CST 300 - Module 4

 Education and Career Goals

After going through the readings, I've realized the importance of not only imagining goals, but writing them down. I also learned what a SMART goal is. That is, a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. My short-term educational goal is to receive an A in this class and improve my note-taking skills by the end of this course. Over the course of the CSCI online program, I'd like to receive an A or B in every course, become comfortable with Java (I currently code C++ and Python) and graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science - Software Engineering in December 2025. After completing this program, I would like to go to the University of Hawaii and receive my master's degree in Computer Science.

My initial career goal is to get an entry-level developer job in the tech industry coding in C++ that allows me to take nights off and spend time with my family. Eventually, I want to get a job as a Gameplay Engineer working for an indie game company and contribute to games that are accessible and fun to play. Finally, after years in the game industry, I'd like to open a tech camp in town that would be aimed specifically at 3rd-8th graders who want to learn how to program/mod video games.

ETS Computer Science Test

After looking at the topics listed on the ETS Computer Science Test,  I believe I will do well when it comes to discrete structures and programming. I also feel confident that I'll be able to handle the sections on information management and software engineering by the end of the program. My knowledge about operating systems and computer architecture definitely needs work but hopefully I will feel more comfortable with those in 18 months. I scored a 12/16 on the sample test, or a 75%, so if I had to take a guess on the percentage I will receive 18 months from now, I would guess high 80s or low 90s. Almost all of the questions that I missed were based on computer architecture, so I definitely need to take time to study that material.

General Reflection

Besides the above material, we also collaborated on a team assignment based on OLI readings where we got to learn more about our teammates and their respective work and conflict styles. We also participated in two ethics-based discussions where we got more comfortable discussing ethical frameworks and taking a stand. This helps us to prepare for our essays on ethics in technology, which we created an outline for this week.

CST 300 - Module 3

For this week, we finalized our Industry Analysis essays and started thinking about a topic for our papers about ethics in tech. We also made progress with more OLI activities that centered around different workstyles. Reflecting on last week's post about study strategies, I also made an effort to take notes as I read about the different ethical frameworks, instead of just reading. This helped me to determine which sources will work well for my ethical paper as well.

OLI & Ethics

The OLI activities this week were mainly centered around our particular workstyles. I learned that I lie somewhere between a "Get It Done" and "Get It Right" workstyle. While I do place a lot of emphasis on doing things correctly and utilizing a systemic approach, I also tend to move quickly and do well making decisions under pressure.

We also read about the general idea of ethics and the different approaches for deciding if an action is ethical or not. Learning about the different ethical frameworks was very interesting to me. As technology progresses we have a lot of responsibility to make sure that we are making ethical decisions when utilizing its power, but there's not always a clear answer for what is ethical. The perspective we prioritize makes a big difference. For our discussion, we talked about Edward Snowden's decision to release classified information that proved the NSA was spying on the American people. If you view this decision from the perspective of rights ethics, you might think that he did the right thing by doing what he could to restore an American's right to privacy. However, if you consider his duty to his job at the NSA, he made the wrong decision.

Code of Integrity

Integrity is important for any student, not just those in the computer science program. One of the obvious ways to maintain integrity is by always making sure that the work we submit is either our own, or cited correctly. This is important for multiple reasons. For one, if all we do is collect code or work created by others, we aren't really learning anything for ourselves. What do we offer if we are just acting as a collector? We also would hope that other people are citing our work when using code that we have written. 

What a Computer Science Student Needs to Know

I thought this article was very interesting and brought up a lot of topics that I may not have considered studying on my own. On my CSCI journey so far, I have made an effort to learn different languages, for example, C++, Python, Javascript, ARM32 and Java. I was glad to read that this well help me in the long run. One of the things that I definitely need to focus more on is computer architecture. While I have taken a course on the subject, it's definitely not something that I feel like I understand well and if I want to write efficient code, I should absolutely get a better grasp of it. Adapting programs for different operating systems is another area that I should put more focus on. Overall, I will definitely be coming back to this list over time to make sure I'm checking as many boxes as possible before I head into the tech industry.

CST 300 - Module 2

Hello everyone,

    This week was comprised of continuing work in OLI, working on the Industry Analysis draft and peer review, and watching a few videos on project management. We also were to reflect on our learning strategies and time management skills, and check out some of the capstone projects from previous years.

OLI Module 2

    The content in the OLI module focused more on what makes a successful team, with specifics and data to support their statements. It has been found that teams that have more women, equal participation, and members who have high social sensitivity tend to be more successful than those that don't. We participated in the test, "Reading the Mind in the Eyes", which helped gauge how well we perceive others' emotions when looking at only a picture of their eyes. I did better on this than I would have expected, as I generally don't consider myself naturally adept when it comes to social situations. The module also discussed the reasoning for utilizing teams, which considers higher job satisfaction, better problem solutions, and faster innovation.

Industry Analysis Draft and Peer Review

    The hardest part of this week for me was working on the first draft for the Industry Analysis paper. I don't consider myself a writer and it's difficult for me to stay focused on researching a single topic without falling down every rabbit hole nearby. My team and I stayed in touch via Discord to support each other through it and answer any questions about formatting and the like.

Project Management Videos

    The videos on project management were short and basically served as an introduction to what goes into project management and how projects differ from day-to-day operations. The first video defined a "work breakdown structure" as the "hierarchal decomposition of the work to be executed by the team to accomplish project objectives and create the required deliverables." The structure is used to organize the project and define its scope to keep people aware of why they're working on what they're working on. The second video talks about the difference between projects and operations and defines the phases of project management, or the project life cycle, as initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and control process, and closing. It also talks about the reasons some project fail, like time management. In the third video, we learn about the Gantt Chart which visualizes the project schedule. They help to illustrate start and end dates, and sometimes include dependencies. They are a visual representation of complex data that can serve as both a guide and a proof of your project's efficiency.

Learning Strategies & Time Management

    After reading the document on learning strategies, I have considered my greatest strengths and weaknesses when it comes to studying. I'm very good at surveying all the work that needs to be done and creating an efficient schedule, making every hour count, and surveying what work needs to be done before I start. I'm weak at asking questions, reviewing what I have learned, and taking notes. I tend to take things at face value, which doesn't allow for getting deeper into understand of a topic. I also generally don't take notes and find myself having to re-visit content to remind myself of certain points. We also read an advisory document on time management and broke down our week into a log to consider how we were managing our own study time.

Capstone Projects

    Watching the video of previous capstone projects was really interesting. One of the more interesting projects for me was the Mirrored Fantasy game by Andrew Bell. It is a web-based game inspired by traditional lane games, but with a fun race-against-the-other-player twist. I think the project video was well done and explained the stages of the game development well. It also reflected on things that the developer would have done differently, which demonstrates a great ability to learn from one's work. Another project that stood out was FantaSheets by Mikie Reed, which was a web app created in Python that allows a user to track fantasy league statistics with custom league specifications. This appealed to me as I constantly listen to my husband talk about the pros and cons of different fantasy league apps, so it's nice that this app allows for so much customization. The project direction was clear and concise, but I wish the video presentation itself showed more of the backend process. Culture Connect by George Blombach was the next presentation that caught my eye. I found it really cool that he created an app in line with technologies we are used to using, but that fills in a gap in their utility and focuses on the cultural content of a city. The video was well done and easy to understand and I love that he actually uses his app to benefit his own travels.

CST 300 - Module 0/1

Hello everyone! This post begins the two-year journey toward a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science through the CS online program at CSUMB. For module 0, we spent time getting to know our team members, coordinating our study schedules, and collaborating on a team resume. We settled on Enhydra Engineering, a cross-platform development company that will utilize all of our skills from UX/UI to machine learning.

The next module consisted of some great information about what makes a successful team. I accidentally moved a bit forward in the OLI modules and thought the information about team dynamics was very interesting and it will definitely be useful in the weeks to come.

After finishing the OLI concepts, we were tasked with creating our learning journal and connecting with our faculty through LinkedIn and Google Chat. I still need to create my YouTube introduction video. I'm uncomfortable in front of a camera, so I'm in the process of psyching myself up for it.

The last assignment for this week was to begin on our Industry Analysis paper. We were tasked with creating a reference page and an outline that will help us write the drafts in upcoming modules. I chose to do my paper on the video game industry, specifically Activision/Blizzard, as I'm interested in going into game development and I spent a heavy majority of my free-time in high school playing World of Warcraft.