Week 12: Concluding Reflections
- Alex Williamson
- Dec 8, 2021
- 3 min read
Spark Forum Activity
Task: Carry out a retrospective about your progress through the module
What did you do well?
I spent lots of time reading around each topic and built a thorough understanding of each. This helped facilitate my contributions to webinars and allowed me to grasp the concepts and ideas being discussed. What’s more, I quickly acclimatised to the amount of time required each week to work full-time and complete my studies simultaneously. Furthermore, I successfully compressed my working week down to four days, allowing me to dedicate every Wednesday and Saturday to study, with the intention of having a day off on Sundays.
What did you learn?
I can confidently say that I learnt something new every week and loved doing so. However, there’s undoubtedly a fine line between conducting enough research and suffering analysis paralysis; I learnt the hard way. Some topics greatly captured my attention, but I spent too much time researching them when I had other outstanding work.
Summary of learnings:
What it takes to be creative, and the various ways we can foster creativity through tools like opposite thinking and brainstorming.
The workings of Agile practice and how it promotes more efficient time management in theory and practice.
The importance of community and finding like-minded people to learn from, build relationships with and diversify your perspective.
How to be a critically reflective practitioner and experiencing first-hand how this promotes growth from within
The importance of using version control software when working collaboratively
Considering the risk factors associated with conducting certain research
How the recruitment process works from various perspectives and how best I can put my best foot forward in demonstrating my skills and experience when applying for jobs
What should you do differently in the next module?
I plan to allocate a more specific amount of time for studying each week; this should be easier since compressing my working week down to four days. In addition, the extra time will help me complete each week’s material by the day of the webinar, allowing for better, more informed engagement in conversations.
What still puzzles you?
Using Balsamiq to draw up “quick” wireframes still baffles me. I believe it could be beneficial to reign in my inner perfectionist in favour of a more rogue approach when generating and implementing creativity. Conversely, I found Agile practice extremely interesting and quickly developed a decent understanding of its workings. However, due to its various forms and uses, I believe I’ve still a lot more to learn about it. Still, I look forward to utilising it in practice and understanding others’ experiences.
Challenge Activity
Task: Summarise your thoughts and speculations about the work you would like to carry out during the next module. Additionally, outline your thoughts about what you would like to do for your final project.
Our next module is aptly named “UX Design”, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since starting the course. Having read the module descriptor, I’m enthralled to learn of the versatile nature of the topics ahead. Concepts will be drawn upon from various disciplines, and both technical and arts’ perspectives will be considered when engaging the design thinking process. These points captured my imagination, especially with the suggestion that prior knowledge can be applied throughout. In addition, I’m equally eager to explore the human-centred perspective of design as this directly correlates with my ideas for the final project. Finally, I’d previously have felt somewhat exasperated by the mention of further reflective practice. However, I found it an invaluable tool throughout the first module and am glad we’re continuing to use it.
Concerning my final project, I’m thinking of doing something accessibility-related. I’m dyslexic and frequently use various accessibility tools. Still, I feel a large number of people don’t even know these exist, let alone how they work or could potentially benefit them. With that in mind, I’d like to research the field in more depth and get a true sense of the difficulties faced by those who use and could benefit from accessibility tools. From this, I’d like to assess the pain points and explore what could be done to make products and services more accessible.
References
ALLEGUE BARROS, Javier. 2018. Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/C7B-ExXpOIE [accessed 15 Jan 2022].
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