I want the focus of my senior project to be researching what modalities of learning suit me best. I have outlined three different types of learning, and likewise, I have three different experiences that fit those learning styles. While I expect I will have some degree of a product for each component of my project (music-making, coding, and sailing) I think it is important to state that my project is not a product-oriented project, but rather a process-oriented one. Likewise, that is why my documentation process is arguably more important than any final product because it will allow me to analyze the experience of learning in three different modalities and reflect accordingly.

Key Learning Goals:

Explore the three modalities of learning outlined in my senior project

Accomplish thoughtful and in-depth reflections of each learning method (what works, what doesn’t work, what did I prefer)

Complete some degree of a product for each component (music-making, coding, sailing)

Share my findings through meaningful documentation

Below is a rough estimation of how I will spend the 6-week experiential component of my senior project:

Week 1:

Begin internship at HRCS shadow my mentor and complete roughly 8-12 hours in the first week.

Start outlining my song (figuring out chords, melodies, instrumentation) Spend 8-12 hours in the first week as well.

Begin reading my “automate the boring stuff” python coding resource and read a chapter and accomplish my first program that will hopefully execute. (this may go into the next week.)

Complete daily reflections.

Week 2:

Continue internship/mentorship at HRCS if the work is productive and highly beneficial to my project then I may up the work hours to 12 hours a week, if not then I may lower it to 8 hours a week.

Begin recording initial instrumentation, getting down a bass line, and possibly chords. Run my song outline by my “mentor” my father.

Read another chapter of my coding book, and rely on youtube sources to realistically be able to execute one program code (I don’t want to be overly ambitious)

At the end of this week complete my first biweekly modality of learning blog post.

Week 3:

Continue internship/mentorship @HRCS – make sure to document accordingly, this means photos, videos, and daily reflections.

Begin to outline my melody for my song, what works, what harmonies should I play, what instrument will play the melody, etc.

Read another chapter, and do more research from my youtube resources, be able to execute another code.

Daily Journal.

Week 4:

Continue internship/mentorship @HRCS – at this point set up a meeting with your advisors to let them know what is working and what isn’t working.

Record melody and harmony parts of melody for my song. This also includes other embellishments for the chorus etc.

Be able to execute another python program.

Complete my second biweekly in-depth learning reflection. Include photos and detailed experiences.

Week 5:

Continue internship/mentorship @HRCS – make sure to document accordingly, this means photos, videos, and daily reflections. – also make sure mentorship is running how I desired.

Start to edit my song together, by this point I hope to have an extreme rough cut of the song, which means all sections outline and mostly recorded. Now I should begin the editing and production process.

Use this week to have an in-depth learning opportunity where I learn about other more ambitious python code (don’t actually have to write this ambitious code.)

Week 6:

Wrap up the final week of mentorship @HRCS. Get all final photos and other supplemental materials I will need in order to create a proper reflection on the modalities of learning.

Continue editing and piecing together my song. – Like I said, the finalized product isn’t actually crucial for my project, but rather a reflection on the process of learning in this way.

Wrap up the final week of teaching myself to code independently in python. This will look different depending on how much progress I make. I may want to edit previous programs or go onto more complex code.

Finish my final biweekly in-depth reflection on the learning process – including photos and reflection.

Documentation:

I plan to document my project through daily debriefs and biweekly blog posts reflecting on my experience so far. After each day I will complete a journal entry that details what the day was like, how I spent my time, what worked, what didn’t work, what observations I have for that modality of learning, and what I plan to do next. These daily reflections are essential in having a substantive documentation process that I can look back on when the time comes to present my findings of learning methods.