GDO710 - Week 12 - Finale
As this was the final week of our Development Practice module I want to focus on a free flow journal entry rather than the formatted versions I've been doing over the past 12 weeks. The content this week was inspirational and focused on what is possible with our careers. The course shared a handful of very interesting interviews with experts in the games industry, mostly about their journey, their work, and the future of the industry. We also had a couple of prompts to cover in our weekly discussions as well, which once again focused us on reflecting across the entire module.
I always enjoy listening to experts and creatives discuss their craft, how they found their way within their industries, and how they approach their work. One conversation with Andy Payne OBE was of particular interest as he covered two interesting areas for me. First was this notion that within the games industry, most people tend to be accessible if you put yourself out there and network. The second, and slightly related, was that there is a general culture of sharing within the games industry and game people enjoy helping other interested people. I found these points of interest because of how they contrast with my experience within the international development industry. I find that because many people within the industry and competing over the same donor monies, there is a culture of not sharing. Or if they do share, it's because of a mutual interest to appease a donor. Additionally, I see many of my peers as accessible once you reach a certain seniority level, but I find it is very difficult to network up.
Through the challenge activity this week I took some time to reflect on the following prompts:
- What did you do well?
After taking some time to reflect on this, because I don't feel like I was able to do a lot well, I feel like staying consistent was something I did well. And by consistent I mostly mean, showing up every Monday to do my reading, taking time on Wednesday to do my writing, and reviewing my work on Saturday. I don't think all my efforts were equal but I did my best to stay consistent with the work.
- What did you learn?
I feel like I learned how to be a better reflective writer. I also feel like I have a much better understanding of why we user reflective writing and how it can help in our work. I've enjoyed learning about different reflective frameworks and methods that can help me be a better reflective practitioner.
- What should you do differently in the next module?
For the next module, I'd like to be more consistent with commenting on other students posts. Since I work a day a head, I often forget to go back and check posts. Additionally, I'd like to spend even more time on academic research, during this module I've allocated one hour a week. I'd like to increase this for the next module, allowing more time to dive deeper on relevant topics.
- What still puzzles you?
I'm still concerned about the dissertation, I don't feel like I have a clear picture of how this process will go or what it looks like. I know we are working our way up to that, but I'd love to have a better idea of what the process looks like. After this module I will start looking at other student's blogs to see how they are approaching this, which could help ease my concerns.
My action plan for the final push to the submission of our final project is:
-
Review the syllabus for final project requirements
-
Draft a script for the video presentation
-
Review past critical reflective journals, edit, clean up, and add missing sources if needed
-
Practice my presentation, make edits as necessary
-
Film and edit the presentation
I am a bit concerned about filming and editing the video presentation. I know the editing is not apart of the final evaluation, but I always want to put my best foot forward and showcase myself well. I also don't have a lot of extra time to invest in learning a new software, so my plan will be to do the basic edits on iMovie.