Experience: 

          My interdisciplinary experience was completed by the teamwork projects during my Entrepreneurship 200 and 201 classes. During the classes, I worked with students from various other disciplines and witnessed some great ideas I think engineers wouldn’t even consider doing.

            During my experience working with interdisciplinary teams I was surprised and impressed on what ideas and methods were suggested to complete the assignment or solve a problem. During my last group presentation, we performed a skit to demonstrate the values and key characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. I don't believe that this is something that engineers would typically do, nor suggest as a means of teaching the audience key points. Another example that surprised me was a group member in the Entrepreneur 200 class had an idea to deliver fuel to a customer's home. As an engineer, I immediately dismissed it because of all the hazards and material problems with shipping and storing fuel. 

            I really gained an understanding of the advantage interdisciplinary teams have and why they are so important. I am most intrigued about what people do in their discipline and love asking people about their work and the barriers associated with it. I often discovered things I never would have, like the fact that one of my team mates is an author of a few published books and that it's super hard to get someone to even look at a new book, rather publish it. I look forward to working with those in different fields and understand more now why people always ask, "So, what do you do for a living?" Because different fields approach things in different ways. Seeing others’ perspectives are an excellent way to solve any problem.

            My interdisciplinary experiences did not directly contribute to my grand challenge. However, working in the interdisciplinary teams was such a great experience, I have determined to continue my career working with other disciplines in solving problems. If I am to ever assist in advancing personalized learning, I know that working with various disciplines and hearing all of the ideas and complaints will greatly benefit the outcome.