Topic outline

  • General

    Welcome to MEC-E1001 Mechanical Engineering in Society! 

    This course for all master's level mechanical engineers has been redesigned for 2020-2021 - and then redesigned again to accommodate for campus restrictions as we tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. We are doing a blended course, with an emphasis on e-learning: combining a series of 10-minute videos from mechanical engineering staff to explore the field, individual and small group assignments, virtual workshops on Friday mornings 9-11AM and some in-person small group teaching. (Note the different schedule for the orientation week, though!) Small group in-person sessions in Period II will be organized at the Design Factory, Betonimiehenkuja 5C in Otaniemi. 

    After this course, you will

    1. be aware of the breadth and impact of the mechanical engineering field, both in academia and in industry
    2. know how your field connects to a variety of economic, environmental, and societal issues
    3. be able to articulate how your own unique professional profile equips you to contribute productively
    4. value the importance of collaborating effectively and of communicating your ideas clearly

    The course is also integrated with LC-0400 Communication skills: integrated speech communication course L, providing students with 5+1 (MEC-E1001 + LC-0400) study credits upon completion.


    Schedule

    Period I:
    Week 1: Orientation week 1.9. & 2.9. (two live online teaching sessions and individual assignments)
    Week 2: Sustainability (live online teaching and individual assignments)
    Week 3: Conceptual reverse engineering (live online teaching, individual assignment and group assignment)
    Week 4: Ideation (groupwork live session and individual assignments)
    Weeks 5&6: Presenting your work (live online small group teaching by Language Center and individual assignments)
    Week 7&8: Testing ideas (groupwork, individual assignments and exam week break)

    Period II:
    Week 9: Low fidelity prototyping (live online teaching, individual assignment and group assignment)
    Weeks 10-11: Prototyping workshops (face-to-face small group teaching, group assignment and individual assignment)
    Week 12: Professional capabilities (live online teaching and individual assignments)
    Week 13: Career panel (live online teaching and individual assignments)
    Week 14: Language Centre workshop I (small group teaching by Language Center and individual assignment)
    Week 15: Language Centre workshop II (small group teaching by Language Center and individual assignment)

    Final individual assignment, due 24.1.2021

    Attendance to the live online sessions (when they are organized) is mandatory - participation counts towards the grade of the course. Up to two absences can be made up for by a replacement task, so contact Senni Kirjavainen (senni.kirjavainen@aalto.fi) if you know you will need to miss a session.

    Contact

    If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact the teaching team, prof. Tua Björklund (tua.bjorklund@aalto.fi), MA Senni Kirjavainen (senni.kirjavainen@aalto.fi) or MSc Floris van der Marel (floris.vandermarel@aalto.fi). Note that as of December 2020, Dr Sine Celik is starting her professorship at TU Delft, and is replaced by Floris in the teaching team for the remaining semester.

    We'll be sharing course content highlights at @meinsociety.

  • Week 1: Orientation week 31.8.-6.9.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto
    Goals of the week: 

    • To have an overall understanding of how different courses and study fields relate to one another in the Mechanical Engineering program in order to be able to plan your studies
    • Get to know your fellow students and some staff from all of the advanced study topics so that you can build a foundation for later teamwork and ask questions as they arise


    Tuesday 1.9.2020 Welcome to Mechanical Engineering 9-12

    Live Zoom session 9.15-11.00 (note that attendance to live sessions is compulsory in the course!):

    Time to start the Wednesday assignments before other Orientation week program continues after lunch.






    Wednesday 2.9.2020 Getting to know the advanced study topics and courses

    Self-study morning


    Q&A afternoon

    • Attend at least two sessions on the advanced study topic study paths between 13-15.30 on Zoom.
    • 13:00-13:20 Mechatronics (Dr. Jari Vepsäläinen)
    • 13:20-13:40 Product Development (Profs. Katja Hölttä-Otto & Kalevi Ekman)
    • 13:40-14:00 Marine Technology (Prof. Pentti Kujala)
    • (break)
    • 14:10-14:30 Engineering Materials (Prof. Sven Bossuyt)
    • 14:30-14:50 Arctic Marine Technology (Prof. Arttu Polojärvi)
    • 14:50-15:10 Solid Mechanics (Prof. Luc St-Pierre)
    • 15:10-15:30 Production Engineering (Prof. Esko Niemi)


    Optional other interesting events on the campus during orientation week:

    • Wed-Sun 2.-6.9.: Design for a Cooler Planet exhibition and events throughout the campus as a part of the Helsinki Design Week
    • Fri 4.9.2020 9-17: Attend the Product Development Project final exhibition at the Design Factory (Betonimiehenkuja 5C, Otaniemi) to meet students, company sponsors and teaching staff from the 2019-2020 course.

  • Week 2: Sustainability 7.9.-13.9.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Sustainability: Definitions, goals and roles


    Goals of the week: 

    • To have an overall understanding of what sustainability means and what the different schools of thoughts are.
    • To have an overall understanding of how sustainability principles are applied by different organizations.


    Online session 11.9.

    Join the seminar and workshop on Zoom:

    • 09.00 Kicking off the Sustainability module 
    • 09.10 Speaker 1: Mika Savolainen - Senior Design Engineer, Norsepower Oy
    • 09.30 Speaker 2: Dr. Onursal Yakaboylu - Process Engineer, TATA Steel
    • 09.50 Q&A with the speakers
    • 10.15 Workshop: CSI CSR (group assignment at Mural - see workshop materials for reports and Mural link)
    • 10.55 Explaining individual and group assignments & closing


    Individual assignments during the week:




  • Week 3: Conceptual reverse engineering 14.-20.9.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the week: 

    • To have an overall understanding of what product analysis is and how reverse engineering techniques can be helpful. 
    • Learning through worked examples how to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing solutions from various perspectives.
    • To have an overall understanding of basics of systems thinking and obtaining a holistic overview of engineering problems.


    Online session 18.9.

    Join the seminar and workshop on Zoom and Mural:

    • 09.00 Introduction of speakers & programme of the day
    • 09.05 Speaker 1: Teppo Vienamo - Sustainability of products
    • 09.25 Speaker 2: Prof. Kevin Otto - Functional simplicity of products
    • 09.45 Workshop: PESTEL analysis of chosen topic (individual work performed in small groups - submit a screenshot of your work here)
    • 10.50 Explaining individual and group assignments & closing


    Individual assignments during the week:



  • Week 4: Ideation 21.-27.9.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the week: 
    • Understand the role of creativity and creative problem solving in mechanical engineering
    • To be able to generate a wide variety of alternative solution ideas for problems and topics you work with


    Before Friday morning

    • Watch the three ideation videos, totalling in roughly 16mins. You will need information from these videos to organize an effective ideation session with your group on Friday, so don't let down your teammates by failing to watch them in time. 


    Friday 25.9.2020 9-11 or 8-10 with your team

    This week, we'll still continue with the topic your group worked with last week, organizing an ideation session amongst your group. We recommend co-locating with your group to the extent that possible, but it's up to you whether you want to meet live or through an online platform of your choice (Zoom, MicrosoftTeams, Hangout...). For online ideation, we recommend using Mural to create and cluster ideas on an online canvas, but it's up to you how and where you want to work in. You are expected to try out all of the methods listed below (explained in the videos), but can adjust the schedule to your liking:

    • 9.15-9.25*: Choose a "How might we develop a more sustainable [version of your chosen topic]?" question to ideate to based on your previous topic. For example, you might ask, "How might we develop a more sustainable packaging for drinks?" if you were working with aluminium cans the past week. 
    • 9.25-9.30: Individual negative ideation (How could we make it horribly UNsustainable?)
    • 9.30-9.40 Sharing negative ideas and flipping one of them
    • 9.40-9.55 635 brainwriting (3x5min rounds)
    • 9.55-10.15 SCAMPER in two sub-groups
    • 10.15-10.35 Clustering ideas
    • 10.35-10.40 Voting for two most interesting ideas to continue working with
    • 10.40-11.00 Choose two ideas to flesh out into a rough concept in two sub-groups (one idea per subgroup) (see and fill the concept template in Mural or here)

    *if you have any team members taking the PNA course, start one hour earlier at 8.15 to make it into the PNA3 lecture in time!

    In total, you should develop 50-100 ideas as a group (take a photo or screenshot of these). To complete your assignment, as a group, upload your submission with the names of group members taking part in session, your "how might we" question(s), a picture of the ideas you created and the filled out template for the two concepts.

    If you run into unexpected problems during your ideation session or have questions regarding the assignment, the teaching team will be available in Zoom to help you out.

    During the week




  • Weeks 5 & 6: Presenting your work 28.9.-11.10.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    28.09.-09.10.

    Goals of the two weeks:

    • Be able to present your ideas and solutions in a clear and convincing manner
    • Be aware of the range of communication media in engineering

    Small group sessions by the Language Center

    Sign up for one of the small group online sessions to practice presenting based on the two concepts your group generated during week 4. This session is also part of the integrated LC-0400 Communication skills course.

    Note that there is a pre-assignment, due 4.10., for the sessions. If you have any questions, there is an optional Q&A session 2.10. you can attend.

    Group assignment

    With your group, agree on which slot you want to book for Week 7 and when you will prepare for this meeting.

    Individual assignments

  • Weeks 7 & 8: Testing ideas 12.-25.10.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the two weeks:

    • Understand the variety of ways to experiment in mechanical engineering
    • Identify needs and opportunities for experimentation in your ideas
    • Take a little break from the course during exam week!

    Group assignment and session 12.-16.10.

    On this week you will have your first team-meeting with the machine, electronics and printshop staff of Aalto Design Factory (ADF), who will be working with you in weeks 7-11.

    In this short meeting you will meet Shreyasi Kar, Jani Kalasniemi and Erwin Laiho to explain what opportunities you have identified and what you want to explore further. Based on this explanation ADF workshop-staff will give you some suggestions, which will be very helpful for you in the following weeks.

    Therefore, prior to this meeting, as a team you are expected to:

    - Share your pitches amongst your team and pick one of the pitches to be presented to the ADF workshop staff in your meeting. Once you perfect this collective team pitch, make sure you upload it in the submission box before your appointment. This means, that you will now choose the final idea or concept that your team will advance through prototyping. What type of improvement opportunity have you identified?

    - At ADF you can prototype using electronics, 3D printing, laser cutting, machining and hand-held tools and a supply cave full of scrap material. Think about what are you still uncertain of. What do you think would be useful to test, experiment with as a next step of developing your idea? How could you use the ADF shop facilities for this? You'll discuss this with the prototyping staff in the meeting, but come prepared with some ideas.

    Do not forget to book a time slot together with your team!

    Note, that after this session you will have one last group specific prototyping session during Weeks 10-11 (2.-13.11.). You can already use your time together this week decide on and book a session that most of your group members can attend.

    Individual assignments due 25.10.

  • Week 9: Low fidelity prototyping 26.10-1.11.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the week: 

    • To have an overall understanding of different purposes low fidelity prototyping of ideas
    • To be able to present ideas in different types of low fidelity prototypes


    Online session 30.10. 9-11

    Joint lecture and workshop on Zoom. Attendance to the session is mandatory, but up to two sessions in the course can be replaced with a replacement task without it affecting your grade.

    We recommend you already agree during class with your group which prototyping session during weeks 10-11 (2.-13.11.) you will book and attend, if you haven't already done so before the workshop.


    Individual assignments during the week (due 1.11.)

  • Weeks 10 & 11: Prototyping workshops 2.-15.11.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the weeks: 

    • To be able to use some of the most common prototyping tools
    • To be able to present solution concepts in a clear and convincing manner

    Small group teaching at the prototyping facilities 2.11.-13.11.

    Reserve a session for your team. The sessions will be held face-to-face at the Design Factory prototyping facilities (Betonimiehenkuja 5C). Please see the safety guidelines for the session.

    If you are unable to safely attend a session with your group due to quarantining measures, please notify your group and the teachers as soon as you know. While the group session cannot be completed online, there will be an individual online replacement task.


    Group assignment during the weeks (due 15.11.):
    • After your small group session, compile and upload a max 5min video showing your prototype and explaining 1) very briefly the problem you have detected and your solution concept to it, 2) your protoype and what have you tried / tested with it 3) your main learnings and 4) what have you made better eventually compared to the original solution. This is the last group task during the course, so well done team! (Note that we will not have class on the two Friday mornings, so you may use that time to complete the video as a group if you wish)
    • If you did not attend the prototyping session together with your team, you can (but do not need to) collaborate on the first part of the video (briefly explaining your solution concept and the challenge it addresses), but should then show and explain the prototyping part (questions 2-4) based on your individual replacement task and submit it separately.  Note that the replacement task also includes documenting the process of prototyping, follow the guidelines of the individual replacement task rather than group submission.

    Individual assignment during the weeks (due 15.11.):





  • Week 12: Professional capabilities 16.-22.11.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto.fi

    Goals of the week: 

    • To have an overall understanding of the range of knowledge, skills and attitudes needed in professional careers in mechanical engineering
    • To identify most relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes to support your learning


    Online session 20.11 8.30-9.50

    Join the workshop at Zoom. 

    Attendance to the session is mandatory, but up to two sessions in the course can be replaced with a replacement task without it affecting your grade.


    Individual assignments during the week:






  • Week 13: Career panel 23.-29.11.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the week: 

    • To be aware of different types of career paths for mechanical engineering graduates
    • To fine-tune study plans to match career goals

    Submit questions to the panelists  (DL  25.11.)

    Submit your questions to the industry panelists - take a moment to thing what you ´would like to know about working in the types of positions, companies or industries that the three speakers represent.


    Online session 27.11. 9.10-10.45

    Join the seminar on Zoom to learn from three engineers:

    • 9.15-9.45 Kalevi Tervo, a corporate executive engineer at ABB Marine & Ports
    • 9.45-10.15 Wycliffe Raduma, a production manager & lead mechanical engineer at Pexraytech, 
    • 10.15-10.45 Heidi Tulensalo, a service designer at Wärtsilä

    Attendance to the session is mandatory, but up to two sessions in the course can be replaced with a replacement task without it affecting your grade.

    Individual assignments during the week:






  • Week 14: CV workshop I 30.11.-6.12.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Small group teaching session 30.11.-4.12.

    Sign up individually to one of the small group sessions organised by the Language Centre on effective CVs. Note that you do not need to coordinate with your group but can attend whatever session best suits you.

    (This session is a part of the compulsory LC-0400 Communication skills course, integrated into MEC-E1001.)


    Individual assignments during the week



  • Week 15: CV workshop II 7.-13.12.

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Small group teaching session 7.-11.12.

    Sign up individually to one of the small group sessions organised by the Language Centre on effective CVs. You do not need to coordinate with your group, sign up which ever workshop suits your schedule best. Note that this workshop will build on the Week 14 workshop.

    (This is a part of the compulsory LC-0400 Communication skills course that is integrated with MEC-E1001.)


    Individual assignments during the week



  • Final assignment (due 24.1.)

    Not available unless: Your Email address contains aalto

    Goals of the assignment

    • Understand how your future career can connect to the society at large
    • Clarify what you want to get out of the remaining time you have at Aalto. What kind of capabilities do you need to grow and how do you intend to use them?
    • Help determine your individual grade for the course, as other individual assignments have been small pass/fail submissions.

    The assignment

    Return a written reflection assignment of approximately 6 pages in total (quality in terms of clarity and relevance matters more than quantity here). Use the questions as numbered sections in your assignment. 

    1. What do you see as promising career directions for yourself in the future? What kind of impact would you have in this role or career? (approx. 2.5 pages) Reflect on the connection or lack thereof in relation to either A) all of the 6 PESTEL areas or B) 12 of the UN sustainability goal areas you see as most relevant for this career direction. 
      • How and why could your work be connected to these areas? Why not? Write under each area/goal under its own subheading (e.g. "Political connections"/ "Affordable and clean energy")
      • We will grade you on the quality and specificity of reflection for each area, not whether there is a connection or not. As these are wide areas, we expect you to cover at least four different facets/connections in each of the PESTEL letters or two different facets/connections in each of 12 SDGs. 
      • For full points, remember to reflect how these would tie specially to your desired role or career, rather than the industry or field in general.
    2. In this future career landscape, what skills, knowledge and attitudes would you need? Identify three of each (nine in total) and justify why these could be useful. (approx. 1.5 page)
      • Be specific, such as naming persuasive pitching as a skill and understanding of emerging technologies as a knowledge area, rather than citing communication or mechanical engineering as a whole. 
    3. For one needed skill, one needed area of knowledge and one needed attitude, identify for each (in approx. 2 pages total)
      1. one specific learning goal for the next year 
      2. one potentially relevant course (in Aalto or elsewhere) contributing towards learning this
      3. one potentially relevant extra-curricular activity (i.e. a hobby/work/association activity or relevant reading/other self-study material) contributing towards learning this, and
      4. one personal "key performance indicator" (KPI) that would track your progress in this area (for example, peer feedback for course presentations for persuasive pitching, or amount of expert presentations attended on contemporary technology development). 
      • Briefly justify each choice (1-4) - what makes it desirable, viable or feasible for you?


    As this assignment largely determines your individual grade for the course, please take a look at the grading rubric below to make sure you have a clear understanding of what is expected of the assignment. Note that 24.1. is the hard deadline for this assignment, to enable consistent and fair grading across all 110 students. You can of course submit the assignment any time in December or January prior to the deadline.