Perspective-taking has been foundational to many of my best experiences in iDesign. Similar to open-mindedness, it allows us to view problems, solutions, opportunities, and our peers in a multitude of ways. But it is still different from open-mindedness. To me, perspective-taking is driven by the ability to put yourself in another's shoes.
Themes: Perspective-taking, belongingness
For example, when I was learning how to program the CPX for the dandelion scene, I was initially struggling because the messy strings of code made little sense to me. To my writer-oriented brain, it looked like someone had keyboard-smashed a short play. This mindset caused me to spin my wheels for a frustrating amount of time.
However, I eventually reached out to the person next to me, who was a CS major. I was embarrassed that I could not understand the classwork, but I knew I was not going to get far without help. To my shock, the person was far less knowledgeable about MakeCode than I thought. I thought: But they're a CS major! Surely they'd understand something as simple as this, right? Turns out no. Instead, we puzzled over it together, and they eased me into their perspective of the code from a CS major's point of view. Instead of a keyboard smash, they saw functions that could be atomized, redefined, and reconfigured. Bit by bit, we strung together the program, and every time we succeeded I cheered. This made my new friend excited because it reminded them of how they felt when they first created code. We felt like we belonged in that little room, just inspiring each other until we created a code that worked and was intuitive.
This experience was so cool and oddly comforting. It was truly one of the first times I felt like I belonged in this class, because, unlike the flower pot, this was coding. AKA: the former kryptonite to my self-efficacy. My rationalization for this was that everyone learned Hour of Code and Scratch in grade school so fast that they left me in the dust. If I was bad at it before, how could I succeed now? But iDesign is not like those Comp-Sci classes. Ever since that shared experience with MakeCode, I have become increasingly inclined to adopt perspectives of positivity and CS-oriented thinking, and my peers, even if my peers' experience is not as sky-high as I would have thought. Because belonging to me is more important than succeeding.
These themes of perspective-taking and belongingness also manifested in Project 3, although Project 3 was a very different beast. I came into it already struggling, and I believe that created a major roadblock to perspective-seeking, active listening, and belongingness. I was caught up in my thoughts to the point where the outside world seemed less real than the one in my head. Furthermore, I consider myself a planner. My typical approach to projects involves running mentally through every problem and issue that might come up, and using that to create something so "foolproof" that the likelihood of needing to pivot and improvise feels astronomically low. This lack of practice with in-the-moment cognitive flexibility can leave me feeling very derailed, powerless, and unwilling to try different tactics. Hence much of the chaos that was Project 3. Without my group mates to offer their skills and remind me of pivoting-as-problem-solving, I would have kept spinning my wheels on the Night Light Owl to the point of burning myself out.Â
However, one silver lining about a harrowing, chaotic project is the lessons you can apply for what is next. And I cannot wait to use my lessons, perspective-taking, and skills at amplifying belongingness (both for myself and others) for my final project!