Week 4 Journey - Planning Process [D4G: what if]

During this week, my journey through the project has been a mix of emotions and insights that have significantly shaped my perspective.

My concentrated efforts leading up to Thursday revolved around the presentation. Regrettably, due to Gabi's unexpected illness, the presentation was postponed to the subsequent week. I will say the anticipation leading up to the presentation, which unfortunately got postponed, brought about a degree of anxiety and uncertainty. While this alteration was unplanned, it presented an early opportunity to advance my project further.

In response to Gabi's insightful feedback from the previous week, I made a pivotal decision to shift the cultural element from Maori culture to traditional Chinese culture. This adjustment proved to be prudent as it not only streamlined cultural background research but also allowed me to delve more deeply into aspects of the design process.

[Figure 1: Chinese Zodiac. My Miro.]

As the week became the weekend, I felt a delay. This led me to consider how to move forward. Then, I decided to use the reflection framework: "What? So what? "Now what?" to regain clarity and inspiration. It is one of the simplest reflection frameworks. By moving through three reflective stages, the process will help people reflect on an experience, its implications, and its future implications.

[Figure 2: Rolfe et al's (2001) reflective model What? So what? Now what?]

In the "What?" phase, I identified progress stagnation as a challenge, prompting me to delve into its root causes. The realization surfaced that a missing follow-up plan had caused this stagnation, leaving me feeling disoriented and overwhelmed.

Moving on to the "So what?" phase, I recognized the need for a different approach to yield more favorable outcomes. It became evident that implementing effective methods for creating a robust project plan was crucial.

Consequently, in the "Now what?" phase, I embraced the backward design approach, encompassing three essential steps: identifying desired outcomes, determining appropriate assessments, and crafting activities to ensure successful assessment completion. Guided by this methodology, I established a comprehensive plan by scrutinizing my destination, rationale, existing knowledge, potential pitfalls, and necessary resources.

[Figure 3: Bowen, R. S. (2017). Stage of backward design.]

I am quite surprised I could have a clear plan of the detailed process. Employing the "What?" So what? Now what?" framework of reflection was a breakthrough. It allowed me to dissect challenges and their implications while paving the way for strategic solutions.

[Figure 4: Design process plans. My Miro.]

Through this reflective process, I emerged with renewed clarity. This clarity enabled me to move forward with confidence and renewed motivation. I feel focused and empowered to achieve my goals. I am excited about my next week working now.

Reference:

Bowen, R. S. (2017). Understanding by Design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/understanding-by-design/.

Lu, Fei. (2023). Chinese Zodiac. Miro. https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVMMgL1Cg=/RESOURCES

Lu, Fei. (2023). Design process plans. Miro. https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVMMgL1Cg=/RESOURCES

What? so what? now what? (2020) The University of Edinburgh. Available at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/what-so-what-now-what.