Week 7 Learning Journal.

 Zeyad Abdelkader

02/24/2026


Part One

For our Final Research Video Project, our team had to adjust our plan as we moved forward. At first, we thought meeting once a week would be enough, but we quickly realized we needed more time together to stay organized. So we added extra meetings to make sure everyone understood their responsibilities and stayed on track. That decision really helped us avoid last minute stress.

We divided the work by assigning each person a specific section of the presentation. Everyone was responsible for researching their topic and creating their slides. Splitting the work this way made things feel fair and manageable. It also made each of us accountable for completing our part on time. We are planning to meet this Thursday to finish editing the video and make sure everything flows smoothly before submitting it.

To communicate, we used group chats and video calls. We also worked on shared documents so everyone could edit and view the materials easily. Overall, the process has been smooth because we improved our communication and clearly divided the tasks.

If I could do something differently next time, I would suggest setting earlier personal deadlines. That would give us more time to review and polish everything without feeling rushed. I also think having one person take a stronger leadership role to track progress would make large group projects even more organized.

Part Two

This week’s lectures and activities made me think more deeply about technology and its impact on society. Reflecting on the TED Talks helped me understand how powerful technology can be, but also how careful we need to be when developing it. Many of the speakers emphasized responsibility and the importance of thinking about how innovation affects people.

The Harvard Podcast on AI’s perils and promises stood out to me the most. As someone who plans to become a software engineer, it was eye opening. AI has the potential to improve healthcare, education, and many aspects of daily life. At the same time, it raises serious concerns such as bias, misinformation, privacy issues, and job loss. It made me realize that building technology is not just about making something functional. It is also about understanding the consequences it may have on society.

One important idea that stayed with me is that AI systems reflect the data they are trained on. If the data contains bias, the system can produce unfair outcomes. That means developers have a responsibility to think carefully about ethics and fairness when designing systems.

The presentation skills readings and videos were also valuable. They showed that having strong content is only part of a good presentation. Delivery, confidence, organization, and audience engagement matter just as much. I tried to apply those ideas while working on our video project.

Overall, this week helped me understand that being a successful software engineer requires more than technical knowledge. It also requires teamwork, communication skills, ethical awareness, and the ability to clearly share ideas with others.

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