Self-Reflection

A major component of Environmental Engineering N is the formulation of a 5 minute educational video aimed at a 6 to 7 year old audience. This educational video needs to promote one particular aspect of solid waste management and be produced by our group which consists of John, Duminda, Subash, James and myself. Democratically, we have chosen to focus our study on compost, and in particular how it can be created and utilised in a domestic environment.

This project will provide me with an opportunity to improve my interpersonal and group work skills which are fundamental to a practising engineer. Although I have been a school teacher for the previous two years, people skills and the ability to work as part of a dynamic team can always be improved upon. I believe this project will also provide the chance to communicate engineering knowledge to a different audience. Any major project undergoes a process of community consultation and thus it is important to be able to present ideas and information to the community as a whole.

This project involves working in a relatively large group, consisting of five people, and as a result I am sure there will be some potential issues in the future. So far, all members have been convivial and contributed positively but with five sets of different viewpoints disagreements will likely be a reality. As a result, we have elected a group leader who will handle decisions if they cannot be resolved in another fashion. This project will also require support regarding the supply of video cameras and video editing assistance, although I believe James has expertise in this area.

As a group we have chosen to construct our video on compost as we all felt it was a really useful component of solid waste management of which there is plenty of information available. Compost is the end result of controlled aerobic decomposition of organic matter and is used to add humus to soil used for horticultural purposes So far in the project we have formulated our group, exchanged details, set-up regular meetings and our goal this week was to perform some preliminary research into the topic. This preliminary research allows us to gain a deeper understanding of compost and to have a greater appreciation of the content that may be included in the video.
The research I have performed so far has not only focussed on the content of the video but how to communicate with the intended audience. It has been a long time since I was 7 years old or watched television programs aimed at this age group. As part of the preliminary research performed this week I have been watching programs such as Totally Wild, where a combination of interviews, explanations, images and experiments are combined in each news article. I also found it interesting during the research to discover that composting toilets exist that can be used domestically. These toilets break down faecal matter, without the need for water, in an odourless fashion where the end result can be added to your garden’s soil.