CST300 Module 2

Part 1: Review and Reflect Learning Strategy

Source - http://www.adprima.com/studyout.htm

Three aspects I am good at:

1. Making a schedule. In Module 0 of CST300, one our assignments was to block out our time throughout the week. This schedule allows us to maintain a steady workload, and ultimately keep up with the fast-paced course.
   
2. Study location and duration. I do all of my studying in my room, which is quiet and tucked away from any distractions, allowing me to really focus on the material. While I used to have a bad habit of cramming before exams, college quickly dispelled any notion that would continue to work. I now study in smaller chunks over longer periods of time.
   
3. Reading. I generally have an easy time absorbing material from written sources, though when I do have trouble grasping an idea, I make sure to reread any troubling passages until I understand the concepts.

Three aspects I am weak in:

1. Note taking. I have always struggled with consuming lecture content fast enough to write down comprehensive notes. One aspect I could improve is the organization of my notes; I tend to write notes in a stream-of-consciousness style, which makes going over them later difficult.
   
2. Staying on task. While I have a detailed schedule set, I sometimes get distracted and end up doing something else. A possible way to improve this tendency would be to take small breaks every hour. This would allow me to focus on whatever task I am doing, and still have some limited opportunity to go off-task.
   
3. Prioritizing tasks. If I get stuck on some subject or exam question, I sometimes fixate on that problem. I have gotten better at skipping over these time sinks recently, but the tendency is still slightly there.

Part 2: Preview Time Management Skills

Source - https://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htm

Part 3: Project Management Basics

Sources:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOU1YP5NZVA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWhnodF6ig
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIm8yWpBxFA

Summary of Videos – Projects are temporary tasks that result in unique products. In contrast, operations are ongoing, repetitive tasks that make up an organization’s normal activities. The Project Life Cycle contains phases such as initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and control process, and closing. Many projects fail; a project manager helps keep a project on-task, and lessens the likelihood of failure. A Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchical structure that emphasizes the fact that a project’s end-goal is to provide deliverables. It specifies what work needs to be completed to produce different deliverables. Gantt charts help plan a project by breaking down the start and end dates of component parts, describing which components are dependent on other components, and providing optimistic, average, and pessimistic completion estimates for the components.

Part 4: Check Out Previous Capstones

1. Andrew Bell’s capstone project was very interesting. Bell created a 2D MOBO (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) video game from scratch. He created his own game engine, and even a map editor for the game. The presentation was well done and focused heavily on the technical aspects, though I would have liked to see more gameplay footage, so that the audience could evaluate and appreciate the final product.
2. Daniel McGoldrick’s capstone project was a nice blend of computer science and art. McGoldrick used deep learning to try to apply a painting’s style to a photograph. While his project had some struggles, the outcome was still an interesting display of the technology. I would have liked the presentation to have a few more examples of photos being run through the software, and for the resolution to have been higher on the given examples; though these points might have been caused by the stream.
3. Andrew Terrado’s capstone project was a website that provided information about various camera settings, and interactable widgets the user could use to explore how they work. The presentation was very well polished; it used video editing techniques effectively, and provided plenty of examples of his product.

Part 5: Summarize Your Week on Your Learning Journal

Sources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTTgdtl8FvM
• https://towardsdatascience.com/22-predictions-about-the-software-development-trends-in-2022-fcc82c263788
• https://youtu.be/rBSCvPYGnTc?t=34

Lecture involved three sources this week.

The first video, “The future is faster than you think,” discussed the acceleration of innovation. Moore's law drives a substantial part of this acceleration, as the processing power of computers exponentially increases. Additionally, the amount of human labor required to achieve “the basics” is the lowest it has ever been, allowing for more time to be allocated towards innovation. As technology advances, brain-interfaces and life-extending technologies could also drastically improve the capabilities of humans.

The second source was an article about software development trends. There are too many to list here, though some of the notable trends include: the explosion of cloud-based products, the growing importance of cyber security, the advancement of machine learning systems and their adoption, and more.

The last video, “Introduction to Project Management,” discussed various aspects of project management. It covered many of the same topics as Part 3 of this assignment. A project is a temporary endeavor that has a hard end date; it either produces its intended goal by that time, or it fails. Time, scope, and cost are all constraints placed on a project. New projects could be triggered by sources such as a market need, business need, technological advancement, customer request, legal requirements, social needs, or ecological considerations. Projects are investments, and are prioritized based on their importance to the company, and any returns they might bring.

As for individual assignments, this week I finished my Industry Analysis Paper’s rough draft, and completed Module 2 of the Open Learning Initiative course. Module 2 was focused on what makes a team perform well. Some research presented in the module suggests that: an effective team has all members contributing equally, an extremely rigid structure for meetings could actually be a detriment to collective intelligence, and teams consisting of approximately 50% women tend to perform better than teams of either extreme.