The course was a less academic second part to ENGR110, so focused more on workplace-related writing and full execution of a project. Attending communications lectures really mattered, since a lot of time was spent covering assignment requirements and working on group projects. Plenary lectures weren't super helpful, but important information about due dates and changes in design project requirements were often discussed, so attending kept me in the loop. The design labs were completely focused on the design project, so they weren't just a bunch of fun group activities, but they were lots of fun anyway.

Communications covered things like memos, project proposals, project reports, and presentations. Assignments were often lengthy, but were rarely super heavy or could be completed in groups. Project proposals and reports directly related to the design project, so there was less time-consuming additional research than in ENGR110. The plenary lectures covered the complete design project, continuing off of ENGR110 content, and directly guided the design project. Design labs spent some time familiarizing us with how the technology used in the design project worked, and later turned into work time to complete the project.

Suzan seemed harsh and difficult to work with at first, but ended up being generous with marks and very open to altering due dates as necessary. She did her best to keep the design project and communications assignments in line with each other. Responses to emails were always quick, feedback on assignments was always very detailed. She does take attendance and requires that students not skip multiple lectures without reason, but is not unreasonable about it.

Attend the lectures, and plan to spend lots of time with your design project group members. Don't make your project too detailed, or you'll end up scrambling at the end and won't be able to keep up with deadlines. It doesn't have to be the fanciest project ever.

Class is well structured and straight forward, it is broken into 2 sections, the writing component and the lab / robot component. The writing part is not very stress inducing, Brock is a very good prof, he cares more about writing structure than technique so keep that in mind. The robotics / lab component gets very hard at the end so make sure you do not leave in until the last possible minute, as you will probably find yourself working out bugs for hours.

Plan time accordingly for the lab component, and make sure you try and work on all parts of the robot so you know what is going on at all times.