Summary (What we learned):

Finding our place in the ISEC project was a challenge. With just ten weeks to learn about the technology, find the problem, propose a solution, and act, there was little room for anything but progress. 

Some problems we ran into:

Communication

• e-mailing was not sufficient to grasp the ISEC situation, and conflicting schedules only allowed for occasional Zoom meetings

• Miscommunication led to mismatch between the goals of the group and the needs of project leaders (Andrew)

Limited Expertise

• None of us were technically qualified to suggest improvements to the ISEC that had not already been thought of

• We were given a list of areas of improvement, but most of them were not realistically achievable for our team in the time span and resources given

Limited Resources

• Our team was only able to physically interact with an ISEC after over a month into the project

  • We never actually got to experience the ISEC model in Uganda

However, we also learned a lot of valuable information from this process and personally benefitted from this experience.  We learned firsthand how complicated development is, especially in undeveloped countries halfway across the world.  We learned to be patient, understand that we probably won't have a big impact, and that failures are imminent but should be perceived as opportunities for progress rather than reasons to quit.  It was a true embodiment of Cal Poly's Learn by Doing teaching philosophy, and the opportunity to work with real life people with real life problems was valuable compared to other projects when we would have just learned about them.  We learned how to communicate professionally and mitigate the different needs and wants of all the different stakeholders in this project.  I think most of all we learned about our place as students – that what we learn should be applied to make the world a better place.