What I learned and how I learned it, Reflections on a semester.

Sometimes the best way to learn something is by doing it wrong and looking at what you did. -Neil Gaiman

I feel the above quote sums up my semester in Digital Experience Design pretty well. Coming into this semester I was about as green as one could be. Learning a new field is like walking a tight rope in the dark, you don’t know what is ahead of you and your instincts tell you to go slowly, any mistakes could be your last.

As our professor shoved us in the deep end on our first day of class, I would learn quickly that trying my hardest to not make a mistake, would be my first mistake.

Our first assignments were given. A writing assignment (god help me) and a presentation to be given at our next class ( please someone wake me up). I immediately felt overwhelmed, thinking “what had I gotten myself into?”

I never enjoyed writing. My wife when we were dating on more than one occasion gave me a journal to “get my thoughts down”. The journals eventually became hers when she realized I was using them as coasters for my nightstand. I didn’t enjoy writing, it made me uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as getting up in front of a bunch of strangers and speaking. Yes this was a nightmare.

Looking back now, I loved writing every one of my writing assignments and I plan on continuing to write. We have our final presentations and deliverables due on Wednesday. Just the very thought of that five months ago would have immediately sent my stomach doing somersaults. My first few presentations I would say were like watching someone have a stroke, but slightly more informative. Yeah, I still have initial pangs of anxiety, but I feel much more confident as a speaker, a writer and a designer.

I attribute this growth to the relentless pace of this course. We covered so much material, but we learned by doing, by making mistakes. We had no choice but do dive right in and get our hands dirty.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. - Benjamin Franklin

Jason, thank you for helping me learn a whole lot about becoming a UX designer and even more about myself in the process.