Who are you and what do you do at HAMK?
I’m Atte Partanen, member of HAMK Design Factory community and working at HAMK Smart Research Unit. My work is related to Internet of Things and information systems focused projects.
What was your project about?
Our project team goal was developed an installation and a concept of an innovative memory day care center to help the memory patients slow down the progress of memory disorientations at its early stages as opposed to finding the cure procedures once the individual is diagnosed with dementia or a similar symptom. The Installation is combined with the hologram, lightning system and aromas device and other technology to create a multi-sensory stimulation for memory patients to help them exercise their brain. While the concept is aiming for creating a clinic based in Finland for an adult daycare center which can help people with light to middle- level memory disorientations, to slow done or even ensure that the memory disorientations does not progress towards a memory disease, in other word, trying to solve the problem from the root cause. The project was sponsored by Neurologipalvelu Sanna Kotisaari Oy.
What was your team and where were the participants from?
Our team was mind matters sponsored by Neurologipalvelu Sanna Kotisaari Oy. Our team total member count was 9 whereof 5 of us were from home team where there were also national and international students studying in Finland. The home team consists of people with Finnish, Chinese, Portuguese and Sri Lankan nationalities. The other 4 members of the team were a global team from Jefferson University, in Philadelphia United States.
What was the learning experience in PDP?
The learning experience in PDP was different from the original studies which I have taken. It was unique and most of the time very fast pace and chaotic in the end, but most of the time it was pleasant experience to have. Learning and developing skills were done while the project was going on, which is a useful skill to own when working on the project.
How was it to work in multidisciplinary teams with international students? What was hard? and what easy if any?
I found the multidisciplinary team in project quite colorful and not so easy to work at like in your own working place. In the beginning there were a lot of cultural and new places which cause a lot of misunderstanding when we started the project. In the beginning the communication, working habitat and understanding everyone’s point was quite difficult, but it improved when we decided the days when we are going to work and having a weekly meeting was a big deal to improve the team communication. Our topic was quite huge to understand to and our team members used a lot of time to understand the basic things and the issue, because any one of us didn’t have any exercises in the field of study, so our project manager didn’t really know how to lead the team right way, which causes of more load to the project manager. Good part of multidisciplinary team was that there were many opinions about different things and different cultural perspective of thinking the solution where you might now have ingress or knowledge.
How do your experience DF, staff, people and spaces?
Experience in Design Factory was so unique that you cannot really put it in the words, it must be experienced. The DF concept is to solve companies’ greasy ideas which sounds in the beginning quite impossible, but having a multidisciplinary approach and thinking of the problems there is always some good innovations which can help the company or conclusion that it’s not possible. DF spaces are quite brilliantly given used by all members and visitors of DF, just one thing is import is to reserve meeting spaces beforehand at least during the busy gala week which is the last week of PdP studies. It gives the feel of freedom with guidelines and rules which keep this facility running as it is. The staff at DF are very enthusiast and very positive persons, every time there were some problems the staff was more than happy to help with it and find solution to it, this is what I haven’t seen in the education sector.
What did you learn?
I learned many things when working on the project. Main things were concept designing and the interviews with the professionals in the field. I learned about validation period where we tested most of our concept room ideas and innovations. I was responsible about the technology side of the project so basically, I selected all the devices used in the project and I was responsible for programming the application which was used to control our team prototype. I learnt website designing and how to make a responsive application which can be useful for later challenges.
How did the DF staff and environment support your learning?
The main thing what made the studies work at the DF where the staff and the environment, you felt always to be welcomed to place and it was surprising how well staff got knew you after all, when there were 12 teams and almost hundred students, and how they kept track how is your team doing and organized. They also created a great working environment whole team by showing enthusiasm about things and they were very open to hear about things what we were made at each stage of progress.
How did the project go?
The project went well, and all our team members focused at the end to put the prototype together. Result we got all the things done, which were in our goals. There were moments in the end where our team was near to collapse because of issues with material supplier. Basically, our prototype was ready 15 minutes before the VIP gala was starting, but in the end, we made it through without major issues.
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