amounts of input data. However I might just add another exercise comparable to the one you propose, to have them notice how easily Matlab deals with big amounts of data.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 14:29

I hated MATLAB and immediately forgot how to use it when I finished my degree. Probably the most confusing thing I did on my course.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
02/06/2017 at 14:39

Seeing both the replies here and during the instruction, Matlab seems to be a love it or hate it thing. Most people at our university need to use it though, especially in electrical and mechanical engineering, since it used in a most of the medium to advanced courses.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
02/06/2017 at 15:01

I was made to learn it, but never actually was given a real application for it.