What?
During the fall of 2019, I took a class purely based on the title - the Future of Work. Would it involve Jetsons-like transportation? Or was I simply going to learn more about the growing use of technology in our everyday lives? This class definitely touched on both of those questions, but it was centralized on the idea of design thinking. One might argue that this thought process is reserved for the creative types, but realistically, it’s just another form of research.
Our class of ten was led by Aaron Bradley, a professor from DAAP, and we had a semester-long partnership with BHDP. There were three sprints throughout the class where we worked on interdisciplinary teams to re-frame the question on a variety of topics. For instance, how might artificial intelligence impact continuous education in the workplace if the skills to be successful are constantly changing?
So What?
This class truly impacted my way of thinking because I challenged to change the way I approach problems. Instead of laying out the steps of research at the beginning, I learned to become adaptable and to determine the next step in our design thinking process based on the outcome of the previous task. Each peer I worked with, whether computer science or fine arts or electrical engineering or architecture, brought a unique perspective. These conversations and brainstorming sessions quickly spiraled out of control because of the constant “oh, that makes me wonder this…” from bouncing off of each other. It was refreshing to leave each class with new thoughts (except when the presentation dates crept closer).
Even outside of the classroom, I found myself approaching problems within student organizations with my design process hat on. I would think, “I see the problem, but what is the outcome we want to achieve?”
Now What?
As I prepare for graduation in May and look to enter the workforce, I will be able to reference all aspects of this class. I mentioned before applying the concept of reframing the question to other aspects of my life, but a huge benefit that can be easily applied is working in a multidisciplinary team. It’s rare that a set of marketers only interact with marketers. They’ll have to work with accountants, executives, sales, and maybe even lawyers. With any field, it’s important to listen to what the client wants. BHDP taught me that firsthand. There isn’t just one aspect I will apply to any future endeavor because everything we did was intertwined with something else.
During the fall of 2019, I took a class purely based on the title - the Future of Work. Would it involve Jetsons-like transportation? Or was I simply going to learn more about the growing use of technology in our everyday lives? This class definitely touched on both of those questions, but it was centralized on the idea of design thinking. One might argue that this thought process is reserved for the creative types, but realistically, it’s just another form of research.
Our class of ten was led by Aaron Bradley, a professor from DAAP, and we had a semester-long partnership with BHDP. There were three sprints throughout the class where we worked on interdisciplinary teams to re-frame the question on a variety of topics. For instance, how might artificial intelligence impact continuous education in the workplace if the skills to be successful are constantly changing?
So What?
This class truly impacted my way of thinking because I challenged to change the way I approach problems. Instead of laying out the steps of research at the beginning, I learned to become adaptable and to determine the next step in our design thinking process based on the outcome of the previous task. Each peer I worked with, whether computer science or fine arts or electrical engineering or architecture, brought a unique perspective. These conversations and brainstorming sessions quickly spiraled out of control because of the constant “oh, that makes me wonder this…” from bouncing off of each other. It was refreshing to leave each class with new thoughts (except when the presentation dates crept closer).
Even outside of the classroom, I found myself approaching problems within student organizations with my design process hat on. I would think, “I see the problem, but what is the outcome we want to achieve?”
Now What?
As I prepare for graduation in May and look to enter the workforce, I will be able to reference all aspects of this class. I mentioned before applying the concept of reframing the question to other aspects of my life, but a huge benefit that can be easily applied is working in a multidisciplinary team. It’s rare that a set of marketers only interact with marketers. They’ll have to work with accountants, executives, sales, and maybe even lawyers. With any field, it’s important to listen to what the client wants. BHDP taught me that firsthand. There isn’t just one aspect I will apply to any future endeavor because everything we did was intertwined with something else.
Above is the pamphlet that my team and I created to summarize our final project.