Learning Journal - Week 3

 Reflecting on Study Weaknesses

Last week as a part of my learning journal I took a moment to reflect on some positive study habits I felt I was strong in, and some I felt I was weak in. This week, I have been given the opportunity to take one of those habits I felt week in previously and reflect on it.

I utilized this resource, from AcademicTips.org and one of the things it went over was when to study. It gave a few good pieces of advice, and here are some tactics I will try to implement moving foward:

  • Study within 24 hours of learning a new topic.
    • Research shows that up to 80% of new learned material can be forgotten within the first 24 hours, so by reviewing a topic less than a day after learning it you are more likely to retain the information, and it will be easier to keep that in long-term memory leading up to taking an exam.
  • Avoid marathon study sessions and back-to-back studies.
    • It's much easier to get overwhelmed by academics when everything is pushed so close together and leads little time to process and review newly gained knowledge. Provide at least a one day break in between subjects to allow more time for knowledge retention.
  •  Utilize ALL time wisely.
    • Waiting around, such as in line at stores/restaurants or idling in the car before work, is wasted study potential. Those are perfect times to utilize time efficiently. Whenever idling around, review digital notes, or re-read concepts online for one of your classes.

Above all else, I will be sure to allocate the right amount of time to study and plan it all ahead of time so I can mentally prepare for what time is study time and what time is free-time.

 

This Week's Learning + Readings

I learned quite a bit from the past week of learning. In this class, I was able to collaborate with my team and go through all of the upcoming required courses for this major and get a glimpse of all the concepts I will be learning, and I was also able to go over my individual learning plan I had set up with my academic advisor. And, one of the more thought-provoking lectures I followed along with introduced me to the ethics of Artificial Intelligence and how it's going to integrate with our society, from film-making to automating jobs, and exploring where people may draw the line between ethical and unethical use of machine learning. This leads into the topic of my CST-300 Writing class.

I wrapped up an essay this week about breaking into a specific industry in computer science, and now I've begun to think about what I want to write about for my ethics paper. I felt inspired by Michael Sandel's speech on the ethical -- and unethical -- side of AI and wanted to take it a step further, so I do plan on structuring my ethics paper around AI, and specifically gathering the data to begin with for machine learning. That also leads into my next moment of study, which is learning about how to format argumentative essays and differing frameworks of ethics. I learned that ethics can be broken up into different moral "frameworks" depending on the underlying basis on the morality, for example some ethical arguments argue on the side of a God, and some argue solely on the morality of an individual person.

 

What Every Computer Science Major Needs to Know

A part of this week's reading is a document titled "What every computer science major should know." While there was a good amount of content discussed in this writing, there are some things that really stuck with me and resonated with me. The first thing the article goes over, and by far the thing that was the most thought-provoking for me, was the importance of portfolios versus resumes. In an industry like computer science there are a lot of people who have a degree and many people that don't, and regardless of someone's work experience -- and especially educational experience -- a lot of companies are instead using "proof" of knowledge via portfolios. A portfolio allows an applicant to essentially prove their worth by showcasing all of the work they have done and their thought process through personal and open-source projects. It's really gotten be to think about what projects I want to work on on the side in order to make myself desirable to companies, and I have already been getting some ideas for my portfolio. I have varying different skills, and it would be wise of me to make a showcase of all these skills so a company can take a quick glance at what I have to offer and verify instantaneously that I am capable of doing what I say I am.

 The document also goes over some essential theory to learn about, such as data structures, discrete mathematics, programming languages, and computer architecture. A lot of this is luckily mostly being covered by my current program (or was previously covered by my community college), but the guide also recommends learning robotics, graphics programming, and machine learning to become more competitive in the industry. Overall, the document was a great read and helped get me thinking on what skills I should learn and what projects to start working on. I will definitely bookmark this page and re-read it throughout my educational journey!


Code of Integrity

After reading through the Code of Integrity, it is clear to me why it is set in place. It is imperative for our personal growth and education that we follow it strictly. It covers the importance of being honest with our faculty, but also highlights what is allowed and what is not allowed when studying -- for example, we may not share code or exam answers with each other, but we are encouraged to ask for general guidance and partake in general discussions with TA's and classmates. We are also required to, when applicable, note who we spoke to for guidance on a specific part of our code, whether it be a classmate or an AI tool.

I agree that the code of integrity is crucial for us, as receiving a piece of paper is only one part of our professional and educational journey, and the true goal of this program is not to just receive a passing grade, but to actually learn and dedicate to the craft of teamwork and programming. We are expected to do everything our power to truly learn and process the information we are given, and put in honest work for the good of ourselves and our peers. 

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