And at last, we have reached the 20th blog post of this series. First, I'd like to thank Professor Baldwin for giving me a chance to explore technology. I loved the charisma and energy he brought to the class. However what I envisioned for this class was totally different than what it was. I envisioned a space and time to tinker with technology and to create cool software with it. As I am busy even as a freshman, I hoped the seminar class would give me the time and opportunity to create from the leap motion, the bci software, the myo and the oculus rift. And in all honesty, I really wished that was the case. I would have been fine working on a project in class for a STEAM not a STEM. And I would have loved it, but instead, it turned out to be a showcase of different arts and technology in art. Not that that was not useful, but after 3 lectures of slides and demoes and music production, I feel utterly squished by the lack of expectation in the class. I expected a more open class and yes, of course, some students would not be able to grasp the full meaning and light of technology, but I really wished it gave us those who were interested the chance for that exploration and creativity.
For example, if we were given time and the tools in class on Sketchup and work on tiny coding projects, I think it would have been an easier class for me personally. Because outside of this class, I dedicate most of my time to my studies and to my work, I wanted this class to my place of solace and creativity time. But of course, perhaps these are just expectations I never should have had, but that was how the class was projected to me in one of the ITS chat with professors events. I won't lie, I am disappointed in parts of the seminar class because I was wholeheartedly looking forward to tackling and creating with technology in class since I am already overloaded with work outside the seminar class. I would have loved to code and create visual displays to be integrated in the other class's presentation and art performance. But given the time constraints in my schedule and the inability for me to dive deep into these projects, I was not able to bring my best to the table. It's obviously also my fault that this is the case, I mean when I am taking 17 credits amidst a 10hr/week part time job with an additional elective no-credit class, that's an indication I'm probably overloading myself with too much work. But I hope I'll still be able to find a bit of my time to come back and fool around with technology because above all, that was and still is what I am looking forward to in this class and outside this class.
This class gave me perspective and a different way of viewing technology in especially the artistic sense that I have never been exposed to. And for that, I am grateful I took this seminar class. Despite my disappointments at myself, and a tiny bit at the course structure, I do earnestly feel grateful I was at least able to see several coded projects and have the freedom to critique them to my liking. In addition, I feel grateful for the energy exuded by Prof. Baldwin as it empowers me to make more time to focus on side projects. In the end of the day, it's not anyone's entire fault for my disappointment, because it was a mixture of mostly my crazy high expectations for this class, and the need for compromise as not all students in this course are so crazily passionate about creating with technology as I am. I just drew the shorter end of the stick.
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