Week 3

 Part 1: Study Techniques

 One thing that I seem to need to learn every time I try to learn something is that studying really is a skill. That means that it needs to be practiced and habits need to be built and maintained. It also means that you need to be wary of learning bad habits and weaknesses. For me, I am really prone to distractions. If I try to study is a room with a TV or other people I often get off track and will use any excuse to stop studying and look at the TV or talk to the other people.

Part 2: Ethics

 Reading about ethics highlighted a lot of the ethical issues we face in the technological world. As we continue to advance and technology becomes a bigger part of our day to day lives, our society is going to have to deal with this issues. Are companies responsible for the content they host? Are people entitled to privacy in the digital world? Should humans be replaced in the workforce? These are issues where either side could be right but we are going to need to come together as a society and answer these questions together.

Part 3: Readings

Nailing down exactly what a computer science major needs to know is like Sysphus pushing his stone. By the time the list is perfect, the technology has all changed and it needs to be reevaluated. I think the focus on the underlying technologies and techniques to learn new technologies is a great way to approach the issue. This prepares the students to adapt with the technology rather than having their careers tied to a specific language or product where they might find themselves out of a job if that language is replaced.


Part 4: Integrity

Outside of the moral reasons, I believe integrity is important because you need to be judge on the work you do, not on the work of others. The goal any course is to teach you skills. If you pass other's work off as your own, then the instructors are unable to judge if YOU actually know the material. They won't be able to tell where you may need extra help or are deficient. This only hurts you in the long run as you may be missing out on critical foundational skills, but have hidden that fact by passing off someone else's work as your own. This could also hurt other students in the program, present and future. If the course needs to go more in depth on a topic because the students aren't quite understanding it, but everyone copies and answer and passes, the instructors will move on thinking the material was sufficient to have everyone understand it completely.

Comments

  1. BrennanMay 17, 2024 at 4:46 PM

    Hi Jess,

    I'm the same way and get easily distracted if I study in a room with distractions (like a TV). I recommend trying to find a place where you can study at set times and let people know when you will be studying. If you don't have a place at home where you can study without distractions, try a library or a coffee shop. If you have to study at home, I recommend ANC headphones to block out background noise so you can focus. Good luck Jess!

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  2. Dakota F.May 21, 2024 at 8:32 PM

    Hi Jess,

    I enjoyed reading your journal entry. I also have trouble studying in a room with a TV or other people. I need silence to effectively study. I also find that my studying is more effective when done in the beginning of the day, rather than at night.

    I like the analogy you made about the rapid advancement of technology and Sysphus pushing his stone. Such as how quickly computer parts would become obsolete in the 1990s and 2000s. I also really like the reflection you made regarding integrity. I absolutely agree with everything that you said. Taking the easy way now would definitely affect our foundational skills in the long run.

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