Week #10- March 20th, 2014: Not Attended

I was yet again sick this week. I went to Beutel on Wednesday for what I thought was a bad sinus infection, and found out that I had Strep throat! Therefore after receiving a huge shot and some medication, I did not attend the live lecture this week. I did however watch it online. The focus on communication was right up my alley since that is my major. I enjoyed the videos in this lecture, especially the disconnect to connect one and do feel that our generation is overly plugged in to technology. For this reason my friends in I do things to challenge ourselves or others to "unplug". I sometimes leave my phone at home when I need a technology free day. When I go out the eat with friends at home, we all have to put out phones face up in the middle of the table. No one is allowed to touch any of the phones and the first person who does before the bills are paid must pay for everything that was ordered. I agree that communication is very important and that it must be customized for your audience, including the generation gaps. I enjoyed this lecture very much.

IdeaMACHE:Is It Better Than Pinterest?

Week #8 – March 6^th, 2014: Attended

While this live lecture was informative, I feel that it could have easily been summed up in a short 5-10 minute tutorial. Despite my opinion on the time spent on teaching how to use the IdeaMache program, I believe that the program itself is intresting. While very similar to a Pinterest board, I like that this program allows for a more organic and controllable design. I look forward to using this in the near future. My major focus for the week was completing my soft innovations project. The hardest part was actually coming up with many ideas that weren’t thought of just yet. 

Make Me More Innovative!

Week #7- February 27th, 2014: Attended

I feel that IDEO and the TRIZ method are  good ways of approaching any innovative or creative challenge. It helps you to look at the surroundings through different lenses. Along with all of the innovative and inventive principles, coming up with ideas is easier with IDEO and TRIZ. The team assignments are going well so far. I am starting to enjoy our meet up times. Alex and I seem to share the position of team leaders which is good so that neither one of us feels overwhelmed with responsibility.