Radhika Mulay
India

"The course gave me time to process the new material and draw parallels with my current work which made the course very relevant."

While working as a water researcher, Radhika Mulay participated in the online course Water Systems Design: Learning from the Past for Resilient Water Futures. Read about her experience.

What was your motivation for enrolling in this course/program? 
For some time, I was struggling to find and locate the significance of values in water infrastructure and planning which is currently more focused towards technological efficiency and/or profit-making.

At the start of the course, I was sure that values are important and need to become a part of the way we think about our water systems and designs. However, the remaining question was - how to implement them? Fortunately, towards the end of the course, the course structure, assignments, discussions with and feedback from the course professor, coordinators and the fellow students were extremely helpful in making me understand that the values can in fact become a part of the implementation agenda and can become practical tasks which can be undertaken by various stakeholders over a series of iterative processes.

Thus, overall, the course helped me to relearn and reassess my thought process related to water systems and the significance of values in their design and operations.

How did/will this course impact your career or life? 
As I am currently working on other water related projects, the course outline really gave me time to process the new material and draw parallels with my current work which made the course very relevant.

How was your experience learning online?
I really enjoyed the course as I could take up the lessons and work on the assignments at my own pace and time. The course structure also had a very good mix of readings, videos, podcasts, and tutorials, which made the learning process interesting. Interacting with students from other countries and learning from their examples and experiences was an enriching process. The feedback, comments and discussions with the professors and course coordinators were very helpful in finding a direction and orienting oneself back to the main objectives of the course at various times.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking of taking a similar course?
I would say just go with the course outline as it is planned. Although at times some aspects might not make sense, it all came together for me towards the end!