December 11, 2014 Class

Today in class we are going over presentations for our semester long project.

Cloud computing
3 types of computing, software, platform and infrastructure. They are going through all the companies that provide cloud computing in some sort of a way. Talking about the future of the industry and what that may entail. Showing that cloud computing is coming all around us and the majority of computers that we interact with will just be an interface and everything else will be on the cloud. The group should have dressed up, it gave the impression that they did not really care about their presentation.


Virtual reality
Talking about what virtual reality can and is used for. First example was about military training as they can use it for a realistic simulation without the loss of life. The second example is about gaming and the applications that can be used for that industry. There are many different companies that are creating this product and talking about what it is. This field can also use it for medical reasons to get their mind going again.As for the powerpoint, it was very hard to read and understand what was being displayed as the colors made it hard to see and read.

November 20, 2014 Class

Today in class we are having a panel of Alumni coming in to talk to us about their experience and what jobs they have and answering questions about what we have for the panel of alumni. These people are all telling their stories of how they got to where they are now. Quite a few of these people have started their own business and a couple are still in that field but others actually still own their own companies. Two of the people that are here today are a advertising/ website people. The other people are in the tech business and telling their stories. It is kind of crazy to see how quickly people can go from one place to another and get to do what they love doing. We also had a person join our conversation form google and she used a hangout so that we can see her and listen to her story through technology. They are giving us great advice on how important networking is and too keep contacts of all the people that you meet. Anyone that you talk to can be a potential employer so always know that there might be a potential interview even if you are not in an actual official interview location for that to happen.

October 30, 2014 Class

Today in class we are listening to the careers people on campus to help us to better our resumes and cover pages. They have also set up a networking event for us students in the CSIT to go and meet people. We are being advised on that everything that we send to a recruiter can be used against us with if we have a mistake that they will use this as a red flag against us and more than likely will not respond to us. The lady is now going through the cover letter on how we should organize it and what we should be putting in it in order to make a good cover letter. There are some really well laid out resumes that were passed out to help us in how to make a resume and cover letter the correct way in order to get the job. The resume should have enough to get that interview that is the whole point on why we have a resume so that we get the interview. When making a resume and showing the job experiences on where we have worked before, we do not have to put all of them because we only want to put relevant ones. If we do get the job, then they will ask about the experiences then so they will know everything.

October 23, 2014 Class

Today we are talking about how do we graduate. She is going through the steps on when it is time to apply for graduation and what the steps we have to take when it is that time. There is also a link on what we need to fill out for applying for graduation. The people will check to make sure that we have met all the requirements before we can graduate. There is also a process after we think that we graduate, that the graduation people will check to make sure that we finish all the requirements and if we don't, then we will receive an email stating what we need to take to fulfill the requirements. She has showed us where the catalog years are so that when we get even closer, she will look it up to check to see if we meet the catalog for our year that we joined the school. She is now showing an example from a student that volunteered to show his academic requirements to show everyone where to look and what to look for.

October 16, 2014 Class

Today in class we have Jacob Heuser, the principle web developer for linkedin. He is a graduate from CSUMB from about ten years ago. The talk that he is talking about is what will happen after school is over, after we have graduated. The ideas that the he telling us to do is very good. Telling us how important networking is and that everyone that you meet, you should get to know because they are the ones that can help you get that next big job. He also mentioned that in the 400 class that we have to take for capstone, get to know everyone in that class, because we will all be going to work field at the same time. His story about how he got a job at linkedin was about how he met a person on a plane and started talking to him, to find out that he works at linkedin and got his foot in the door for Jacob. So that he directly gave his resume to the person who hires instead of going through a recruiter or just sent into an inbox.

October 9, 2014 Class

Today in class, we talked about the signs of lack of teamwork and decided as a group what were some of the major issues that cause this. Some of the examples were lack of communication, closed minded, and not participating in discussions. The second topic we talked about was for what are the characteristics that make a strong team. Some of these were good communication, having an open mind of other people opinions, showing up to group events when they are planned, and participating. The last one we talked about in our group was how to build a strong team. The thing that the majority of the class talked about was to create a schedule that works for everyone and stick to that schedule for all your members.

The second half of the class, Dr. Tao talked about how to do a presentation and what to do if you are nervous and how to overcome those fears. He also showed us how to handle hostile questions. How many slides should a good presentation be and how much time should be spent on each part of the presentation.

October 2, 2014 Class

Today in class Dr. Tao is talking about project management and how important it is for our specific degree. The first thing that we worked on was our project and getting that assigned to each group so that we know what we will be talking about at the end of the year for presentations. The entire class voted on three options that were offered by each group and as a group the students voted for each groups project.
He has brought up about the field that we are working in that about half of us will be at some point a project leader and how important it is for us to get used to it now because we will be in a group of some way for the rest of our career. The most important thing for us to take away from the presentation is communication. As a group we need to communicate with each other so that we don't waste time on doing something twice or to make sure that the group is working on time and up to par of what they need to be at.
As a project manager, that person has to be on top of everything that is going on. They need to know the budget and time frame and if there is anything wrong going on, the PM needs to work it out either alone or with the rest of the group so that there are not any surprises that happen. Project Management does not happen overnight, it takes time to become a leader with good ethics and have a good agenda and keep to it so that people stay busy.

Time Management

Time Management is a big deal when it comes to being able to complete things in an ordered and timely fashion. After reviewing the two articles on time management and how to improve yourself in order to be better with time, I have found out that I am not the best and do not plan out my week as I probably should be doing in order to have the best plan of action. As school work keeps on piling up, thankfully I am using an app that I input the assignment that is due in the upcoming weeks so that I know when they are due and when to focus on certain assignments. I do not however have set up a time frame or block of time per week for different things. I have just been going without stopping or just when I feel like I should be doing that assignment, usually last minute. I seem to be able to me much more motivated when I am under pressure of the time crunch. This is one thing that I need to work on as well as to create a weekly plan every week of what I have coming up that week.

September 25, 2014 Class

The first speaker of the class is the librarian for CSUMB. He did a quick survey on asking how we as students look up information on tech related information. The librarian is also showing us what resources are available to let us know that there are lots of great and relevant information for students to use for research and for projects and even for capstone project at the end of my school career. He also showed us that there is a research section for each specific major here at school to help get some information that is relevant to our learning and needs for research. Also available, are group study rooms that I did not know about that was able to be reserved and it is reserved online on their website. I did not know that there were ebooks that are available to us to use, instead of the typical books that we would otherwise might have to carry around.

The second part of the class is about the CD majors and Dr. Tao is talking about the ILP for those students in the major. This presentation does not really help me but it is interesting to listen to another major and get information about other majors as I really only know my own major.

The third part is a brief explanation on the CSIT ILP and it is all online and interactive which I think that it is pretty cool. I am looking forward to making my plan so that I can plan to take the classes that I need in order to graduate.

Professor Pat Watson is a teacher here at CSUMB and is a CD teacher. He just draws you in and makes is a very interesting person to listen to and pay attention to. Talking a little bit about the gaming and development by showing the Unity engine that is used here at school to make the games for that major. He is also showing us that what they want the students to not just make a zombie shooter game but to work on interactive history for the local history here in Monterey.

Check out previous capstones

The first presentation that I watched was called iDime: Interactive Discrete Math Experience which was created to help teach students discrete math in an interactive way. As a student right now taking this class and being a person who like the hands on approach more than just listening to a lecture, this would really help a student like me to understand the fundamental concepts in discrete math. The project was well done and has a very current audience where students who would use their program would help the understanding of gates and how they function.

The second presentation was Wireless Broadband Data Analysis in California. They did a great job doing a project on something that regular people would never think about. The project is really to help see how well the major mobile corporations really keep up with their own network, sort of like a check and balance to see if what the company is saying that they are providing, really is that. I thought that it was very well done and informative.

The last presentation was CalSPEED Trends. I have seen this website and it is really laid out really well. By making it user friendly to use and pleasing to the eyes, it is a great way to see where and how quick providers are really providing for mobile speed. However, I thought the presentation was a little vague and probably could have gone into a few more details on how they got the data and how they continue to input data. Overall, well done.




Pick at least three presentations, keep an entry on your learning journal on your reflection, such as (but not limited to) what was type of the project?  was the project well done?  how do you like the presentation?  can the project and presentation be improved?   (30-45 min)

Preview Project Management

The first link that was provided did not work so this will just apply to the second link. The interactive video was on a introductory course of project management. It was about all the steps that are needed in order for a project to become what it is. Even showing who the major players are and how they are involved or affected by the project and what risks they may have if the project does not work out. The video was very informative in helping show that there are multiple teams and groups, all doing separate things. All the teams doing their own part makes the project what it is. And when each group is done with their part, the entire project is finished. So if someone is going to be working in a group, each individual person helps to make that project get finished but not one person can do the entire thing.

September 8, 2014 Class

Today in class was directed towards the CSIT major students. In the class we heard from a couple different people who were either professors or administration. The presentations that were put on were to inform us of the different classes as well as get us to know that soon we will be doing our ILP where we will make our plan for the rest of the year and follow it so that we can graduate on time. many of the presentations that were presented were geared more for a future time and not right then in class.

Preview Time Management Skills

Date/Time	Activity Description	How I Feel	Duration	Value (High, Medium. Low, None)
9/17/2014	Homework - Pro Seminar		2-4 hours	Medium
9/19/2014	Lab 2 - Computer Networking		1-2 hours	Medium
9/19/2014	Homework - Data Structures		6-7 Hours	Medium

Review and reflect learning strategy

After reading the article about how to effectively study, I did learn quite a lot about what I need to improve on and what I already do but how to make that just a little bit better or improve on what I am already doing.

I am good at prioritizing what is most important over what is not. I am also good at being organized on when things are due and when they are not due as I use an App that is set up really nice. Lastly, I am good at reading material; whether I know it or not, it is always good to read everything.

Some things that I need to work on is that I get distracted easily, so that can be improved upon. I am also bad about the being consistent on when I should study. I also do not have a strict schedule on for when I have plans or things of that nature as I am more of a person that will keep it all in my head and rarely forget.

Review Learning Portfolios

What I have learned while looking through previous students portfolios is that, they are made to show someone what you have actually accomplished while here at school. Instead of just having a piece of paper to show that you have graduated with a certain degree, the portfolio is an actual interactive piece of information that shows others what you actually have accomplished. Each portfolio, while looking similar in the way it was made, are all completely unique to each person. This puts an emphasis on what was done by the student and things that they were proud of that they completed. 

Review Degree Learning Pathways

For the career that I am trying to go for, Network and Security is the path that I want to take. For me, networking just makes sense to me and how it all works together to provide a service. While something like coding, which I still have to do and practice a lot for, does not come to me naturally or makes a lot of sense. As for the other pathways, I am really not interested in making games nor am creative enough for that.

September 4, 2014 Class

This week we had a guest speaker from the Communication Design Major and she talked about the communication design major as a whole as well as her interests and the classes that she taught on campus. I did learn that there are lots of companies out there that compete or put out a bid for a job i.e. a logo for a company. She showed us some of designs that her students have been working on for the local parks in the area which were very well done. 

In the class we also went over the different concentrations of both CSIT and CD major and gave a brief explanation of what those entailed. I thought this was good for people who may not have decided on what they want to concentrate in.