During this Independent study, I have learned a ton about not only video creation, but also how to teach others effectively. I think the most important lessons I learned from the process was how different it is talking to students about complex concepts than a peer. Being on the robotics team for multiple years now I have grown into a habit of communicating as concisely as possible, although in most cases that means using technical jargon that is completely incomprehensible to a bystander. Now, given that I am teaching these “bystanders”, I have had to adopt an entirely new and foreign method of communicating that is a lot more clear and drawn out. While this has been incredibly useful in my study, it’s also a major skill in everyday life. Communication is a massive part of my day to day, especially as a leader.
The process of my study was also very formative for me. Talking to each of the mentors of other teams, getting feedback from students or mentors, and just the iteration the project went through was very valuable for me. I have always been a one man army on projects I’ve undertaken. In many cases this resulted in inefficiency or just lower quality work overall. I think during this study I have learned how to strike a balance between my personal drive to complete everything on my own and getting feedback from others. This led my final project to be one that I am incredibly proud of.
Looking at the side by side of my first attempt at an informational video compared to my final iteration, my work is pretty night and day. Simple things like video quality improvements and lighting to changing the content and even the way I speak have made such a huge positive change to the end result and this is a video that I would feel comfortable using as a learning tool.
I think overall this study went very well. The biggest struggle was in battling with my ever full schedule to find time to work. If I were to do this project over again, I would likely have done it in my junior year, since I would have had much more time to sit down and spend as much time as I wanted on the project. Other than that, I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience.
Finally, thank you to all of my advisors for being a positive part of this experience for me!