Orientation Reflection

My first week of orientation at AC4D felt a lot like drinking water from a fire hose at first. The orientation is for a UX/UI design certification; UX/UI design is about creating products that meaningfully impact the lives of users, ensuring the design is accessible, enjoyable, and created around the user’s needs. The orientation was a good introductory on some basic tenants for good design, how to identify problems, and how to begin creating solutions to these problems. I was most surprised by how much I needed to adjust my expectations of “success” in a learning environment. In previous schooling there has been a lot of rote memorization, a lot of “this will be on a test later”, and a lot of protocol for each issue. I think I initially approached learning in orientation with the same approach of trying to memorize ideas and concepts and expecting a binary of successful/unsuccessful and right/wrong, which was my experience of learning in the medical field. Once I was able to approach learning and problem solving from the idea of each answer as a step toward a solution rather than the conclusion of a problem, I felt I was able to better engage in lessons. I am still curious about how research questions are established within a company, and what happens the next step is with wire frames. I’m excited for week one of class to officially begin!