Taking good notes
Last week I blogged about study strategies and mentioned that my note-taking techniques could be improved, which raises the question: how does one take good notes?
AcademicTips.org provides some helpful Note Taking Techniques. For example, retyping your notes can be helpful. The first time you take notes on a topic, you may not totally understand it, so it helps to revisit the notes again and add more context. This is similar to the Feynman Technique, which can be applied to iterative note-taking:
- Teach yourself the topic as you study
- Identify knowledge gaps in your notes
- Simplify and clarify your notes as you improve them
- Review and repeat until you fully understand the topic and can remember it
The Zettelkasten Method is a useful framework for note-taking, especially with digital notebooks, which can easily create an interconnected note database with tags. How to Take Smart Notes teaches Zettelkasten, and the author also offers a course on doing Zettelkasten with Obsidian.
Ethics in tech
We had some readings this week on ethics in tech, and we also chose a topic for an ethical argument essay we’ll write. I’m planning on writing about lethal autonomous weapons systems, which obviously brings up a lot of ethical questions. The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is useful for grappling with these kinds of issues, especially the principles of avoiding harm, serving the public good, and respecting fairness in decision making.
What every computer science major should know
In his blog post, Matt Might outlines some topics that CS majors should know. A few topics that stood out to me were emphasizing the importance of technical communication, having a strong portfolio, and the becoming comfortable with the Unix philosophy.
I’m glad that CS Online gives students the opportunity to develop their communication skills by keeping a technical journal, which can also serve as a portfolio. Technical writing is an essential skill for engineers because their work is most valuable when it is clearly communicated and understood by others. Writing each week is a great way to develop this skill.
Code of Integrity
After reading the Code of Integrity, I understand why it’s important for academic success. Students must only submit their own work, must not share solutions, and must indicate any assistance they received. Following these rules will make sure that students are actually learning the material, which will contribute to the long-term success of the program and students’ future careers.