July.15.2023
Hi everyone, and welcome back to the blog!
On Tuesday, July 11th, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, where Dr. John Msumba cheerfully gave us an introductory presentation and a tour of the facilities. We were able to meet so many new people and learn about some of the incredible projects that DIT students are undertaking. Dr. Msumba’s presentation explained to us the type of curriculum that DIT students engage in. Specifically, he described the project-forward engagement approach, in which students actively work on projects outside of the classroom to better understand their coursework. One such project, which I found fascinating, was students participating in the renovation of one of the roads nearby campus; Dr. Msumba described how students were involved in every part, from designing the plan to even making the concrete mixer! This approach was so unique to me, and I definitely am hoping to take more project-forward classes at Rice, including the other courses involved with the GLHT minor.
After the presentation, we took a tour of DIT facilities, and it was great to see the many projects that students were working on. One theme that Dr. Msumba emphasized was how all students, regardless of major, were able to draw from the DIT design studio, using materials and resources there to refine their work. We drew parallels to our previous work at the OEDK at Rice, and enjoyed seeing how the students’ projects worked. Dr. Msumba put together this amazing graphic that I would love to share!
Infographic put together by Dr. Msumba!
Front of DIT campus
View from one of the buildings we toured.
Apart from our tour of DIT, this week has been spent on making progress on our projects. I have begun to learn how to use ATLAS.TI, a qualitative analysis software tool. Below is a sample picture of the initial process of the interview coding process. I went through the set of interviews (both ones that I have conducted and those that have been previously conducted by Donat), and identified themes and quotes that stuck out to me. Afterwards, I grouped them together into “buckets.” I am currently working on translating these written notes into the software tool, by creating different codes and going through interviews line-by-line. The codebook will definitely also need a lot of refinement and feedback from others before finalizing! I have also been working on some statistical analysis of the data that I extracted from the floor plans gathered by the NEST360 team. In the meantime, I am also enjoying learning about the other interns’ projects!
On the social side, we have had some great eats and experiences this past week, including some delicious momos and great coffee! Later in the week, we met up with a few members of the NEST360 team for dinner. I learned a lot about different public health initiatives during our conversations, and also gained some insights into the hidden politics that can accompany public health in our world. I especially enjoyed hearing about the NEST360 team’s history, and how they came to work at NEST360, along with projects that they have worked on.
Great momos! Will definitely be recommending for future interns :))
At Sawa Sawa Beach, where we met up with some NEST360 colleagues for dinner!
As I say in almost every post, time has flown by so fast, but I am incredibly grateful for the lunches and dinners that have provided the space to slow down and really reflect and learn on the work that we are doing. In the next few weeks, I will continue my work on both the qualitative and quantitative analysis, and also start preparing for a final presentation of my work. Until next time!
Shrutika