As professionals, we always need to be learning. The times have passed that we can just coast through our careers.

I recently attended an Interaction Course presented by CooperU in Los Angeles. They are often offering classes only at their facility in San Francisco. So I was excited to attend this workshop and to learn to new skills.

What did I like the most?

• Getting some time off of work
• Engaging in new activities
• Jump starting the brain and creative processes
• Meeting new people

What did I dislike the most?

• It only lasting 3 days. I could have learned more.
• Some exercises seemed too “on the surface” and I would have liked to have the chance to dig deeper or try the exercise again on a different topic for more practice.
• It seemed very “Cooper” focused and I am not sure there would be time to apply some of these tactics in the real-world agile environment.

What surprised me the most?

• How quickly the time would fly by in the breakout session.
• People were other disciplines besides UX design.
• Lunch was not provided as part of the admission fee. (It would have been a good opportunity to have break out sessions on other topics.
• How exhausted mentally I was by the end of the third day. I guess I was really giving my brain a workout.