Bachelor College

Modeling

Modeling was a more unexpected course. While Calculus and Physics were really concrete from the start modelling was something I really had to explore. The general lectures introduced me, and showed me what the importance can be of modeling a system. In introduced me to in which instances a model can be useful (what questions to ask myself), what the properties of a model can be and what purposes a model can serve. Throughout the lectures that followed I learned that even the most complex of systems can be boiled down to bite-size models in order to communicate and test them.

Combined with the Specific Lectures I also attended Specific Lectures on Process modeling, in which the information was more focussed on how to check if a process can function and how it would work out, both quantitatively and functionally. The homework assignments forced me to use the knowledge from each weeks’ specific lecture. Which was useful, but the way peer reviews were set up didn’t give me any useful feedback on how my assignments were made only that other students rated it as good.

The biggest learning experience however came from the project i did about process modeling with Laure Peeters, Pedro Nemeth, Tim van Limpt and Tom Verbong. We got the case of a dysfunctioning online betting company called “Betting-Buddy”. An important thing we learned is keep it simple when making a model. We started far too broad, exploring multiple tools, which eventually just caused us to end up with a whole lot of loose ends. I learned that models are everywhere and even the simplest things (like storing data in a table) can be optimized and controlled using (data) models. The results were positive and I passed the course with an average grade of 8.

USE

USE really spoke to me, especially the ethics part. While philosophy has always been a minor fascination of mine, I never considered it in the specific context of technology and enterprises. I found this particularly powerful and interesting to discuss with my fellow classmates. The business ethics that followed after learning some basic ethics theories in my opinion could be very valuable in a professional environment and is very useful. The way ethics offered a different perspective to technological changes is something that really surprised and I believe I have learned a lot from it.

While the history aspect couldn’t capture me as much as the ethics aspect I think that, professionally, it was very valuable. Besides being concretely about historical events I think the writing assignments really contributed to this part of the course. I was forced to look at a technological development from multiple perspectives and research them in a professional way. This contributed to my historical perspective greatly. I now know and know how to apply multiple theories about how users and society influence technology and how technology influences users and society.

Lastly I think the professional, business focussed, way USE was taught contributed to my own development as a professional. Anything I have written had to be correctly referenced and required research of a professional level trough exclusively using reputable sources.

By putting all the material into a comprehensive and actual context I think USE was valuable to understanding technological change throughout all of history and how ethics comes into play when decisions have to be made in a company. My interest in USE resulted in the assignments I co-wrote both getting a grade 10, the presentation I gave getting a 7. The two other written assignments were written by teammates and both got a 7. At the time of writing I have not recieved my final grade yet.