This week was a really good week. I've used this metaphor before when I describe to others how I feel about graduate school so far but I really feel like my brain is growing.
As I wrap up week six of graduate school at UW, I've been thinking about how much I've grown, experienced, and thought about since my arrival in Seattle. For one, when I was thinking about what to title my reflection this week I thought back to midterms season at Northwestern as an undergraduate. I am thankful that Northwestern also was on the quarter system and that the past four years I also measured my progress in weeks just like at UW so far because the time and pace adjustment was not that difficult. On the other hand, the adjustment to progress, expectations, and the style of learning has been very different. When I reflect on what midterm weeks felt like at Northwestern, I recall the time pressure and rushed sprint to the exam or paper or report coming up. Midterms here at UW and specifically as a graduate student have been very different because I feel like I have space to think and process at my own pace. For our recent timed engagement in Empirical Traditions class, I felt a little bit of anxiety come up when I thought about it as an examination after our five targeted investigations. After reading for 20mins and having a stimulating conversation with Giovanna about data analysis methods and coding schemes and the implications of used both qual/quant analysis, I felt smart. I felt like that during that "examination" I did not have to prove to a numerical basis or to a letter grad how much learning I had done so far. It actually felt like the opposite, the only person I was proving something to was to myself and I surprised myself. I was able to take a reading that I had never seen before, that used a lot of big words related to methodology and theory and scientific analysis, and I could hold a conversation with someone who was very knowledgeable in that topic. Midterms week also comes at a time where both sides of my research projects are picking up in the reflection space and in the design space and instead of feeling overwhelmed about the middle of the quarter coming up and putting expectations of what I should have learned so far, I am excited about the prospect of what I can learn before the end of the quarter.
This week I also attended two very interesting talks in DUB seminar and in HCDE Seminar Current Issues in HCDE. Every week, and specifically every Wednesday since I have both of these lectures on that day, I am amazed by the work professors, graduate students, undergraduates, and people are doing. To be honest, I did not comprehend the powerhouse of design, technology, human-computing interactions, people, engineering and CS/CSE community I was entering when I enrolled at UW and HCDE. Ever since I arrived on campus, I've seen so many people present amazing talks that prompt such a rich discussion in q&a and also with my peers. I've also seen the range of expertise, methods, and projects that researchers and professors are working on across the field of HCI and design. This week I learned about Elin Björling in HCDE who does research at the intersection of social robotics and teen stress, and about Audrey Dejardins in Art, Art history and design who does autobiographical data collection on her van that she's completely redesigned to meet her needs. When I was working on writing a description for a potential DRG, I did research on past DRGs and learned about the work Andy Davidson with outreach and design, and Brock Craft is doing with bioluminescent displays. I feel very grateful that I am in a community of incredibly passionate and intelligent individuals that are all in some form working to combine their knowledge and interactions with technology and humans to make the world a better place.
Work - Life Balance
In my other class, research communications with Julie Kientz, a common thread I've identified that Julie tries to integrate weekly is the importance of work-life balance. I feel proud of what I've been doing so far to maintain this. Having my boyfriend in Seattle for the past three weeks has been really great because it has helped me manage my time to get my work done Mon-Fri and then we've taken the weekends off. The first weekend we hiked around St. Edwards State Park and Cougar Mountain, and this past weekend we explored around Vancouver and did the Grouse Grind which was a lot of fun. I am proud of how I've been balancing keeping up with my work, making sure I take time to eat and run, and also spend time with others.
Quick Lists
I'll wrap up my more than thirty minute reflection by answering these prompts in a couple bullet points.
Interesting... What is something that interested me this week?
- The fact that it is kinda snowing outside right now and 35 degrees
- The book quantitative ethnography by David Shaffer that Giovanna let me borrow
Surprise... What is something that surprised me this week?
- Learning about trunk-or-treating
- Learning about autoethnography as an accepted methodology in the field
Takeaway... What is a takeaway from this week, something I learned?
- When I send out emails over listservs for research studies it is important that I include who the research team is and what the research context is
- I can apply all my interests and learn about the things I care about around engineering ed, gender equity, technology, makerspaces and I becoming a part of a really good community for that
Puzzle... What is something I don't yet understand?
- How to balance the perfectionist in me that wants to do everything well and prioritize research over classwork.