#KeepGlobalSmith in BMGT468Z: Creating the Future through Systems Thinking and Design
As a senior at the University of Maryland in my last semester, I was eager to finish school with a course that I truly felt could be useful throughout my career. Throughout this fall semester, I had the privilege to be a part of an amazing experience in BMGT468Z – Create the Future through Systems Thinking and Design taught by Professor J. Gerald Suarez. As a student who has been going to school for almost six years, while working full time, I never had an opportunity to study abroad. I never had an opportunity to explore my education in a global fashion. This course gave me that opportunity. I am so thankful for the opportunity to experience global collaboration on such an important project. I can truly say that it gave me a taste of what studying abroad would be like, and I will look back on this experience with pride and gratitude.
1. Describe your experience in the Global Classroom. What was the best part of your experience? What surprised you about your experience?
My experience in the global classroom was very rewarding. When I first learned that the course had a global component, I wondered how it would be managed. It seemed like a daunting task to work with students who lived so far away, especially during the pandemic. However, Professor Suarez encouraged us to embrace the moment and take advantage of this opportunity. When we first met with our team, the excitement from the students at LaInnovationKitchen was captivating and contagious. They came into the group immediately asking questions about our project, what could be done, and how we would use the design thinking process to create our idea. They were motivated and willing to work at every step, making the desire to represent our university with pride that much greater. The best experience for me came at the end of our project when we were creating our team video. The kind messages from our team members in Spain were so rewarding as it was clear we had a memorable experience. What surprised me with the global experience was the level of dedication our team members from Spain showed. They were just as committed as our team at UMD to create something meaningful, and it really helped motivate our team.
2. What challenges did you face when interacting and integrating global students in your team and what did you learn from that experience?
Our biggest challenge was the time difference. While this may be obvious, it was really hard in the beginning stages of the project to find time to meet as a whole team. In order to combat this, we began meeting with each other separately at different times to make sure everyone was up to speed. Personally, it was hard to make sure I coordinated different meetings across the week when I also had other classes and a job. However, the struggles we had early on made the meetings we could all join at once that much more meaningful. We really thrived in those large meetings where everyone could brainstorm, ideate, and figure out our next steps as a team. What I learned from that experience was that the idea of creativity was not reserved just to our project proposal. We had to find creative ways to work as a team and ensure that we were working together towards a common goal. I found that lesson to be profound as creativity can be used in all facets of life and interaction, not just on projects.
3. What was something that you learned from your participation in this course that you may not have learned otherwise?
One of my biggest takeaways from this course was the importance of empathy. In so many courses, you are taught different ways to manage, lead, or analyze situations. However, I do not recall a course that was rooted solely in empathy. Throughout this course, I learned how powerful empathy can be, not only in the design thinking process, but in life as a whole. Finding ways to connect with others, and actually attempt to understand them, helps you build more meaningful products, relationships, and partnerships throughout life. I honestly never considered empathy as an important part of the design process before this course. It always seemed like a great design was one that solved problems, made someone’s life easier, or was created by someone so smart it just had to work. None of these are true. A great design depends on how you connect with your customer. A great design depends on how well you understand problems, pains, sadness, joy, or drive of your customer. This course showed me that really embracing the story and connection with your customer can help you make a better product or idea. It is not just about doing something better, it is about the experience and creating a story. My team really embraced those principles in our project, and it really helped us to create an idea that not only fixed a problem, but created a meaningful and positive experience. This importance of empathy is one that I will carry with me into my career to impact the world in a positive way.
4. What has this experience taught you about collaborating with global partners in a virtual environment and designing a solution for a real-life client?
Having the experience to work with global partners was an incredible experience, especially for someone who never had the opportunity to study abroad. This experience has taught me that while collaborating with global partners can be challenging, it is very rewarding. There were challenges with time differences, language barriers, and availability throughout the semester, but each of those challenges pushed us to think more about each other as team members. We began to take into account our situations. We began to empathize with one another. We brainstormed and found ways to stay connected and assign work despite our challenges. This to me was why it was so fulfilling to work with global partners. Having a real problem to solve, with real people from across the globe, gave this course a unique feeling of reality and connectedness that I did not expect. I truly enjoyed my global experience in this course, and I hope others get to experience it as well. There will be challenges, especially in a virtual environment, but if you communicate and empathize with one another, anything is possible.
5. What advice would you give a student considering participating in this type of course?
The advice I would give is do it! This was such an awesome opportunity to connect, grow, and gain life experiences that you can dwell on for a long time. You have a chance to make friends in places you didn’t expect. You have a chance to work with a real client to come up with a real solution. I will not forget this course or the life lessons I learned from Professor Suarez. However, I must warn you that the level of dedication you give this course will determine how impactful it will be for you. You could take the course, and maybe do the bare minimum to get a decent grade. However, when you compare your experience to others in the course who took it more seriously, you will regret not going for it. The mantra for Professor Suarez is to “Fired Up!”. If you aren’t prepared to take that literally and dive into this course, you won’t share my experience. For anyone who is debating taking this course, don’t think about how it might be challenging, think about the possibilities of connections, friendships, experiences, and most of all, fun. Professor Suarez wants this course to be fun at its core, and it is up to you to bring that mindset with you every day. I hope anyone debating taking the course goes for it whole heartedly, you will not regret it!
To Professor Suarez: I just want to thank you for an amazing semester. You are an inspirational figure who has helped me grow throughout my time in your classes. I have learned so many valuable lessons from you, and I hope to use those tools to impact the world. You are truly one of the best professors I have ever had, and I will sorely miss being in your classes. Thank you for advice, lessons, and kindness, and I wish nothing but the best for you!
