1/6th of the year is gone

Feb was interesting, not as hectic as Jan but studying with distractions from office and little distractions from home has been a learning experience. I'm taking classes this semester from distance using "live video conferencing". It has exceeded my expectations , the class coverage is amazing, distance students (15 others like me) are well involved in the class discussions. The VTC technology itself has improved a lot from cost point of view but still there are lot of areas of improvement. My only complain is the audio delay, its worth it though given the fact that I can attend classes without leaving my job which not only is economical but also the learnings from class can be compared/applied in real life within the company. Its interesting how you change your view of looking, talking and observing things back in your company after you learn stuff in class.
In class discussions has its sides - There are folks who talk only when they have something valid and something which actually is in flow with the topic and adds to the learning value but then there are instances of pure air time and talks about "I did this" and " I did that". That being said you cannot live without them they are what makes the whole learning experience worth while.
Reading before calls is vital something I'm not able to do as well I want, it really makes discussions more knowledgeable if you go in class with atleast some sense of the broad topic to be discussed.
My courses this semester revolve around Innovation in Product Development and Design, organization factors, marketing and one course on a actual product design which is suppose to take us from the need finding process all the way to realizing the actual product. We have $800 budget for each team so they are not expecting us to make next Space Shuttle but a small product with less than 10 parts. The idea is to go through the whole product development life cycle. There have been cases where folks have been able to create something simple in the past which went to patent office.
We have another business trip in a weeks time and so I will back at MIT campus for a week. I'm looking forward to it. There are some guest lectures lined up for us, I'll come back and post about them later mid March. With submissions in mid March I'm assuming I'll be busy but hope to come back here time and again to reflect on what my experiences with SDM program and to answer any queries folks out there might have.

Be safe, be healthy,
AshU.

I leave you with pictures I took in last couple of weeks at Valley Forge Park in PA:



























More here : http://picasaweb.google.com/ashuarchitect/Winter0708?authkey=VGumRSbdrXQ