Research Skill
In the Summer of 2021, I took the honors college course IDH 3035: “Creativity & Innovation via Design Thinking” virtually with Professor Gustavo Roque. In this course, I completed a field research assignment with my design group that focused on reaching out to Honors College students and asking them how they feel about the Honors College program. In the beginning, we had to organize a design brief where we planned out and organized what exactly we were going to focus on before setting up the interviews and retrieving the results. The research question that we focused on was “How might we create an impactful first semester for new Honors College students?” Our topic of focus was to analyze the level of student engagement for Honors College students on campus. Through this final activity, I had to work with my team and collaborate with one another on interviewing fellow Honors College students and discussing with the interviewees on their thoughts of the level of engagement and activities the Honors College offers and the benefits of the program, in order to see if there is a need of further improvements.
Through this assignment, I learned a lot in terms of how to work in groups, developing interview skills, and improving my communication skills. Through this process, I realized how important it is to share innovative ideas, knowledge, and collaborate with one another in problem solving in order to produce better results. Additionally, I learned how to expand on my interview skills. I consider myself very shy, and I was nervous about conducting the interview as I knew I would have to get out of my comfort zone. However, I was able to overcome the nervousness and contribute to my part, which helped me overcome my fear and allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. In terms of improving my communication skills, I had to learn how to communicate in a transparent manner with both my team members and the interviewees, since I had to make my ideas and questions clear. With my fellow team members, I learned how to respectfully communicate any disagreements and make sure everyone’s on the same page in terms of responsibilities in order to avoid any issues in the research.
An area that I continue and need to improve on in my research skills is to take advantage of the resources around me by staying current with innovative research studies. This will expand my knowledge on different topics that will aid in the development of a strong foundation of the scientific method. It’s important to also continually work on gaining other people’s viewpoints and ideas, as some things can become overlooked. In the future, these skills will be vital since in the medical field everything is always changing and advancing in different ways, and it’s important to keep up with the current technology and innovations. Overall, this will provide better quality of patient care as there is always a need for improvements, and research provides the outlet for more knowledge that is vital to excellent patient care.
Through this assignment, I learned a lot in terms of how to work in groups, developing interview skills, and improving my communication skills. Through this process, I realized how important it is to share innovative ideas, knowledge, and collaborate with one another in problem solving in order to produce better results. Additionally, I learned how to expand on my interview skills. I consider myself very shy, and I was nervous about conducting the interview as I knew I would have to get out of my comfort zone. However, I was able to overcome the nervousness and contribute to my part, which helped me overcome my fear and allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. In terms of improving my communication skills, I had to learn how to communicate in a transparent manner with both my team members and the interviewees, since I had to make my ideas and questions clear. With my fellow team members, I learned how to respectfully communicate any disagreements and make sure everyone’s on the same page in terms of responsibilities in order to avoid any issues in the research.
An area that I continue and need to improve on in my research skills is to take advantage of the resources around me by staying current with innovative research studies. This will expand my knowledge on different topics that will aid in the development of a strong foundation of the scientific method. It’s important to also continually work on gaining other people’s viewpoints and ideas, as some things can become overlooked. In the future, these skills will be vital since in the medical field everything is always changing and advancing in different ways, and it’s important to keep up with the current technology and innovations. Overall, this will provide better quality of patient care as there is always a need for improvements, and research provides the outlet for more knowledge that is vital to excellent patient care.
3 Teammates
