Reflecting on the course, the first word that comes to mind is “fun”. I enjoyed coming to class, writing on the white boards, participating in discussions, and learning about different design techniques. I met some interesting people, I challenged myself with some of the exercises, and I solidified some of the personal values that are important to me.
What impact has this course had on the way that I think? When I think more specifically about my personal thought process, I don’t recognize any significant differences. It is difficult to change an individual’s thought process with only 12 3 – hour lectures. Furthermore, I find it difficult to change the way I think when so many other aspects of my life remain the same. I really enjoyed being exposed to alternative ways of thinking but I didn’t take advantage of them. I believe that in order to change a person’s thought process that individual must really buy-in to the process or at the very least, that individual needs to be repeatedly exposed to the new process. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I didn’t completely buy-in and I didn’t expose myself to the toolbox often enough.
So why didn’t I read all of the readings? Why didn’t I practice free-writing more regularly after I enjoyed it so much in class? Why did I only start this reflection an hour before it was due? How did I expect to conduct divergent thinking and use the tools in an hour? I don’t have a good answer for you. Sorry. What I can say is this: it’s easy to take the beaten path, the path that you’ve always taken, the one that you know “works well enough”. It takes desire and commitment to change a habit. I feel like my thought pattern is a habit and that there is a clear beaten path approach for the way that I approach many things. I don’t think I’m stuck on this path due to intellectual laziness (or at least, I’d like to tell myself that) but I think it’s due to reverting back to what you know in order to get things done. It’s a fear of failure and a comfort in knowing that you can complete the task “well enough” using the thought pattern you’ve always used. I think a conscious decision to change my thought pattern requires something that challenges me, something that makes me want to “think outside the box”. It is at times such as this when I sit back and think “how else can I approach this?”
I’m sure that my thought pattern is changing with exposure to various elements in my life. Exercises such as this make me reflect and adapt, consciously and unconsciously. I’m curious if my thought process will still be the same in 20 years… I doubt it. Moura – you should send us an email in 20 years asking us to write a blog post about our thought process. I’m willing to bet that, whether consciously or not, all of our thought patterns will have adapted due to our environments and situations that make us “think outside the box”.