On the way to class this morning I talked to one of the students in CSE. She came to a lot of the same conclusions that I had with the class. She told me that the first few weeks of CSE, the class time was a lot more interactive, but has since become much less engaging and it feels like they are being fed way too much information. She much greatly preferred the interactive aspects and really wished when teaching UCD they had more interactive parts. She said that the course was hard to take in and really get when it is so theoretical and not as hands on. Instead of telling them about design, she wished that they had the opportunity to experience it in class.
Secondly, this week in class, there was guest speaker after guest speaker. It was very exhausting and incredibly information heavy. They were all incredibly interesting, and I have to say I learned a lot from each of them, but I felt the students had no time to reflect. For example, one of the speakers taught about the lean start-up model. The lean start-up model can very well be connected to User Centered Design. If the class had the opportunity to have a discussion after the speaker then they could have spoken about how they connected and then learned from that. I did feel like there was a missed opportunity at that time.
So, I do feel that guest speakers are a good thing, but in order to get the most out of them (especially if the guest speakers don’t do activities or interact with the students) it is critical to have activities or discussions between the speakers.
Secondly, this week in class, there was guest speaker after guest speaker. It was very exhausting and incredibly information heavy. They were all incredibly interesting, and I have to say I learned a lot from each of them, but I felt the students had no time to reflect. For example, one of the speakers taught about the lean start-up model. The lean start-up model can very well be connected to User Centered Design. If the class had the opportunity to have a discussion after the speaker then they could have spoken about how they connected and then learned from that. I did feel like there was a missed opportunity at that time.
So, I do feel that guest speakers are a good thing, but in order to get the most out of them (especially if the guest speakers don’t do activities or interact with the students) it is critical to have activities or discussions between the speakers.