CST300 Module 3

Part 1

Source – https://www.academictips.org/acad/literature/notetaking.html

In last week’s learning journal, I mentioned that I have trouble taking lecture notes. The above link provides some tips to help taking notes; in particular, the 2-6 method seems like a good strategy to implement. In the 2-6 method, you reserve around 2 inches on the left of the page for study cues, and around 6 inches on the right of the page for notes. That way you can jot notes down during lecture, and then later review them, clean them up, and add major topic markers in the 2-inch column.

Parts 2 and 3

This week’s readings included many topics relating to ethics. In our second paper of the course, we are expected to apply two distinct ethical frameworks to argue different sides of an issue related to technology. Some of the ethical frameworks we learned about include ethical relativism, cultural relativism, individual relativism, utilitarianism, care ethics, ethical egoism, divine command theory, natural law theory, Kant’s ethics, and virtue ethics. To give an example, utilitarianism is an extremely common mode of reasoning. Utilitarianism defines moral choices based on how they affect the greater good; an action is moral if a majority of those affected receive benefits, and a minority incur detriments.

Source – https://matt.might.net/articles/what-cs-majors-should-know

In addition to readings on ethics, we also had some readings that summarized the general topics computer scientists show know. As I mentioned in my industry analysis paper, the fields of software engineering and computer science contain many diverging branches of study. Our readings outlined important topics such as making effective portfolios, the importance of technical communication, the need for strong roots in mathematics, the ability to code in a wide variety of programming languages and paradigms, the understanding of computer architecture, operating systems, networking, etc. I believe the large spectrum of topics covered under computer science demonstrates how important the field is. Computer systems are the foundation of the modern world, and computer scientists, in combination with other relevant fields, make this technology possible.

Part 4

Academic integrity is essential to any student. The academic environment is built on a mutual understanding that, unless specifically allowed, assignments submitted by a student are comprised entirely of their own efforts. This is an important principle; the main goal of academia is to learn — and by cheating or passing someone else’s work as your own, you only end up hurting yourself.

General Week Summary

This week’s readings primarily involved learning about various ethical frameworks, and how they are applied. There were also some readings that summarized which topics are important for a computer scientist to know. A more detailed summary of the readings can be found in Parts 2 and 3 of this post.

Assignments in Module 3 included finishing our industry analysis papers, creating an activity log to work on improving our time management, a discussion applying ethical frameworks by analyzing Snowden’s 2013 leak, and a group project surveying the CS Online curriculum.

In this week’s extra credit module, work styles were explored. Work styles describe the framework someone uses when completing a task; they include: get it right, get it done, get along, and get appreciation. Get it right values the accuracy of the completed product, and is less concerned with time constraints. Get it done is focused on finishing the task – it is less concerned with team coordination and the quality of the completed product. Get along prioritizes the team aspect of the project, and puts less emphasis on the final product. Get appreciation is concerned with proving one’s self to the team; the work is prioritized, but primarily as a method of impressing the group.