I’ve learned a lot this semester. I’d venture to say I’ve
learned more this semester than any single year of my life so far. Most of what
I’ve learned I’ve learned the hard way, and I find myself scrambling here at
the 11th hour trying to damage control to the best of my ability.
It seemed that every time I would learn something in my life,
I would go to PDII lecture and the content thereof would match what I was going
through verbatim. I would often walk out of class thinking, so that’s the name of what I learned
yesterday. I was taught the importance of self-leadership through my
failures, and was taught the tools to lead myself in this course. I learned
in-groups and out-groups are unavoidable through fights with teammates, this
course showed me ways to navigate them. I learned what born leaders are capable
of right as I discovered hidden talent on my team, and I learned ways I could
make the new leader I was mentoring even better. After listening to different
strategies for dealing with attitude, I became more aware of people’s perception
of my moods when I am performing in a leadership capacity.
Everything covered in class I experienced in real-time,
every frustrating short-notice detail of it, so lectures really sank in.
I think above all the PDII lectures helped me not as much
learn lessons about leadership, but the terminology and theory behind
it, so that I may describe my lessons and experiences to others effectively. I
can also categorize the life lessons in my head more distinctly, which will
help me remember them much better.
As a course title, I think Professional Development is misleading. I learned very little that
will help me in a strictly professional sense. I believe that a more
appropriate title would be Personal
Development. After learning what this class has to teach (for the most
part) I feel like I am a more focused, experienced and aware person, i.e. I feel
more developed. Everything I’ve
learned can also be applied in a professional setting, but what I’ve taken away
from this course is much more.
The section discussions that accompany this course are as valuable
as lecture, but for many more reasons.
I am an engineer; I always have been and always will be. I
attend a rigorous engineering school. I am not going to say that engineers lack
imagination; On the contrary, I think the engineer friends I have are some of
the most imaginative people I’ve ever met.
I will concede, however, that (especially when free time is nonexistent)
we become very focused on tasks of engineering and coursework- Components,
systems, talent allocation, communication, homework, and learning, for example.
Having the section content be so far removed from my
everyday tasks was extremely refreshing for me. Engaging in discussion of
topics from politics to farm ethics allowed me to take some time and think
about everything else that is going on in the world outside of my busy little
bubble.
It was also fantastic to talk with classmates, which is
something rarely done on campus. Lectures are silent, labs are strenuous and Troy
(and the weather machine) naturally makes people antisocial, so to meet someone
new and talk with them for an extended period of time was more than kind-of
nice.
Using a blog as a vessel for responses to course material
was something I was weary about in the beginning of the course. Yuck, Blogging, I thought. I figured blogging
was more or less for angry political activists and cooking shows.
The Jury is still out on that one.
What I can say about the blog, however, is that I am glad my
responses to the course material are digital and public. Unlike every other
class, my homework was not pages of hand calculation, or a lab report typed in
the same 12pt TNR with a ‘right’ answer and a point-value. It was a
well-devised, personal thought train that (through a freak accident) some
friends have discovered and enjoyed reading. It’s like a very small body of
work that I can be proud of, as opposed to the same equation that has been
solved by every attending student since 1824. I can’t say that my blog will be
maintained, but I think I’ll leave it up for anyone who has a few minutes to
kill.
I do not suck up to my superiors. I do not grade grovel.
This final post may seem very happy in a this-was-an-overly-fantastic-course
kind of way. Regardless, I give credit where credit is due. I’m not going to
say that I enjoyed everything in this course (lectures were slow, the reading
was oftentimes hard to relate to), or that some of my learning about the course
material wasn’t coincidental with other life events, but overall this is a
solid course and I will recommend it to anyone that asks my opinion.
As for my section room in Sage: FOR THE LOVE OF HYDRATION
WILL SOMEBODY BUY THAT ROOM A THERMOSTAT?
That is all.
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