When I first heard that we were doing laser engraving, I first thought that this was going to be a cool and fun activity. Before the laser graving activity was introduced. The only thing I knew about laser engraving is that you would take some material and make a specific route for the laser to go through. In my old school, they had a laser engraver that the teacher used from time to time. But the only experience I have in doing this is just the designing part of the laser engraving activity. I actually made it this year in my class. We had to make a design for a phone holder that was given to us.
I experienced a good number of new things in this activity. Some examples are using the laser engraver and using the laser engraving program to set up the machine. The part of the assignment that I connected with the most is when we had to make a design on the keychain in the computer lab. The reason I felt like I connected with this part is because I love designing things like this. It’s mostly the reason I’m majoring in CAD. Because of the design aspect of it. In this assignment, the kind of learning experience that I thought had the most impact on me was the demonstrations and learning by doing with the design phase.
The least effective learning experience was watching videos because I just can’t really learn like that. The other one that was the least effective learning experience was working with groups because I sometimes feel like people just hold me back. So, when it comes down to working with people, I usually try to do the activity in my head alone and then do it in real life.
In the laser cutting assignment I learned how to use new software on the computers to make design and how to use certain tools that are in the software to make your life easier. Another new thing I learned from the laser engraving assignment is how to use the computer to run the laser engraver and how the laser engraver works. So, in the future I could use this information to help me make cool design to future projects or I Could use this information to help other that are coming into the school that need help running the machine.