- What have you been learning so far? Give a brief summary.
- As Ela and I are beginning the designing process of what we hope our final product will be, the main thing I’ve been learning is not to overlook anything. What I mean by this is that it’s important to take every aspect of design into account. For example, right now, we’re envisioning a Camshaft connecting to a socket, but will it stay on? Will the balance of the bike be off? The other thing is to consider problems that you didn’t originally envision. When meeting with a person who wears a prosthesis and bikes, he said getting on the bike was one of the most challenging aspects of biking, something me and Ela hadn’t considered. What I’m learning from all these experiences is that precision and thoughtfulness plays a very vital role in the designing process.
- What has stirred your emotions? Anything delightful, intriguing, frustrating, shocking?
- There are so many other factors (like listed above) that I hadn’t originally envisioned being an obstacle, so while it’s frustrating to have to deal with hindrances, it’s also interesting, because it gives me new insights into the project.
- What new questions do you have about this topic?
- How do we design something that solves all of our problems (getting on the bike, being able to ride the bike, having the Camshaft stay on the socket, being able to balance the bike)…is it even possible?
- What are you learning about your learning process?
- I keep learning and re-learning how the learning process can adapt and change. The other day I looked at the original calendar in the proposal, and while our position doesn’t line up with what we had originally envisioned, I’m feeling confident about where we are…the learning process changes as time goes on, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
- Review your blog posts so far. Have they opened up conversations or led to new learning?
- I think they have- however, a lot of times I end up overthinking what goes in a blog post, so I feel like I can only post when I have something really good to say. This leads to me not posting as much as I should. I need to change this mindset, and I need to be comfortable posting my updates without feeling a need for them to be revolutionary, because that isn’t an accurate portrayal of the learning process.
- What has been the most helpful thing that has come from meetings with your content advisor?
- I think the most helpful thing has been when we went over my original brainstorm ideas, which helped lead us to our desired outcome; rotational motion through linear motion.
Mar 18