COURSE REFLECTION

Overall I would say that all of the work that I did in this course was successful because it provided valuable learning opportunities. Because each assignment followed a similar pattern i was able to fall into a routine and flush out my own system for prototyping. I learned through these projects that if I take the time to sketch out my ideas and think through all of my design choses before I started large physical production. I often found myself thinking about my assignment and coming up with ideas to jot down in my sketchbook at random times. I think this course was very successful in teaching me how to rapidly prototype and make a large amount of designs without getting too attached to one idea. Next time I go to prototype a product I will make sure that I think through all of the different methods at my disposal and make sure I chose the most efficient method. This lesson was really important during the final project. My group often found ourselves changing methods to better fit our time crunch and available materials. But, even with the constant pivots in methods of prototyping I believe the project turned out well. If we had more time to be able to radiate more it would have been nice to come up with a way to differentiate our product from children's toys.

I had a tough quarter medically and was not able to be in class often. This did not hold me back though and I got all of my assignment done on time. When it came to group work lucky my groups were very understanding and allowed me to do my part of the project from home. While I did not get the benefit of being in class and getting feedback from peers in class, but i was able to get feedback from my peers in more informal ways. This helped me be creative with my timing and get feedback in ways that I haven't not thought of before. When I was in class I really benefited from any short tutorials on the software and hardware available for prototyping. I tend to chose physical prototyping options such as 3D printing and having a class that allowed me to 3D print for an assignment was thrilling. I was able to learn so much able different prototyping mediums and the pros and cons of the different mediums.

Before this class i knew that i enjoyed physically prototyping products but this class ensured that i was capable of it. I am often worried about being able to physically manage making a prototype but this class allowed me to explore a breadth of physical prototyping options. I was able to complete all of the prototyping methods with minimal assistance even while sick. This is amazing to me and shows me that if I wanted to continue pursuing physical prototyping after class i can. I found value in having access to a large amount of tools in the makerspace available for the prototyping assignments. It was cool to be able to let my mind run wild and prototype practically anything. I also found value in the gallery walk style peer critiques. Being able to see what other people came up with and how they used the same methods to create drastically different products is very beneficial.