Level 1: Beginnings

(INFO 200 Series)

Fresh. Original. New. Free. Open….

My thoughts, ideas, and emotions seemed to flow as I contemplated the possibilities that were inherent in my professors announcement. This week, we would meet with the members of our INFO 200 project team for the first time. Not only did I already have ideas - but I had the solutions! I knew exactly what we wanted to make. How it would manifest, how it would look , and how we needed to build it. I had an idea! This project would be a breeze; I already had our solution!

On Tuesday, I quickly walked into the room as the clock hit 5:20 p.m. and grabbed a seat in front of a fresh computer monitor. I eagerly waited for my TA to announce our groups and give us instructions while I logged into Canvas (Our class website provider). As I skimmed the outline for today’s work, my jaw dropped when I read that we would not, in fact, even start designing a solution for our group projects. Instead, we were to start brainstorming different problems that users and people may have in life.

While I was a little disappointed that we would not begin creating a solution to the problem that I had in mind, I realized that I was, perhaps, a little bit preemptive about my team project. Without the foundation of ideating and brainstorming a problem, we could not fully cover all of our bases. I needed to take a step back and try to come up with many different problems before choosing one, much less designing a solution.

So for the rest of class, I met my teammates: Serena, Jameson, and Dave, who all seemed eager to begin brainstorming as well. Feeling like I would be willing to put forth a little extra effort, I volunteered to be the Team Lead, while Jameson offered to be the Team Moderator. I do not usually consider myself the most quiet member of the group, being the Lead was a very exciting process and made me feel even more invested not only in our INFO 200 project but also the major in general. What an exciting week!