I worked on my CITI certification. It was a long certification, and in order for me to do well on the quizzes I decided to space them out. I passed, and I am now certified! I also finished reading the articles that were sent to me about the research I would be doing. They are really interesting and it really does show me that computer science is a huge field. I always knew there were protocols when you do research, but this week I learned why those protocols were established, and how important they are. Aside from learning protocols, I also learned how to make rice. My roommates and I were feed up with peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, so we tried to cook, and it was not bad!
Week 2
I started helping with the lego mindstorm camps here at ASU. And it is a great experience. The kids are so smart, and they love the camp. It was great being in a room full of future engineers! I also started researching potential mobile applications we could use to build a native cross platform app. The purpose of helping out at the camps is to see how the kids interact with the robots, and how we can potentially make this programming experience more helpful through our app. This week I learned the importance of being involved with the camps. You can not possibly make a helpful app for kids if you have no idea how the kids approach these programming challenges. I also went to the lab, and met more people!
Week 3
Another week at the camp, and every week it is a new group of kids. Again I am just always impressed with the kids. This week I learned more about all the things you can do with computer science. This is computer science research, and I am really enjoying it. This research really does help me solidify my long term goals and ideas for computer science. This week I had to learn how to use iMovie to make short clips. And well it was a bit tricky because I have never used iMovie, and a Mac is always a bit different than a HP. But you know all is well that ends well. My roommates and I attended a improve show, and they had a comedic magician. I really do not have any idea how he did half of his tricks.
Week 4
This was the last week of the lego mindstorm camp. It was a bittersweet moment for me. This week I was in charge of comparing the modules used at the camp and the modules that are available online. I had to make a rough draft of the similarities and differences between the two examples. I also clipped videos for the gesture research project. This week I learned that there is more to making an app than just coding. There is a lot of research and preparation beforehand. You cannot just come up with an idea and then start coding there are a lot more other factors involved.
Week 5
This week I had to create modules based on the similarities, and essentially use the best of both worlds for the modules. It was tricky, and I had to make 2 sets of 5 modules because I could not choose between the two. Each set has its pros and cons. I also continued clipping videos for the gesture project. This week I perfected my iMovie skills, and it really is a handy skill to have. I also reaffirmed a strong belief of mine, someone has to do the work. I really do not mind clipping the videos because this has to be done in order to move on. And as long as it helps the overall picture, I am more than happy to do it. It rained this week! My roomates and I were all getting ready for bed, when we hear the rain! We stromed onto the balcony and it was glorious!
Week 6
This week I am learning the programming language swift. I am also continuing my work on the modules and have started making production rules and errors for the modules. It is a really helpful process. All the work I am doing now will essentially make the programming aspect much easier and faster. Things in the lab are going wonderful too! We all get lunch together, and we really all get along great!
Week 7
Very exciting week! I have started to implement the rules for the modules. I have been working on the Java code with Nick. I had the job of implementing the rules for the five challenges. I managed to do that, but I used an id that would not be constant. This is a problem...but we have to start somewhere. I also made a very rough draft of the mechanical turk survey. Just to get an idea of what sort of questions we want to ask. Funny story, my roommate is always determine to find sugar free cereal. And she bought a box of shredded Wheats expecting it to be you know normal size cereal. They were not, the shredded wheats were the size of a fist. So now she she has oversized cereal that she has to eat.
Week 8
This week we continued coding in Java. We figured out a way, that would read the xml file correctly, without the use of an id. Now the problem is that it is not specific. The program will tell you if you passed or failed, but will not tell you what went wrong. This is a problem we want to give constructive help to the student, but for now this will do. I continued to work on the mechanical turk, and found two possible survey options. I also worked with adobe premiere 14 and worked on blurring out the faces in the participant clips.
Week 9
This week I researched phonegap. We will most likely work with it in
the future. I was able to find a potential microphone plug-in that could
be used for the project. We continued to work on the Java program, and took
a step back and evaluated how we should continue to approach the program.
I continued to work on the mechanical turk survey. I added a drop down
option to the questions, added an other
option that would make a text
box appear, and finalized the questions. Also my lab coworker picked me up
this week and gave me a ride to the lab. He had a car this week! Yay no
walking this week!
Week 10
This is my last week, and I cannot believe it! This week I focused on the mechanical turk survey. In order to add a video you have to add a link. We decided to use Qualtrics, because we want the video and questions to be on the same page. Now, all is done! Also I had to say goodbye to everyone this week, my roommates and my lab buddies. Shout out to the 2 Sigma Learning lab for making this experience wonderful! And shout out to my roommates for making me laugh constantly and for our weekend hiking adventures!