Going into this semester I thought I knew what MIDE was but I was very pleased to actually get to experience a MIDE class for the first time. Over the course we covered various habits that make up an innovative character. The two that stuck out to me were childs eye and embracing ambiguity.
These two habits stuck out to me for different reasons.
Childs Eye stook out to me because it has been something I had already noticed in my own life. Since I was young I have coached a lacrosse camp for kids ages five through fifteen. After camp I would babysat my younger cousins each day. This allowed for me to really get to see how children grapple with life. I was able to pick up on a child’s eye on my own so learning about how we as adults need to put in the extra attention to maintain a childs eye made a lot of sense to me. In particular, the walk around campus was an eye opening activity and I have tried to do similar activities with just myself more often. It showed me how we often go through the motions of life without picking up on little details or asking questions. Driving through my neighborhood with my little cousin means hundreds of “whys?” And “how come?” from the back seat. This class has shown me that so much good can come from questioning things, and we all need to work on restoring our childs eye.
Embracing ambiguity also stood out to me. This was not because I had already thought about it like I had for Child’s Eye but because it was a new concept that I knew I should work on getting better at instituting in my own life. I find that in all my classes I want to know the rubric, the checklist, or the to do list. The design process has shown me that some unknown can lead to better outcomes. Ambiguity is still mildly uncomfortable for me and I think it will continue to be but my perspective on that uncomfortable feeling has changed. I have learned that facing ambiguity in a positive way can change the outcome and how I feel about it. Currently, we are all faced with a large amount of ambiguity as we are unsure of when our normal daily life will go back to normal. I have challenged myself to maintain a positive outlook on this situation so that my day to day life in quarantine will feel better.
Overall, this course has made me think in new ways that I know I will carry with me beyond this course. I have already noticed myself bringing in tidbits of information into conversations with my friends and family. This not only makes me realize my interest in the topic but that it is also relevant and useful information.