CST300 Week 2 Journal

Reflection on Learning Strategy

This week, I have really seen the value of active learning methods. It is not enough to just plan good study habits; they also have to be practiced. When thinking about what I do to myself, there are some things that stick out: active reading skills like note-taking and critical thinking help me understand things better and remember them longer. But one thing I need more than anything else is structure – without it, any schedule becomes impossible for me to follow through with because balancing school against life becomes overwhelming if not optimized around where my attention should be at any given moment (which usually means creating an environment conducive towards concentrate). Another problem area lies within strategies used when preparing for exams; these could use work since they often make me feel stressed out unnecessarily while also resulting in lower scores than desired.


Project Management Insights


The videos this week gave a lot of information on how to manage projects effectively. The main thing the first video did was differentiate between temporary projects and ongoing operations while pointing out the need to know project life cycle phases plus various skills that can lead to successful management. Secondly, it introduced the Work Breakdown Structure which is important because it helps divide tasks into manageable chunks thereby keeping them clear and focused. Lastly, this particular clip talked about Gantt charts as tools for visualizing project timelines and managing task dependencies with an emphasis on being ready for delays This should be seen as necessary steps towards organizing any project well enough so that they may yield positive results in the end.


Capstone Project Reviews


There were three capstone projects that I reviewed. They were really impressive because they used technology and design in such amazing ways. One of them is called Open Energy Dashboard which is an open-source web app that added 3D graphics to it so you can see what the data looks like better. But my only problem with this presentation was that there should have been a GitHub link and also some talk about how they dealt with large datasets. Another one is called Jury Lookup app where they used Next.js and AWS among other modern technologies to streamline jury duty processes while also adding bilingual support but what bothered me about this project was that it did not focus enough on security measures. The last one I saw was Badge app which was made by an individual developer who wanted to create something fun for kids learning music but he seemed kind of rushed during his presentation. These examples showed me what to look up for the future and the things I would be able to create at the end of this program. 


Week in Review


The variety of educational activities this week was huge. I can say that my research and writing skills were developed while working on industry analysis for Neuralink – a process that helped me to understand how machine learning can be used in healthcare. Also, I had an opportunity to give feedback on my friend’s paper which was as useful for them as it was for me because we both improved our works thanks to this exchange. Time management improvement through active learning (note taking, critical thinking) is what I’ve been mostly focused on this semester so far Another thing i did during the week was reviewing past graduate students’ capstone projects which not only gave me ideas but also pointed ou
t some possible directions for my own project As always with these things go though its been a productive & enlightening one too.



My draft schedule: 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CST 462S - Learning Journal (service learning)

Working with the American Technology Initiative was really fun, informative, and rewarding. I spent most of my time on their volunteer portal, a prototype level app that makes volunteer reporting way easier. The codebase was almost release ready, so I got to dive in, explore its parts, and see how a familiar tech stack scales up for real users. Since the core features were already in place, I focused on user testing: hunting bugs, suggesting little tweaks, and polishing usability. Even though these were small changes, it felt great knowing they’d make a real difference for volunteers. If there’s one thing I’d change, it’d be the length of the service learning project. 25 hours (over eight weeks) barely gives you time to get comfortable with a new codebase. From my experience, you need at least forty hours just to learn the ropes and even more to add substantial features. I’d love to see future SL programs run at least 120 hours (about six months) so you can really dig in. The highlight...
Read more

CST 300 Week 7

Part 1: Arranging our ultimate research video project was a great experience for us as a team. The entire process was smooth, we all agreed with the concepts that were brought forth and maintained a steady vision during the planning phase. We collaborated mostly during our weekly zoom meetings. With different operating systems, we had to use various tools such as iMovie, powerpoint and Final Cut Pro (which is what I used). Looking back on it now though, what I would suggest is having timelines that allow us to finish the project at least a week early so that we can then look at it and try to improve it. However, our team has a strong bond so sharing each other’s ideas into our projects was easy for us. Part 2: I viewed Lera Boroditsky’s TED Talk “How Language Shapes the Way We Think.” The speaker discusses how much influence languages have on our thoughts and perceptions. She gives examples of different ways in which languages can shape reality, affecting even such basic phenomena as s...
Read more