Summer Term 2021
A round up of CAUC's activities on Zoom during the Summer Term of 2021.
It's been another busy term for CAUC. Despite unfortunately remaining unable to meet in-person, we've managed to keep ourselves busy on zoom with a range of different actives. Given that we've not uploaded a blog post since the Easter Holidays, we thought we'd put together a little summary of our antics over the last few weeks. I've got a feeling this maybe a long one, so I hope you've grabbed yourself a cup of tea and your favourite snack!!!!
VIRTUAL CAR TEAM WEEK 44
Back by popular demand, for our first call following the Easter Holidays, we decided to do another Design Challenge. This time, each team were asked to design their own Greenpower / CAUC inspired board game. Just like before, the team were split into two (Team Dylan & Team Basil) and given 40 minutes to design a game and create a presentation to deliver to the executives of Hasbro (...otherwise known as Richard & Jane!!)
First up to present was Team Basil and their game 'a little dash of chaos.'
Players are to choose a CAUC themed character (consisting of Cerys Spoon, the donkey we sponsor and Kevin the Snowman to name a few) before taking part in a standard dice game. En-route to the finish line, you may have to perform certain actions (such as the pit board dance), miss a go whilst having a cup of tea or answer a trivia question to collect a Greenpower Award such as the 'spirit of Greenpower'.
Along with the sales of the game, Team Basil would also sell merchandise.
Next, it was Team Dylan to present their F1 inspired game.
Players are given a wind up car. You roll the dice and have to answer an F1 question. Provided you get the answer correct, you wind up the car to the number showing on the device. The winner is the team that completes the circuit ten times. Throughout the game, there are also opportunities to modify the car to become more aerodynamic and therefore quicker. If you get a puncture, then you have to move back a few spaces.
Presentations over, it was time for 'Hasbro' to announce who would win the contract. Whilst Richard & Jane liked the branding and presentation from Team Basil, the fresh and innovative concept of Team Dylan is what sealed the deal and won them our (illusive) contract with Hasbro!!!!!
VIRTUAL CAR TEAM WEEK 45
The main focus for this session was roles within a team and what is needed to become a team that is effective, efficient and successful. Prior to the call, we asked each team member to answer an online quiz which determines what type of team member you are.
The team fed their results back to Em and Becksy who collated them together on a Spreadsheet. During the evening, this spreadsheet was shared with the team so we could discuss whether people agreed or disagreed with the results.
Next, we took each role in turn and tried to come up with activities and / or situations that lend themselves to this specific quality / role.
By gradually making our way through the list, we were able to illustrate the importance (and benefit) of having a mixed team; full of students that each have a different role as their prominent skill, rather than one team full of analysts or completers etc.
As part of the debrief, we also looked to see what areas that we as a team could improve upon before making a list of things to focus on moving forward.
After a very productive conversation, we finished the evening with a touch of origami...learning to make a jumping frog!!
This proved to be somewhat of a challenge for 'some' of our team. If it wasn't for Rachel talking us through each step, I have a sneaky feeling that some of us may never have been able to get a frog that jumped!!!
...it was certainly a very entertaining end to a productive evening!!!!
VIRTUAL CAR TEAM WEEK 46
For Week 46, we were treated to a CAUC Dashboard / Electronic Masterclass from Richard.
To begin with, we had a quick recap on all our hardware systems; the information it records, how this is measured and finally, how we interpret the data collected.
Following the dataflow discussions, we then had a look at the anatomy of Basil's dashboard, with Richard giving us a re-cap on the assembly of the dashboard. Despite our previous cars all having the same dashboard design, each one have been constructed slightly differently. As a consequence, this prompted a conversation surrounding the best way to build the dashboard for our new car.
During these discussions, we turned our attention to the electronics behind the dashboard - specifically the circuit board. We had a look at the track drawings for Basil and the software that is used to draw these before Richard explained the three main methods to go from drawings to PCB board and the pros / cons of each.
We finished the evening by having a go at a 'General Knowledge Pub Quiz' on Youtube. Given our embarrassingly low scores compared to Richard & Jane's, I guess our next masterclass ought to be in 'General Knowledge' rather than electronics!!!!!
VIRTUAL CAR TEAM WEEK 47
Taking inspiration from an earlier design challenge, for our next instalment of 'Adults vs Students', we had a 'CAUC inspired Snakes & Ladders' Games night.
The rules? After picking a CAUC related character, each team would roll a virtual dice and have to make their way up the board, answering either General Knowledge or Greenpower Regulation questions until they reached the chequered flag. However, just like in Snakes & Ladders, there were obstacles that either allowed you to jump forward a few spaces or push you back several squares. For example, if you landed on the stop watch, you had achieved a fastest lap time therefore can jump forward a space. However, if you stopped on the sign for Pits, you had to go back to the pit lane.
Initially, the pit lane was located on the first row and each square had some form of obstacle. However, despite playing the game for over 30 minutes, both teams kept finding themselves back in the pits....on the first row!!
Realising that if we continued at the rate we were, we'd still be sat here gone midnight, we decided to tweak the game a little by moving the pit lane higher up the board whilst also deleting a number of obstacles - making it easier to make progress towards the finished line.
This certainly did the trick, with both 'Team Adults' and 'Team Students' making it to the chequered flag.
However it was Team Students who clinched the win by rolling a 6 first, extending their lead against the adults to 3-0!!!
VIRTUAL CAR TEAM WEEK 48
For our last Zoom call of the academic year, we decided to run one more design challenge! Pinching the theme from Greenpower's current Solid Edge Design Competition and the Euro's, we were tasked with designing a helmet livery that incorporates the inclusiveness of international sport. As this was our last call before the holidays, we put all the students into one break out room to work on the designs together, before coming back into the main room to share their design with the adults.
So there you have it, a 'short' round up of our Summer Term on zoom!! We hope you've enjoyed reading about our Tuesday Evening Antics over the course of the year!! Whilst it may not have been the same as meeting up in the workshop, we've certainly managed to have some fun each week!
CAUC will be taking a break over the summer holidays, so there will be no blog post for a little while...unless, of course, anything exciting happens, then we'll be sure to update you!!!!
But until then, we hope you all have a lovely summer, take care & we'll catch up with you again in September.