Final Evaluation

This academic year has been more difficult from the previous ones in terms of its content and the required quality of work in preparation to our future carriers. However, I prefer this year than the previous ones as the subjects were more related to the desired profession I’m aiming to. I always showed interest in design, especially interior design. Although I had been confused several times in my life to what should I be studying for my future carrier, I ended up choosing the right course. Interior design interior is something that intrigues me because each project consist of different tasks and each project has its individual challenges.  During this year we had the opportunity to design several projects which we were assessed on and I feel that I’m starting to gain a bit of experience and knowledge on what spatial design consist of.

The assignment ‘Critical Thinking’ has helped me further my understanding of being critical. In the beginning of the year, I had small idea of how to be critical, however having this assignment focused on such topic, had further my understanding and knowledge. Meaning that I feel more mature in addressing different situations and know how to look at the negative and positive side of each situation or task. I’m now also more aware on how to argue with someone without having large conflicts. The idea of writing a blog per week was somehow helpful for me as in written and argumentative aspects. However, there is still room for improvement and I’m aiming to further my knowledge during summer while I would have more time to reflect on what could be improved before the final year will resume.

At the beginning of the year I had almost no idea of how a proper debate should be done. During my debate session, I feel that I did well but not excellent. This means that I’m aware that I could improve further. Going to the debate I was a bit nervous and had thoughts that I would do very bad. What I should have avoided is reading out instead of debating instantly. I had prepared very well for my debate and I made a very detailed introduction, then I prepared several counter arguments, so I counter-argued instantly without hesitation. The most part that I struggled the most during the debate was during the question and answer session, where each question needed to be answered instantly with the information prepared. My opponent was also well prepared so the debate was more challenging. During the debate, I was being criticised that my voice projection was bad and most of the audience couldn’t hear everything. This made me realise such weakness, so I will keep this in mind for future presentations and aim to project my voice better and clearer.

Regarding the ‘Critical Thinking’ assignment, one thing that was difficult to identify was the hypothesis for the final essay. The research was quite time consuming and overall, I feel that I discussed and argued most important points of the researched topic. However, as a conclusion I think I should have been more accurate and straight to the point, while I had to clearly mention whether it was approved or not in a better way.  

Regarding the dissertation, I feel a bit more comfortable about it now, as till few months ago I had little idea what the dissertation consists of. I should say that the new course is much better now than the previous BTEC course which hadn’t any assignment that aims to prepare for the thesis. So, an assignment which was called ‘Critical Studies and Research Methods’ which was assigned for the first semester of this academic year, was aimed to prepare us for the dissertation next year. Thanks to this I managed to choose a hypothesis and now I have some knowledge on the subject I wish to do the dissertation about.

Overall this academic year had been great and I learned from different experiences and tasks which helped me mature more as a person. From now on I will start dedicating some time in preparation for the dissertation as I’m aware that it’s going to be a very challenging year which needs lots of dedication and good time management.