Bachelor of Creative Technologies – AUT
The year may be over but I am on holiday now so I can do what I like, and it just so happens that what I want to do is learn more about design and technology!
Currently I have two projects more or less on the go. One of these is very much mechanical engineering while the other is more electronic product and software design. Stay tuned to find out what I’m on about =)
Well the year is over now so I thought I would reflect on what I think I accomplished this year.
I feel my personal ability to work within a team to ascertain my role fluidly and to a certain extent make sure that everyone else does well in theirs has improved immensely over our most recent project, that being the ‘santa’s reveal’ viral video we completed for Heart of the City in conjunction with the Lemonade studio. This project in particular was very involving for me as it dealt with real world circumstances including fuck ups, deadlines and the occasional clashing of ideas. Another project I feel I did well in was the animatronics, the sensation of going from a five minute sketch to a functional design that had the potential to work was phenomenal. I can even say with certainty that I would enjoy producing mechatronic designs for a career, given that robotics and mechatronics are featuring more and more in both the military and transport design. Asides from that I feel my overall level of attention needs to improve next year as together with unforseen setbacks I feel that a greater level of detail in terms of the philosophy and logic behind my design solutions is necessary for the kind of results I hope to produce.
However I still have some reservations. To be brutally honest in this last semester we have had almost no support in terms of the process in our studio projects. I understand the concept of following your own or your groups direction and support each other before the staff can support you (due to numbers and time constraints) but at this point I feel like we have had no teaching as to ways in which to develop (note not ways in which to do because that really would be time consuming and pointless)
I do not mind that our route was not prescribed for us. In fact I prefer it that way because being hand fed is for the basics, what we are learning is a wholistic creative method that works for us. This is something that is very hard to teach by all accounts, however having a staff member I can ask (email or face to face) a simple question is for me at least a huge part of what makes a learning environment ‘work’. This ability to leverage the experience of these hugely qualified people to help inform and support our own progress in our projects is incredibly important. I just hope that the university understands how hands on this course is in terms of human resources and provides some more intellectual support to us third years as we complete our degree.
-Joe.
