I'm getting better at communicating! (I think)

      20.109 is a really cool class. Now, I wish I hadn't delayed taking the class until junior spring. I think it would have been more beneficial for me to have taken this class earlier because I feel like this is the first Course 20 class which really introduces you to the world of biological engineering. Also, it is a little strange to be the only junior in the class (although the Course 20 sophomores are really cool and I'm glad I'm getting to know y'all (:)

     Also, I regret not taking this class earlier because the class really does train you to become better and more effective in communicating scientific research. Although having assignments due more often took some time to get used to, the assignments and the extensive feedback definitely helped me improve and helped prepare me for the Mod 1 Data Summary assignment. For example, I think I have significantly improved on creating figures now and feel much more confident in creating one.
 
     However, while I think I have slightly improved, I think there's still much room to grow. Communicating, especially from a scientific perspective, is still a struggle.

 
For example, balancing being as clear and concise as possible but also conveying all the relevant information is difficult. In my first methods draft, for example, I had too much information, which could have been simplified and made more concise. Noreen gave such extensive feedback on this assignment (Thanks Noreen!) and in my revision I think I did a much better job(:

      Being able to write the Mod 1 data summary with our lab partners definitely made the assignment a lot less daunting and much less of a struggle. I don't know what I would have done without Catherine. (Thanks Catherine, you're really awesome c:) Also because of all the preparation we had with the assignments, this assignment was a lot easier. I think the main difficulty was weaving the whole story together and really fleshing it out. However, this assignment was not as bad as it could have been because of all the preparation we had and all of the feedback!

    I really enjoy this class (: I think I'm becoming a better communicator, and also the modules we've been doing are really cool. I had an internship last summer in which I did a lot of work with high throughput screening, so I especially enjoyed our first module. I just regret not taking this class much earlier. I think I delayed it a lot because I thought it would take a lot of time and I wanted to focus on other things (such as UROP). However, I realized that if one were to practice effective time management, then the class is very manageable. I really wish I had taken this class earlier.