The first big day arrived and it was FUN!

In regards to the Oceanic Odyssey I was really excited to have people experience it. I even had two friends come over to test it, and they said they liked it.

My first impression was that the thing has yet to be polished. Maybe it was the little amount of things showing on screen, maybe the very low volume, maybe that the mirror wasn’t on the tripod, maybe that some light was leaking, maybe that the AC wasn’t working, maybe that the colors were not there for full disappearance, maybe all of those. But to be honest there was more positive things. The number of smiles, the good comments, just the fact that it was working…

It was great to have this experience and it gets my excited to finalize this project and have it ready for Earth Day!

🙂

Honestly we should’ve just had class… It was even sunny.

But well, took the day off to visit family friends in Brooklyn, and technology is so amazing I was able to be in the Zoom class while at the same time being out with my cousins.

It was important to know what we were gonna do next time we met with the kids and listen to the ideas everyone presented. I learnt that my ideas since we are doing something public I should take into account things such as copyright. I really loved that a girl from LCSS is really into The Beatles so I wanted to do something in relation to them and my story was about them but I’m probably gonna have to go more Beatles-inspired rather than using them as the vehicle for an experience. Also I hadn’t thought of the medium in which I’d present that story and since it was brought up I feel now like I gotta take the interactive experience into account when thinking of the story rather than come up with the story and then translate it into an activity. I’m excited for what’s to come.

SELF ASSESSMENT:

1. In Ed Tech and Design Thinking I feel that I am making the most progress with:
   Having an actual experience on building something with a group, researching with a group and making progress in something similar to how design is, in a team. My classes are all about personal projects and group projects are in the best case conformed by 3 people and they are terrible. I love working as a team for a focused design project. 
2. I need more assistance with:
   Probably learning the ins and outs of all the software we talk about. We go about Unity, AR with the cube, the VR software and it is interesting to know about them but probably some deeper diving might be necessary to fully realize what’s goin on, like get my feet wet with the things, like more studio play-time but honestly there’s no time in this little class, I wish it was a six hour class honestly.
3. Write a short paragraph: in the first five weeks of Ed Tech and Design Thinking, I discovered/learned…….
   That working as a large group in design is really exciting. I’ve learned about systems, about procedures in teaching, about methods on learning, about the world in ecological ways, about personal stories my classmates have, about software and gadgets I didn’t know existed. But most importantly I’ve learnt that there’s a bright future ahead because there’s wonderful kids with the spirit and the mindset to change the world.
4. Comments on the studio? What is working or not working for you?

Time is so little this studio feels encapsulated. My big six hour studio is a huge waste of time whereas this should be so good for that. Love taking trips, love the interesting lectures, love the class activities, love how we are a group.

Interesting! Very interesting!

Having a conversation through the Owl was something I had never experienced. Seeing the kids get together and engaged on presenting their stories was definitely something that filled everyone’s heart with joy. The fact that the connection wasn’t the best and also that digital barrier between us made it feel unnatural, but something kept it being… interesting. Lots of pros and cons. But an enjoyable, memorable experience nonetheless.

It was very cool to experience the Rumi environment in VR as well. Can’t wait to get to see more.

When time came to understand the system of our stories things got really entrancing. Looking at my classmate’s story I realized how many questions arise, and mostly made me question intentions and reason, making me bring up examples that went from economist Adam Smith to the movie Mulholland Drive by David Lynch.

1. What did you learn about we are doing in this studio for the semester?

Develop experiences that are going to transcend into children’s minds and enrich their lives to have a future impact of global good. I’m excited for this because we’ll be working as a group with eachs abilities to achieve a common goal.

Did anything stand out as something that you like/dislike?

Loved how abstract we got for our seemingly very pragmatic course and topics.

2. What did you learn about Design Thinking?

Teaching is the best way of learning. I’m excited because we are all about  creating memorable experiences, experiences created with design.

FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED. THE FUTURE IS SHINY.

I had the absolute PLEASURE of meeting some of the smartest kids I’ve ever come across. Their willingness to ideate, their creativity, their involvement in creating an eco-friendly product, their movie, literature and music interests and finally their positive personality were the things I loved the most about the girls of the group Raquel and I leaded.

They were even outsmarting us not only by coming up with questions but answers at the same time when doing the Mouse Module exercise.

By the end of the project we had ideated “The EcoPouch” patent pending flat-pack design bag with a logo included. These girls went from realizing a problem (plastic bags) to ideating and prototyping the design (flat pack pouch), coming up with a marketing strategy by making a logo to convince everyone to use one, relegating Raquel and I to naming the object on the way and then themselves fixing the name we came up with since it didn’t work for the market.

It was a beautiful experience and I cannot wait until these children start to change things in the world. (And see them again soon.)