AI001 Elements of AI
This was a super flexible, self-paced online course developed by MinnaLearn and the University of Helsinki. It covered the basic concepts of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks. Since AI is currently a massive part of modern product design, taking this course was incredibly useful for my future.
Certificate →ISKM07 Literature, culture and humanities
This literature course was much more interesting for me because the topics beautifully connected literature with the humanities. I was really scared of the final outputs at first, but I pushed myself and completely overcame my fear of public speaking and presenting, which was a huge personal win! For my assignments, I wrote a reflective essay about French Enlightenment philosophy and designed a lecture script for library visitors about a book close to my heart “Povídání o pejskovi a kočičce” by Josef Čapek. Planning how to present these stories to an audience felt a lot like designing a seamless user experience, where the storytelling has to be engaging, simple, and easy for the listeners to follow.
ISKM69 Design in context
This course is a core part of my design specialization, focusing on things like sustainability, future trends, and complex systems. It involved a lot of reading and felt quite philosophical at times. For me, it felt way too “up in the clouds”. We did a lot of reading about big, abstract ideas like transition design and massive systems. I really struggled to see how any of this connects to my everyday job, and maybe I just didn’t fully get it at the time. It felt quite disconnected from my real life and practice. But even though it wasn’t my favorite, it was an interesting reminder that design can also be looked at from a deep, philosophical level.
ISKM08 Diploma thesis seminar III: text creation
This course was all about getting down to business with my thesis. Since my previous project proposal was a bit too massive, this semester was where I finally narrowed everything down. I focused on setting my exact research questions and planning out the structure and chapters of my text.
ISKM72 Basics of algorithmic thinking
I chose this practical class because I really wanted to brush up on my old programming skills and get a nice change of pace from all the theory, and I had a lot of fun with it. It was great to do something completely different for a change, and I genuinely enjoyed just sitting down, focusing on logic, and coding. Having some coding background is a huge plus for my UX career since it makes it much easier to understand the technical side of products and talk to developers.
ISKM97 Cybersecurity, design, and people
Stepping into the world of cybersecurity was a huge challenge, but the mini-project made it completely worth it. As part of the Google Cybersecurity Seminars, I got to help a local non-profit called Rozmarýnek. I focused on the risk of cyberbullying during their residential trips and designed a practical manual for their teachers. I even hosted my very first interactive workshop to test the guide with them using real-life scenarios. It was a wonderful lesson in balancing security with usability. It taught me how to turn serious safety rules into something clear, human, and easy to use.