What were the most impactful learning experiences for me in this course?

About myself

One of the most important things that I have learned about myself was at the beginning of this course. I remember one of our first assignments was the ALTCV. This assignment was the very first thing in this course that made me learn new things about myself, which is embracing and valuing my identity and not only this but to be proud of it as well. In this assignment I wanted to show how my past shaped my present, although the way it was shaped I was not aware of it until I did this assignment. This “shaped present” is being proud of being a Muslim and Egyptian, which is something I see very valuable and important in our meantime.

Grades Do Not Present People

Dr Maha said in the first week of classes and honestly I did not understand what did she mean. Having good grades usually means that you are good in managing and navigating the course, at least that what I thought. The past couple of final exams that I had proved to me how these words were actually true. This is not just because I had a bad exams and grades meaning I am explaining myself, but I actually understood the meaning. You can be good in a course throughout the semester, but before the exams you could have an emergency which might hinder and limit your performance in the exam, however you completely understands the course material. This exactly what happened with me. This Morning 18th of December, I was really sad because of my performance in my accounting final exam, however once I remembered these words and reflected on my actual performance during the term and I was really proud. I wouldn’t have overcome this feeling, but thanks to the mindset I developed in this course I was able to.

That I will use in my academic life

Regarding my academic life, I think I have learned how to make my works accessible for everyone by providing links, using appropriate fonts and colors, and clear structure to be followed easily. Usually I didn’t add any descriptions on pictures that I use in my presentations or paper and I have discovered how this can be annoying for someone who has a visual disability, thus will try to be more considerable regarding my work.

That I will use in my social life

I usually express my opinions in a way that I want to “rage bait” or “taunt”  people that I am talking to. Throughout the course I  learned how to respect others who are totally different and sometimes even opposes me. I learned how to control my emotions and control my impulsive actions that comes from my emotions. I understood the importance of respecting others while they are talking or expressing their opinions. I can’t remember a specific situation nor want to mention any one by name, however I learned that through our discussions in class and my Soliya sessions.

That I will use in my career

This course introduced me to the real power of AI and how it should be taken seriously. AI is affecting all careers including mine, which is accounting. So it was important to have some experience using AI. In previous courses I only used AI to aid me in my writing courses. Now after doing the narrative game project in this course, I have used AI in a way that I have never imagined. Creating an interactive game with HTML language, which I did not know anything about, using Gemini; was really a game changing for me. Since this was only done through observing Dr Maha doing it once or twice and the rest was process of trial and error, So I am imagining what would the final outcome would be if I was more knowledgeable in HTML or any other coding language plus a really good experience using AI. This what Insha’ Allah will be going to happen in my career I will increase my experience and knowledge in AI related to my field. Also I have learned this from my AI in Profession Interviews.

I would use these three things that I created to show someone my learning in this course

ALTCV

This was the first assignment also the base and building block on how each assignment should be made, which is focusing on personal and self reflection.

Financial Literacy Game & Reflection

This assignment can show how good can someone be using AI in this course.

GCC Photos Activity

This assignment can show how much deep personal reflections can be in order to a good grade, since my previous assignments I did not reflect deep enough on my self and on the content.

I would change these things about the course to improve it

Focus on Narrative Game

The amount of new stuff I have learned from this project by myself were really good, however I think that in the future it would be better that this part of the syllabus to have a greater weight and thus focusing on it more inside the classroom plus more additional guideline on how to use AI to generate such games.

More outdoors sessions

I don’t have a count in my mind but maybe after 3 inside classrooms we can have the 4th outside or doing an activity outside the classroom. We had a couple of outdoor lectures and they were really fun and energizing and they would break the boredom that students might get from some time to time.

What kind of person should take this course?

A person who is still figuring it out in life (University).

Tools we learned about in this course

Interactive Classroom

The classroom design was really important for this course but not only that, the way Dr Maha was able to manage the chairs settings and the projectors. Before the end of the term we used epson application from out smart phones to project on the screens our game projects. Also as a TA in other courses, I will be equipped better to deal with these type of classrooms. In addition, the way the chairs was organized made it easier to interact with all of my classmates, since we used to sit in a circular shape.

CORE 2096 Reflect

This website made it easier for me personally to submit every and single one of the assignments. It was easy to access and edit, and even we can save many drafts as many as we want without publishing them. For example, while writing this reflection, it is taking from me days, since I want to deeply think about what I want to write, I have saved this draft more than 10 times and each time I keep adjusting and writing. It was a really helpful addition to the course besides canvas.

The GCC experience

It wasn’t that beneficial for me, since all we talked about related to tourism and travelling and I have never left Egypt before nor travelled on an airplane. Also I didn’t have any other interactions with Wesley, he responded to my narrative game ideas but I forget to reply back (my fault to be honest). Also we never got their experience about playing our narrative game, in other words the interactions were so minimal, maybe we were both busy at the same time, who knows. I think we could have a common project were we worked on it together to increase the interaction between us and them, but also the time zone would have caused other problems. My Soliya experience was much better than the GCC.

Personal Comment

This course was completely a hidden gem for me, I was escaping a History course at the beginning of the semester and one of my friends suggested this course as it was exams and quizzes free, I liked the idea to be honest. It turned out to be one of the most courses that I have actually learned things by the end of it, not only gained new information and new concepts, but actually learned. Discovered or rediscovered my identity, increased my technical skills, made new friends, somehow (Increased my popularity among staff and professors, from the AI stakeholders). I would actually start to advertise to this course and may even would like to participate in some lectures in the upcoming semesters as guest of honor (ego). I would like to take this course over and over again due to the healthy emotional state it makes me enter.