5 Unit 18: reflection

Unit 18 slides (PDF)

Task
Design an outward-facing expression of your reflective process.

Form
A print product
An on-screen experience
An object

Function
You are making a practical but expressive tool that you will use to facilitate your end-of-year discussions.

Audience
Community (GD Commons, 5/18, 11:20am)
+
Your instructor (5/18)
+
Your end-of-year review (5/25)

We began the semester by asking you to ask questions.

This weekend, set aside some time away from distractions to think about those questions in relation to your own progress this semester.

**
What’s working?
**
What do you consider to be your strongest accomplishments as a designer so far?
**
What are your biggest challenges moving forward?
**
Where do you need help?

**
What inspires you?

**
What are your hopes for moving forward?

**
How have your design values evolved?

Try to be honest and clear with yourself.

This kind of awareness is crucial to any creative practice.

An essential part of becoming a designer is recognizing the importance of reflection and self-evaluation.

Ideally, it’s a continuous part of your growth process, in school and beyond.

Wednesday May 11
Unit 17 review

Monday May 16
Unit 18 design studio

Wednesday May 18
Unit 18 review
11:30–12:30 Full group in GD Commons
12:30–4:20 Individual meetings

Wednesday May 25
Juniors end-of-year review

How do reflection, documentation and synthesis facilitate awareness?

Throughout the semester you will develop your own reflective process, running parallel to the other units. Nurturing a daily practice that notes your experience and insights (experiments, failures, interests, questions, methodologies) is a bridge to learning. In this unit you will give yourself a space to nurture this practice. In addition, a final Reflective Process Document will be prepared during your final 2 weeks of the semester.

— Nurture your reflective practice daily via written notes on your DS studio work and experiences.
— Even if only for a minute or so.
— Write spontaneously.
— Use any writing style that feels comfortable and natural to you.

— Feel free to add visual notes, as needed.

— Don’t belabor it! This is not an English class, not a thesis, not a test.

Share
You will be asked to share your reflective process with your instructor at various times throughout the semester. This is not meant to “prove” anything but rather to show evidence of your attention to your work. There may be no response/critique.

Process Document
Towards the end of the semester, you will be asked to synthesize your notes into a more finished process document that will be shared with your instructor, to be graded as Unit 18. We will spend time on this during the last two weeks of the semester. More details to come.