Let’s rewind back a couple months ago when I was signing up for MIS Elective classes. I came across this class and business intelligence. I went ahead and signed up for business intelligence because it seemed interesting to me, but taking that class for a week, and dropping it for this digital innovations course was one of the best decisions I have made in college.
This class was definitely such an eye-opening experience and by far the most interesting class I have ever taken. I am so glad this course was taught by Dr.Kane because he was able to present us a fun yet educational environment. From going outside and learning and discussing, to the GroupMe chats, to the blog posts and the tweets, this class was made to interact with people and connect with each other. Out of all these, I would personally say that the best one was twitter. Although I did not use twitter as much in the past, this class has got me back into using it consistently. I found the twitter section of this class very enjoyable because I considered them “mini blog posts”. As I scrolled down my twitter feed, I would see classmates talking about important news and updates in the technology world which was very interesting.
On top of that, I would say twitter was one of my favorite out of all these because although I would learn from other classmates, there were a good bit of jokes in between the twitter feed as well. I enjoyed this because the jokes made me laugh and they were also related to class material as well. Aside from that, I would say blog-posts were my second favorite. I say this because there were so many genres to be talked about, from deep-fakes, to AI in sports, healthcare, etc. I really feel like there was a new genre to be talked about every single day.
Aside from that, I believe that the main portion of the class was having the guest speakers over. This was my favorite part of the class, because we were able to talk and ask questions to these “big guys” and get a little feel of how their life is. I loved listening to what they had to say because they were all college kids in point of their life, and them being in the position that they’re in right now and telling us how they got there was very interesting and motivation for not only me but others as well. Personally though, although I loved hearing how they got their job and that position in life, the thing that stuck out to me the most was the “life” advice they gave out. They all gave one similar advice, and that advice stated something similar to “You all are young right now, take the risks because you won’t have nothing to lose”. I have always followed that quote in life, but hearing someone saying that to me and our classroom had greater meaning.
Everything I have said about this class is positive, but there always comes a negative with that. I wouldn’t really say this was much of a big issue or a negative really, but I honestly feel like having 3 speakers in one day can get hectic a little bit. I personally would say 2 guest speakers is already a good amount, but having 3 back to back might have been a little too much just because I would be mentally burn out by the time the 3rd speaker came around, which made me hard to think of questions to ask them. I do think that having 1 guest speaker talk, and then us having an hour of doing something else, and then having the 2nd guest speaker come after that would’ve been better (for me at least) because that 1 hour would give my brain a break and a nice setback so whenever the 2nd guest speaker would come I would feel more energized and eager to think of questions to ask.
To conclude all of this, I would rate this class a 11/10. Greatly structured class with an amazing professor, I don’t know what much else to ask for. Thank you Dr.Kane for being a such an eager professor, as I was able to tell that you loved what you were teaching us. You as-well gave my classmates and I advice when it came to getting jobs, taking risks in life, etc. I can’t wait to see you do great things in the MIS Department!
I agree with you about the structure of the class, Mirage. It was very much geared towards a student-led classroom. Dr. Kane was there to facilitate the conversation, but once we got going, there was a certain fluidity with the class that comes when a good environment is established. That was the foundation of the class, which is already so much more than I’ve experienced in other classes. Everything else just brought the class to the next level.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Mirage! Yes, I will definitely switch from the 3 speaker format if I teach the class again. I’m not sure exactly what it would look like, but I’d definitely tweak the format once I’m not constrained by my travel schedule. I also like the life advice!
Great getting to know you this semester Mirage. I loved the speaker’s life advice, it was always so interesting to hear them echo that same sentiment, the other piece we heard a lot was that we need to do what we love. I thought that was so amazing to hear and looking forward to diving into a career to pursue something that I am passionate about.
I agree with everything you said- this class was an awesome and fun way to learn more about digital innovation while connecting with other students. The 3 guest speakers could get hectic, I agree, but it didn’t take away from the class as a whole. I had a lot of the same takeaways from guest speakers as far as taking risks and pursuing things you are passionate about. Great post!
Double Trouble! Well said. This class was a great combination of so many different things. Glad to have done it by your side!
Great reflection Mirage, I too said that Twitter was my favorite part of this course as it helped me learn every single day. Also, I can relate to your point concerning the guest speakers. My brain would get flustered sometimes due to the overload of information but I still left each class knowing more than I did before. It was great getting to know you Mirage and I wish you the best in your coming career.
Hey Mirage! I loved your final thoughts and reflection for this class. I wasn’t to great at Twitter and didn’t really have a fun time but I think alot of people did which is great. I do agree with you that 3 guest speakers a day felt like alot but it got better with the more speakers we had.
Mirage! I really enjoyed reading your class reflection. I agree that the 3 guest speakers could cause some difficulties, but I think our class handled this better as the class progressed. I agree that Twitter was one of the best parts of the class because it had a great balance of comedy and educational content. It was great getting to know you better this semester!
I completely agree with you! Dr. Kane did an incredible job creating an interactive and educational environment for this class. I also found Twitter to be an enjoyable platform for “mini blog posts” and keeping up with the latest tech news. The guest speakers were definitely a highlight for me as well, and it was inspiring to hear their life advice and how they got to where they are today. I can understand how having three speakers in one day can be overwhelming, but I appreciated the variety and depth of knowledge they brought to the class.
I was in a similar boat to you as well and was going to take business intelligence, but am glad I chose to take this class. I didn’t use twitter much prior to class, but like you I have been checking it consistently to see what cool things are happening around us. I loved how interactive the class was and loved the advice that speakers would bring up and say how we are so young so we have room to make mistakes. Three speakers was a lot on some days, but overall I enjoyed it because I learned so much from the great speakers that we had.
Wassup Mirage! I completely agree with you about how you felt about the way we learned content in this class. We learned content in an engaging way. It was very interactive and I will go one step further to say we also learned a breadth of information in a very passive way. It may not feel like it, but you are learning every time you blog about any topic!