- What did you learn?
Through this class, I learned many ways about critical thinking. I learned to analyze, judge, criticize and deny specific thoughts or words, and actions. This includes both criticizing others and blaming myself. I have learned to participate in the dialogue with a positive and humble attitude, deeply understand the other party’s point of view, and form my own conclusions; to criticize myself is to constantly reflect on my own thoughts, that is, to often take out my own thoughts and reflect on them. For example, I often try to consider if my thinking just now is enough fair, deep enough, logical, etc.Before this course, my critical thinking ability was relatively weak in many cases. Because in my previous thinking, there was a kind of “egocentrism” and “inertial thinking”. To put it simply, I tend to get used to knowing things only from my own experience and perspective and act according to inertia. Because of this egocentrism in my thinking, it’s hard for me to be critical.
- What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on the critique itself?
I received much feedback about the criticism itself. Critical thinking refers to the process by which we examine the information we have and make critiques and decisions based on this examination. When we think critically, we identify issues, examine facts, analyze assumptions, consider other factors and ultimately determine reasons for or against an idea.For example, Initially, when I was researching the subject of nightmares, I subconsciously assumed that all nightmares were bad and needed to be resolved. But after all-around thinking with my classmates and teachers, I realized that many nightmares are beneficial to health. The right level of nightmares can untangle negative emotions, thereby helping people to live better.
- What might you do differently in terms of process or content?
I will explore more types of dreams and study how to control or adjust the content of dreams so that people can live better.
- What was inspiring? What parts?Constantly improving and enriching the depth and breadth of thinking is what makes me feel joyful and fulfilled in this course.
- Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…
My final presentation is very different from the original idea, but as long as you carefully sort out the entire change process, you will find that my adjustments are very logical and orderly. Initially, I wanted to design a sleep aid bracelet to assist users in adjusting sleep quality through vibration, music, smell, etc. In the end, on the one hand, the wristband was not comfortable to wear at night, and on the other hand, the inspiration came from my sleeping pillow. At the age when I often had nightmares in my childhood, I had a very soft pillow, which was very gentle and accompanied me through every good dream. I drew inspiration from it and designed a sleep aid pillow with functions such as playing music, emitting good smells, and adjusting sleeping positions. I hope my design can help children with nightmares have a good night
- How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from?
I’m lacking in experimentation. Because I’m living a life where it’s really hard to reach the typical target audience. In the next stage of the study, I will make some adjustments, whether it is to increase the chance of contacting target users or to select more suitable objects for research as target users