Our first meeting with the client was last Wednesday. This briefing is to get to know each other and to make sure both parties are well aware of what is the exact assignment. Because of the privacy of the client I shall call him ‘the client’ and the company name as ‘the company’.

The client

He, the client, is a man of wisdom, an expert on a certain field. He spent over 50 years developing and improving methods for kids, age between 4.5 and 8.5 years, old who have dyscalculia. He claims that, by using his math methods, dyscalculia is prevented and thus doesn’t exist. He taught us on what grounds, facts and arguments his methods are based on and why it is successful. He also taught and showed us why most current methods used in primary school, to learn how to do math, by kids is not effective and can even cause dyscalculia. He showed us his own work (booklets and abacuses) and explained in details the phases he uses to determine what a kid already can and what his level (matrix) of doing math is. He is getting older and it is a shame if his work isn’t passed on after the inevitable happened. So far the introduction, now up to clarifying the assignment.

The assignment description

First let me point out what the description of the assignment from school is: The company likes to be surprised by the infinite possibilities of multimedia and by the creativity of the students. The company has created educational tools (especially math related). These tools can be used to create a multimedia product. One prior condition is that a website must be created where the digital products will be displayed. This website is the place where the company’s thought will be communicated to the public. What is most important to end this assignment successfully, is to create a translation based on the pedagogic/didactic principles that is the fundamental idea of the products.

(Wow..translating this little piece into English is much much harder than I thought it would be :s Good exercise nevertheless)

His assignment

This is his version of the assignment: He wants us to create a software program which does 2 things.

1) It must be able to determine in which phase the child is in right now AND at the same time determine which phase is the child’s next phase. The phases can be found in a matrix he gave us.

2) Next thing the software must be able to do is to present the child the math exercises of the next phase. Optionally the software can work together with the paper version of his methods.

3) There is an optional third one. He would like to market his product as well, but for now point 1) and 2) are his priority.

He gave us a booklet with ways of detecting in which phase the child is. He already figured out what should be displayed on screen, how and how it should work. The thing he has not thought of is the graphical design of the whole software. He now expects us to program the software and give it a graphical design to make it more fun and attractive.

The conflict

There is a huge difference in what the client expects and what I expected after reading the assignment description. The client knows what he wants and how he wants it.

The only thing we have to do is create it. Now, is this a bad thing or a good thing? This situation has its pro’s and con’s.

Pro’s

He is the expert in this field. I should trust him instead of questioning his expertise. It would be like him questioning my multimedia expertise. I do not need to figure out whether his methods are true or false. What I do have to figure out is, is the way he wants to convey his educational learning material outdated? If yes, will it be worth it to create the product? what can we do to make it current and who is going to do that?

Having the concept in front of us leaves us more time to design the software since the concept is already thought of. We can deliver a higher quality software in short time and the customer gets what he asks for. Then we are all happy.

Since we are no computer science students and the goal is to be creative in ways of convey methods, I expect this situation not to fit our study course.

Con’s

Having the concept in front of us leaves little room for us to learn things like how to be creative and to think out of the box. This feels more like production work instead of being able to put something of myself in the final product.

I think right now I will to rely on what the minor leaders often tell us: clients often think they know what they want, but they don’t. Now it is our job to see what is a good method and if it differs from his method, convince why our method is better. This means that as a (becoming) multimedia specialist I (we) do have to question the product (software) he wants us to create in reaching his goal. He has not yet convinced me why to create pc software, he just wants it that way. He also explained how he wants his math exercises to be displayed in the software. I wish I could cover my ears at that point and hum till he was finished explaining. Mainly because I expected that we had the opportunity to think and learn how to translate paper versions to a digital products. I imagine it is a bit harder for me to think out of the box having heard this.

The possibilities

Still there are numerous possibilities, we just have to decide what to do and rule out certain possibilities.

Anyway.. what is important for now is:

• Most importantly: what is the problem we have to solve? This will give us a good sense of direction.
• Consult with Derek or Michele about the next action. Must we forget what the client wants and how he wants it? If yes, either we first inform the client that there might be other ways or we start the analysing phase, after that think of a few concepts and then inform the client of better ways with visual examples…etc etc.

I only wish one of them were at school today.. now I have to wait till Monday for the consult.

Waarom stage in het buitenland?

Mijn eerste planning was als volgt: The Next Web, Ondernemen, The Next Web, Stage, Ondernemen, Afstuderen. In de laatste Ondernemen wilde ik dan daadwerkelijk mijn eigen onderneming opzetten met de ervaringen die ik zou opdoen tijdens The Next Webs. Maar……

Sinds mijn korte trip naar London is de gedachte van het stage lopen in het buitenland iets waar ik dagelijks aan denk. Het hoeft niet zozeer London te zijn, het kan elk land in Europa worden. Na een kort inspirerend gesprek met mijn mentor Gerjan heeft hij mij niet alleen lekker gemaakt voor Vilnius maar blijkt nu ook dat het mogelijk is om een jaar lang in het buitenland te zitten. Een half jaar studeren en een half jaar stage lopen… Je kunt begrijpen dat ik sindsdien nog veeeeel enthousiaster ben om het allemaal voor elkaar te krijgen.

Vandaag heb ik ook met Sylvia gesproken en is gebleken dat het mogelijk is om vele landen binnen en buiten Europa te studeren en stage te lopen. Voor een stageplek zal ik toch echt zelf een bedrijf in het buitenland moeten vinden. Voor het studeren zal ik toch eerst alle scholen bij langs gaan om te zien of ze mij iets kunnen bieden wat ik graag zou willen leren. Kan ik niets vinden, dan zal het bij een stage blijven…maar ik ben vastbesloten om er ook een half jaar studie aan vast te plakken. Overzicht van landen voor exchanges

Naast het leren wil ik ook graag cultuur proeven en ondervinden hoe het is om voor een langere periode in het buitenland te wonen. Wellicht versterkt deze ervaring mijn drang om naar het buitenland te verhuizen wel.. of juist verzwakken.

Vragen waar ik nog mee zit en waar ik nog achter aan ga

1. Accommodatie, moet ik dat zelf regelen?
2. Is het mogelijk om eerst een half jaar te studeren in het buitenland en tijdens het studeren een stageplek te vinden? Of moet ik meteen ook een stageplek hebben gevonden, nog voordat ik ga studeren?

Verder nog enkele website die ik zal bekijken

http://www.nuffic.nl

http://www.beursopener.nl

http://www.buitenlandsestage.nl/

http://www.stagetips.nl/Buitenland.htm

http://www.studie-punt.nl

http://www.stage-in-het-buitenland.nl/

http://www.studieinfo.nl/stage/buitenland.html