End of Semester Course Reflection

It is the final IEOR 190G assignment. As I celebrate the coming end of “homework-cramming” Friday nights, I also begin to already miss the “haha” moments of silly patents, of the slide to unlock;  and the “ I wish I knew more” moments of Samsung-Apple patent war, of the patent trolls, and etc.   

This course have been valuable in two ways. First, it helps me to build a foundation for understanding Intellectual Property Laws, particularly in  patent laws. We begin the course with looking at Top Ten Inventions. Through which we learned the importance of inventions and the notion that all inventions were essentially rebuilding from the previous inventions. These concepts provide a context through which we learn the Patent Laws. Then, we learned about basics of the Patent law by reading the actual patents. Two ideas that were emphasized are “non-obviousness” and “novelty,”  which are standards that play critical roles in  determining whether patents can be granted. Having gained the basic conceptual knowledges of the patent laws, we began explore patent marketization and issues such as patent trolls. This class studies patents from multi-perspectives without digging too deep into the technicalities. Overall, I am satisfied with the contents for this class and I think they provided me with a basis for understanding all issues regarding patents when these issues show in news or works.

Aside from the patent knowledges gained, this course has also helped me to grow personally. First,  I learned how to work with vague questions. In my past learnings, particularly in science or math courses, I have always been asked specific questions that have decided answers. Consequently, I get easily frustrated when the question is vague. Through taking this course, I practiced formulating questions to answer for my weekly blog. I think this skill is important because once I get out of school, I will have less and less specific questions. Instead, I will need the skills to figure out what’s important to answer. Second, I really don’t like speaking in front of camera. I probably would have never uploaded videos if I did not need to. This course has pushed me to try something new.

IEOR 190G has been one of the most rewarding classes that I have taken at Cal. Yes, there are pains, especially during the Friday nights. But looking back, it has been a fun journey of Patent Law learning and personal growth.

Collaborative Learning with Social Media

Internet community expand at an incredible speed everyday. For most people, the internet seems merely a “read-only” place. It seems more like an invitation to consume than an invitation to participate. The distance between the user and the the information given through the internet is so great that sometimes we don’t even know what the program we are using for. For example, most of us see Facebook as a place to make friends, but Facebook is probably thinking of how to monetize its users’ social profiles. Similarly, internet disrupts education from the perspective of a consumer than to the content provider. Most people use internet to find information. In contrast, very few individuals write about what he/she knows and distribute information. I learned how to use Google in the elementary school, but have not written a blog or made a video until having taken this course.

The danger of living in a “read-only” world is that we become passive learners who take information as are given. But Internet, unlike traditional libraries, involves participants behind scene and can be much more. This course has taught me that the internet community is not a “read-only” place. Instead, it is “read-write” community. Every blog post assignment involves reading information online, reflecting and writing, and the posts being evaluated with comments. This cycle creates a vibrant peer to peer cultures of learning. More importantly, this culture will foster the creation of an independent learner, a learner who can adapt to changing contexts by engaging the internet community, a learner who can confidently navigate through the jungle of the Internet.