CST300 - Week 2

Review and Reflect Learning Strategy

This article on effective study tips gave a comprehensive list of the best ways to study including tips, strategies, processes, and more.

Three study strategies that I am good at and implement:

1) Each week, I review the module to see what is assigned and then create a schedule determining which task I will do on which day. This breaks up the work into small steps and makes my week more manageable.

2) Each day, I study in my bedroom, at my desk. I keep my laptop, notebook, pens, and water on my desk, so I have everything I need and am in a quiet, distraction-free room.

3) Taking notes in a notebook helps me focus on the readings and process what I learn by recognizing key points.

Three study areas that I am weaker in:

1) I often don't write an outline before starting an essay, which would help me organize and strengthen the essay.

2) I often study for long periods of time without breaks instead of breaking up the study time into 30-40 minute increments.

3) When I do take a break, it is usually in the same place where I study. The article suggests taking a break in a different place to take your mind off studying and refresh yourself.

Preview Time Management Skills

By completing this exercise and filling in my activities throughout the day at work, I realize that I am most energetic in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. Also, I realize that instead of socializing and spending a long time completing small tasks, I can stay focused and get a lot more work done.

Project Management Basics

Project management is an important skill in the computer science field. A project is a temporary venture with a determined beginning an end, which, after several phases, produces a unique output. The project life cycle includes phases of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing. A work breakdown structure is a hierarchal breakdown of the work that the team needs to accomplish by mapping out deliverables to fulfill project objectives. The purpose of this visual structure is to manage all of the phases and subprojects to produce deliverables through work packages. This helps to delineate the scope of the project. Another tool project managers use is a Gantt chart. This bar chart is a visual presentation of a project's schedule, including the start and finish dates of terminal and summary elements. This chart can also show precedence and relationships between tasks. A Gantt chart is crucial in tracking projects with features such as expected time, today line, and percentage of completion. In order to succeed, projects need a skilled project manager who will lead the team with excellent communication and special attention to time, cost, scope, and quality management.

Check Out Previous Capstones

I really enjoyed watching previous capstone projects. It gave me insight into what kind of projects are usually done and made me excited to see what I will learn to create throughout this program.

Team Assist, Beenish Syed and William Baker

This project is a website for youth soccer teams that stores and organizes information about coaches, players, and parents, as well as displays practice times, games, and player statistics and contains a forum for organizing carpools. The group presented the project well and the website includes everything that a soccer team might need.

PTCE Test Prep Website, John Seals

This project is a website created to help prospective pharmacy technicians study for their PTCE exams through the use of practice tests and flashcards created with accurate, reliable information. This project is very helpful for this particular test but could be expanded to provide the same resources for other tests as well.

The First 100 App, Lacey Sikes

This project is an Android application that helps kindergarten-age students practice reading with sight words and audio accompaniment. This project is a great idea and she executed it very well with a simple and kid-friendly user interface.

Summarize Your Week on Your Learning Journal

This week, we learned about word choice, syntax, and writing for a specific audience, all aspects of academic writing. We were able to put these strategies into practice when writing the draft of our Industry Analysis papers. This week's module also focused on reading about and discussing effective study skills and introduced the basics of project management.