This reflection blog summarizes the skills and ideas I have learned throughout unit 2.

During the process of researching the ten best LinkedIn practises, I realized how valuable a social networking platform LinkedIn is, which encouraged me to update my profile. I have also attended a few zoom networking events with professional experts in the CS industry, and have used LinkedIn to network with them recently. I was able to use a few of these practises that I learned about during this assignment when reaching out to individuals to learn more specifically about their company or role.

When I first started brainstorming of ideas that could be investigated for the formal report, I came across the idea of implementing Tim Horton’s self-serve kiosks across campus similar to how McMaster University had implemented them after seeing a surging demand in this franchise. I chose this topic because as a student, I would frequently find myself refilling on caffeine on campus but would wait in absurdly long lines just to retrieve a quality yet affordable cup of coffee on campus, and I found that problematic. My proposal followed this idea in week 1; however, following the progress report and outline assignment I quickly realized this wouldn’t be quite as feasible considering UBC’s values in place in regards to food vendors. After further research, I decided to pursue the idea of implementing subsidized hot beverage vendors on campus instead that could be affordable yet ethical and originating from locally sourced ingredients. This process of brainstorming provided me value by allowing me to test different ideas and revise my final investigation topic before proceeding to conduct a formal report. It ensured that we had thoroughly thought through the aspects of our research idea and how feasible it would be in addition to how it could be investigated, which proved to be a valuable experience.

While peer reviewing my partner’s proposal, I was able to practise providing quality feedback and suggestions for improvement. By learning to review my peer’s writing, I improved my own writing abilities by critically self-evaluating my writing in order to make appropriate revisions. This skill would otherwise have not been developed if I were taught only how to interpret others’ feedback. For example, after reading my partner’s proposal, I was prompted to reread my own proposal and put myself in the perspective of a reader who didn’t have any context. From this, I was able to revise and improve my own proposal.

Link to survey:

https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/preview/SV_0NGlvUsbVVQwHeS?Q_CHL=preview&Q_SurveyVersionID=current

Revised formal report proposal:

Revised Research Proposal – Implementation of Additional Tim Horton’s Locations Campus-Wide

Peer review of formal report proposal:

Peer Review on “Implementation of Additional Tim Horton’s Locations Campus-Wide”