Web Techniques with Professor Akselsen along with my classmates has been a wonderful learning experience. If you asked me what a Web Techniques class like this would entail after reading the syllabus, I would have nothing but a rough explanation for you. I remember the first assignment being somewhat intimidating. We introduced ourselves in our classes discussion board and we were assigned to create an User Experience process blog. The User Experience process blog examples we were shared by Professor Akselsen were amazing and also very inspiring. It was funny to think we would have a completed User Experience blog at the end of this course tracking our progress.
It was not until a week or two into the class that I realized how much HTML and CSS plays as a key role in my concentration, User Experience. User Experience focuses on having a deep understanding of our users, what they need and what they value. As a User Experience designer we design meaningful and personally relevant experiences to satisfy our end users. As you can see User Experience is much like HTML and CSS. In the way we want to provide and structure the best experiences for our customers so they come back to our website, brand, service or product.
I found that the curriculum this semester was very informative and organized appropriately. The modules were very well laid out which made it very easy to relate any current event to what we were learning in class. Some of the subjects in our syllabus seemed familiar to me, however I was determined to challenge myself in every topic. The creative freedom Professor Akselsen exposed us to in our modules, allowed me to focus on advancing my skills no matter how basic or difficult the task entailed.
I highly enjoyed creating a mood board, color palette, site map and wireframes for my Craigslist redesign. Learning how to develop a structured user experience and design strategy helped me execute my assignments efficiently and professionally. I enjoyed reading my fellow classmates discussion posts on Blackboard. It was very easy to connect, help and share information regarding our assignments on Blackboard. It was really great seeing how my classmates digested the information we learned this semester from a different perspective. Receiving feedback from my classmates and Professor Akselsen helped me uncover information I missed and highlighted where I did well.
Although, this semester is coming to a close I look forward to using the web technique skills I learned these past several months. I did not realize how much information we covered until I took another look at our Web Technique’s syllabus! I plan on reiterating on the analytics / data best practices at work and using the user experience design processes for my personal projects. It is evident that the assignments I completed for Professor Akselsen’s Web Techniques class will serve as a solid stepping stone for my User Experience concentration at Quinnipiac University and make an excellent portfolio piece!