#zwas0003

[designumn2015]

Reflection

Alright, I worked the shift from hell last night, which means that I just woke up, so I apologize for the late reflection.

Week 8 was interesting.  I really enjoyed the visit from Billy Weber, though I hope I didn’t annoy him or take up too much of his time  :P  As someone who is studying engineering and enjoys science, I appreciated a lot of what he was working on.  I wouldn’t consider renewable energy a passion of mine, but I do think it’s interesting.  Listening to him speak, and talk about all of the plans and the details his team had to consider when developing their project, reminded me of how I approach things at my job.  When I’m at work, everything little thing that I do, I do for a certain reason, and I mean EVERYTHING.  I do it in my everyday day life, too, but it’s most evident at work.  It’s actually quite exhausting to go from tiny detail to tiny detail, considering each and every one.  That is how my mind works and it’s running nonstop; this makes for some very difficult times trying to fall asleep  :P  Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that I could really relate to Mr. Weber’s work, and in more ways than one.  The whole time I was listening to him, I kept coming up with ideas for his project; for all I knew his team had already considered them, but I was thinking of them nonetheless.  Is there a job where the only thing you have to do is come up with ideas?  If so, someone should let me know, because I think I would be great at that!  :P

[designumn2015]

Reflection

So this past week, we delved a little into project two, and listened to a guest speaker, John Comazzi.

John's seminar was really interesting to listen to.  I liked a lot of what he was saying with regards to education.  I know education reform is something a lot of people are concerned about in our country, especially with the attempted reform, Common Core, turning out to be a failure full of confusion and headaches.  I found myself particularly interested when he was talking about the cantilevers made from the decks of cards.  I kept trying to think about how I would try to a cantilever, and I was thoroughly impressed by some of the designs that were pictured.  Some of them were so complex, and from an engineering perspective, I loved it!  I also liked the exercise at the end, for a couple reasons.  One, I know my group was in the top three or four for the tallest structure, even if it wasn't the most stable, and two, I enjoyed a few of those dots  :P  I like learning by doing, and I agree that that kind of learning should be incorporated more in our education.  I still think the traditional style of learning is important, too.  I think the best thing to do would be to combine both styles of learning; start off with some of the traditional classes, to develop a clear foundation, and then use what you've learned to apply it to some real-world situations, where you learn even more.  That is what I think would be the best way of teaching.

[designumn2015]

Week 6 Reflection

Well, to make a long story short, I missed a couple weeks of class due to illness.  Thankfully, Emily is an amazing professor, who went out of her way to check in on me, and to help me get back on track.

So last week we finished up the presentations.  Some of the ideas for presentations were kind of cool, and surprising.  I think my personal favorite was Kyle Meek's presentation about facial hair maintenance, though I'm definitely a little biased, having a beard myself.  I personally wish I would have prepared a little more for my presentation, because I know I stumbled a couple times with my words.  I know it was supposed to be informal, though, so I'm trying not to let it get to me.

Over the past few days, I have actually been thinking about whether or not I have been using design thinking in my every day life, since that is one of the goals of this class.  I think I came up with somewhat contradictory thoughts.  I haven't been actively thinking, "Okay, how can I use design thinking today?" on a daily basis, or even on a situational basis, really.  However, I think that's because I might actually, inherently, do that to a certain extent already (sorry for the excessive adverbs).  I come up with solutions to problems that a lot of people don't even recognize, especially when I'm at work.  Not only that, but I often go through several variations of solutions to some problems, before I settle on one that I think is the most efficient; again, this is most evident at work.  But, while driving around, or walking to class, I am almost always thinking (my mind just doesn't want to turn off a lot of the time).  Since I'm in engineering, I like to think in terms of efficiency, so I'm always thinking about how to improve some of the most random things, like the timing for stop light changes, or how to improve things for the large number of bicyclists in the area, and so many other things that don't even really apply to me, but I simply think could be improved upon.  I guess the conclusion I came up with is that the reason I haven't seen myself changing to a design thinker is because I already am, to a small degree.

Anyway, I guess that's it for this reflection!

[designumn2015]

Reflection on...?

Honestly, that's kind of how I feel right now.  It's not I can't think of something to write a reflection on, but more so that I am not used to such open-ended assignments, or tasks, if you will.  As an engineering student, I'm used to very clear, distinct homework assignments, even if the subject matter is less than clear.  I think that will probably be one of the biggest challenges for me in this course; and not just adjusting to "design thinking," but breaking out of my normal, logical, methodical process of thinking.  I think in terms of what makes the most sense, and functions the most efficiently, and I apply that thinking to everything from engineering homework and projects, to my driving, and even to things as simples as how I stack my dirty plates in the bus tub at my serving job.  I am definitely going to be pushed out of my comfort zone this semester in this course.  I know that is a good thing, and I am still excited to learn and develop new skills, I just think it might end up being more difficult for me than it might for other students in the class.

I am still not entirely sure how these reflections are supposed to be done, as in how long they are supposed to be, or if they're supposed to be about some specific topic from class, since it seems so open-ended to me, so I think I am just going to stop there.