Module 3: A Design Thinking Perspective on the BAMS program

Activity 3.5. Review and reflect on the design thinking process and your impressions of the BAMS program

Part 1: Allot 10 minutes

1. Which areas of the Design Thinking process do you think you

   • ... have the most experience with?

   • ... have the least experience with?

   • .... are most interested in?

2. For which kinds of jobs do you think graduates of the the BAMS program are suited?

3. Based on the design thinking framework, what streams of focus or competencies does the BAMS program emphasize the most?

Part 2: Allot 30 minutes

4. Review what you have learned both from this module and from Module 2. How does your current understanding of the BAMS program compare to your initial impressions? How well do you think the BAMS program matches your personal and professional goals?

5. The BAMS program will challenge you along many different fronts. For instance, you will be expected to display a level of proficiency in technical courses such as MMS 140, MMS 141, and MMS 142. For many students, these courses are not well-suited to their interests or abilities, so much so that they have been caught cheating in these courses because they are desperate to receive a passing grade. If you are one of these students, you may wish to consider other undergraduate programs (such as UPOU's Bachelor of Education Studies or Associate in Arts program) instead. Is the BAMS program really for you?

Activity 3.6. Applying the design thinking perspective to your ePortfolio

A digital portfolio or ePortfolio is a way to showcase the skills and knowledge you've developed and experience you've acquired. It is is similar to a personal website or an online resume. A digital portfolio is a great way to reflect on, document, and share what you've learned during your time in the BAMS program, and could be especially useful to your potential employers. To learn more, read this introduction to digital portfolios from the Media Studies program of St. Olaf College.

What should your ePortfolio contain?

Your ePortfolio can contain a mixture of text, images, audio, video, and other media formats. Read these tips for creating a digital portfolio from the Media Studies program of St. Olaf College.

How should you organize your ePortfolio?

Your ePortfolio should be organized in a way that demonstrates your skills, abilities, and experiences in a clear, systematic, and easy-to-navigate way. There is no one method you should follow to organize your ePortfolio's contents, but here are some ideas:

Based on a demonstration of your competencies. Your portfolio could demonstrate how well you have met the ideal BAMS graduate based on demonstrations of the following:

• Writing (your ability to articulate the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of developments in the field);

• Technical (your ability to use specialized hardware, authoring tools, and software development frameworks);

• Creation (your ability to produce multimedia knowledge products, artistic work, and other design artifacts); and

• Leadership (your ability to collaborate with other people in group projects; your ability to keep ahead of emerging trends, protocols, and procedures in digital media).

Or perhaps your portfolio could demonstrate how well you can undertake the various tasks that are part of the Design Thinking process as discussed in this module:

• Empathizing (your ability to understand the needs of audiences, users, and clients);

• Defining (your ability to identify key problems and formulate relevant questions);

• Ideating (how prolific you are with coming up with varied potential solutions);

• Prototyping (your ability to build proofs-of-concept, multimedia artifacts, software solutions, and digital products); and

• Evaluating (how well you are able to test and critically examine ideas and solutions).

Thematically (for example, based on the different types of BAMS courses as discussed in Module 2):

• Theory and criticism

• Research

• Technical skills

• Creative outputs

This is not an exhaustive listing of options, and there is no one correct way of structuring your ePortfolio. If you start your ePortfolio and use one way of organizing your content now, you might find that you will end up reorganizing your ePortfolio as you go through the BAMS program.

In an addition to these sections, you could include other features in your ePortfolio, such as a reflective blog, a list of books and articles that you've read and enjoyed, your CV, links to your social media accounts, etc.

What can you use to build your ePortfolio?

There are many tools you can use to create your digital portfolio, including Wix, Tumblr, Squarespace, Wordpress, or Google Sites. Many other services and content management systems (CMS) exist; if your web development skills are advanced, you can even build your own digital portfolio authoring tool or CMS from scratch.

What could your ePortfolio look like?

There are thousands of student ePortfolios available on the Web that you could take a look at in order to inspire the way you plan and build yours. The ones presented below are but three examples.

And as you gather more experiences, your portfolio can eventually become particularly rich and full of interesting entries:

Search the Web for other student or alumni ePortfolios, and be prepared to share with the class the ones that you found the most compelling.

When should I start building my ePortfolio?

Now is as good a time as any! You can always revisit and edit your ePortfolio. You might find it particularly useful to start putting in extra time on your ePortfolio during your last year in the BAMS program in preparation for graduation.

Can building my ePortfolio be my final MMS 200 project?

No. Your ePortfolio should be something that you should be working on throughout your career, and not a one-time product you create for your MMS 200 capstone project. However, whatever you do for your MMS 200 project could certainly be part of your ePortfolio.