As this semester is coming to an end, I want to talk about some of my takeaways from this class and what made this course unique. From the weekly class discussions to the guest speakers, I knew I was gaining knowledge I could apply to my professional career in each class section- something I couldn’t say about the majority of my other classes. Firstly, I want to talk about what I think made this class stand out the most from my other courses: the guest speakers.
Guest Speakers
It was truly a pleasure being able to learn from the guest speakers that Dr. Kane was able to bring in. The guest speakers provided many different perspectives on digital innovation and worked in a variety of industries, which helped the class gain a better understanding of how companies around the world view and incorporate technological advances. Also, the guest speakers gave our class valuable career advice as we prepare for the professional world. For example, the speakers gave suggestions to students looking to start their own tech company or trying to level up to become a C-suite executive.
My favorite guest speaker was Dennis Crowley, our first class speaker. Dennis caught my attention because of his entrepreneurial background and his thoughtful responses to questions from the class. Fortunately, I was able to ask Dennis during the presentation how he deals with investors and consumers who don’t believe in his product. He told the class that he had 32 investors say ‘no’ before receiving one ‘yes.’ Dennis also talked about how you must believe in your product before anyone else. Then, as your product develops, everyone will begin to believe in it due to “herd mentality.” My biggest takeaway from Dennis is that you create your own luck by being persistent and continuing to promote your company.
Getting to Know Everyone
I really enjoyed getting to know and interacting with everyone in the class through Twitter, blog posts, small groups, and class discussions. There were so many creative posts throughout the semester that it would be difficult for me to select one or two to talk about. At the beginning of this course, I did not think I would enjoy writing the class blogs. However, when I found an interesting topic to write about, it felt like I couldn’t write enough in my posts. Twitter was constantly filled with entertaining and educational content. I think our class tweets improved as we progressed through the semester from being solely about ChatGPT and AI to creative ways that companies are using digital innovation. Also, our class started discussing topics on Twitter in the comments. Under one of my Tweets concerning a Swiss company creating a hydrogen-powered passenger jet, Mary Ziegler, Connor Stephan, William Thomas and I discussed the potential of this plane to become an option for everyday public travel. Connor compared this concept to the fraudulent company Nikola with their hydrogen-powered semi trucks and warned that this aircraft company could be a similar scam. Regarding the small groups, our conversations allowed me to better grasp the concepts in the assigned videos/articles and talk more in-depth about class topics.
Lastly, I want to say thank you to Dr. Kane. This class provided me with a new outlook on digital innovation and its importance in the coming years. I thought this class was very well-structured with all of its elements, and he constantly asked us for our feedback. To be honest, when I signed up for this course, I did not know if I would be able to be engaged and participate for the full three hours. Fast forward to today, this class never had a dull moment and ended up being one of my favorite college courses. Overall, I am very glad I decided to take this class during my final semester!
In the words of Dr. Kane, don’t forget to like and subscribe👍
Thank you all for an amazing class,
Spencer Myers