Assignment Technique

I have a habit of diving head first into assignments trying to amaze and astound people by implementing very advanced techniques or the like into my work.

I've had several lengthy discussions with many of my lecturers about my attitude toward my work. Nearly all of them keep telling me to, for lack of a better phrase, take it a little less seriously. Generally they tell me to go for easy marks first, then go for the harder stuff. I generally dislike this approach to education as I don't feel it really encourages students to push themselves. It's hard to really push yourself when you already know that you're going to pass. Also, bare pass marks are usually at a very low standard. I want top marks, all the time in everything.

This semester I'm amalgamating all the advice that I've had from my lectures and combining them with my usual approach. So far its serving me well.

For example, I have an assignment for concurrency. I've attempted this assignment several times and keep coming up against the exact same problem. Basically I have a resource shortage and I just can't solve it. I'm reluctant to ask my tutor for any more assistance that he's already provided me. It's a huge class and I'm so far ahead of everyone else that it's not really fair to be taking so much time from those who might be struggling.

I pushed onward and found come up with an implementation that solves the problem except for a very minor, but obvious, cosmetic problem. I've spent weeks on this assignment and it's really starting to get to me.

So I'm taking a break, sort of. The assignment is done bar this single problem and I've got a lot of other, more difficult work to attend to. So rather than spending the next 4 weeks pulling out my hair trying to figure out I've applied my new approach, all be it, in reverse. I took a look at the marking scheme and have implemented each of the, extra marks, items. These are things like pretty graphics and other things that are might be slightly beyond the scope of the module. So counting up the marks I'm easily into the high 90% despite this little problem. The extra marks gained will more than make up for the marks lost. Now, if I don't manage to get back to this assignment before the hand I'll still be looking at an A. My assignment may not be perfect but I'm still getting top marks.

I realize that this might be considered contrary to things I've said in the past. But those were intended to be general student advice. This is specific to me.

Scraping a Pass

I received the results from one of my modules from last semester. I've already had my results from two other modules and I was looking at a possible first if everything else went well, realistically though I was probably looking to get a solid 2:1.

Then I got this grade back. Wow, it really ruined my day, I did a little better than expected on the assignment but bombed the test. Thankfully my assignment marks put me over the pass mark but just barely. I'm not happy at all with this grade.

Part of me wants to rage at the system. This was a level 6 module and a hard one at that. I'm currently taking the level 5 module that's supposed to build up to this one. This is the result of years of scheduling and re-scheduling the modules until this was the only fit, it's a major fault of the school, and one that they're rectifying next year, but I can't really blame the school. These things happen with teachers and awards coming and going over the years. However having taken these modules out of order I feel has undermined me, and everyone else on the award. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the basics of the subject while being taught about the much, much more advanced applications and techniques. It was very frustrating.

All in all though I had plenty of help. I plagued my tutors during this module and I was just happy to have a working application to submit for my assignment in the end.

My study technique failed me tremendously for the exam. The module covered a lot of very complicated subjects over a a fairly short period of time. I didn't understand a lot of the basic stuff so I focused on those for my general study and then looked to the past exam papers for my more focused revision. I revised for two days solid and was fairly confident when I sat down to take the exam. However, the tutors went for a complete re-write on the exam this year and virtually nothing that had been on any of the past papers appeared on this exam. So I basically sat the exam almost completely unprepared.

Worst case scenario this bumps my degree down to a third class, which is horrifying. If I get solid firsts this semester I can maybe scrape a 2:1 which would be fine. So far I'm doing extremely well in two modules and not as well in the other two so I'll just have to wait and see how it goes but I'm optimistic but this is going to be hanging over my head for for the next two months, especially come exam time.

Being The Boss.

21-01-13

I've got a module this semester where in, we're to work as small games companies. It's straight forward enough, the class of 30ish students has been split into two teams of ten and we're using the Cry engine and Scrum to create one prototype game each. The game has to be a FPS zombie killing game, multiplayer optional.

Now, in that we're supposed be working as a games company we were all to be given roles based on skills and personal preference. These roles were to be given out by the company producer, an elected executive type role, basically the producer is the guy in charge. This role has real power in the module, they manage the team, make all the final decisions about the game and if necessary, discipline team members. The producer can actually have members of his team kicked off the module if it's deemed necessary.

I'd put my name in for producer. Thinking that, if I got it, it would be good experience relating to my plans after graduation, I also thought it would be nice if I was actually put in charge of a project by my peers instead of just assuming the role.

The campaign was short, we stood in front of the class and presented our fitness for candidacy for 2 minutes each. I'm not well known at the university and I don't even think I'm well liked, I have a habit of winding up total strangers and openly mocking design students, many of whom were on that module. I screwed up my 'speech' delivery pretty royally and made myself look a real idiot. But when the votes came in I (having snuck a peek at the count) was on top... oh... goodie.

So now, here I am leading one of three teams in making a game from the ground up. We're using a commercial grade engine so it's not nearly as much work as it sounds, but there's still an awful lot to do, especially for me. I've got 10 other students relying on me to get a good grade in this module, I've got to manage their time, their tasks and the quality of their work. I've got to organise and lead regular meetings, orchestrate documentation and be held accountable for any and all the problems. I've also got to track it all and report on it. I have a lead artist, designer, tools developer, scripter and 6 team members assigned to various areas. In all I have 2 game designers and 8+ programmers, I'm still waiting for a couple a stragglers to be assigned to my team. All looking to me for decisive guidance and support...

What have I gotten myself in to?

On Studying

I've been asked a number of times recently on studying. How do you go about studying for an exam, or studying in general? So I figured I'd write a post on it.

1. Time-Keeping

Pace yourself. Students are in the habit of cramming before exams, which is fine as long as it works for you. But even when cramming it's important to keep a steady pace. I'm not a crammer, the thought of leaving studying till the last minute freaks me out and as I have a hard enough time absorbing information it just seems like academic suicide. So I use all the time I have available to review in short bits with a break in between.

Let's say I had 2 weeks to review for a math exam. Each day would schedule 2 lots of 1 hour for a subject, so day 1 I would look at one subject and only one, such as Vectors. After those 2 hours I'd stop regardless of where I was at. Day 2 I would pick another subject and do the same. Each day I pick a new subject and don't repeat the same subject two days in a row. If I wanted to go over vectors again that's fine, just make sure to put something between it, otherwise you end up spending half of the time on one subject.

2. Choose your subjects wisely.
As far as choosing the subject order I start with the things that I'm best at. Ideally you want to cover the course subject matter in its entirety but there's not always time. Because I'm best that them they'll take the least amount of time to review and most importantly, I find the harder things are easier to understand when you have a firm grasp of the easy stuff. And if you get to exam time and you've spent all your time trying to understand only a couple of the very difficult subjects, how prepared are you? Especially if those subjects don't appear on the exam. This can be applied over any time scale, but I suggest that you stick to hour long blocks of study time. I.e. shorten the breaks, not the study.

3. Crowd-sourcing.
I'm against crowd sourcing generally for two reasons; 1. A crowd sourced opinion is no opinion at all. 2. there's a lot of crap out there and some of it is... less correct than it should be. That being said, hit the internet and look at how other people interpret and express the subject. Especially in regards to math and programming I found it really helps.

4. Conversation.
Find someone who understands the subject at about the same level, or another people who is reviewing for the same exam maybe. And converse with them about it. I don't read well, so library books and other literature is largely wasted on me, so I converse, with tutors, with students and some time with my 6 year old son. Any one who will listen and respond to me so that I can assimilate the information spoken out loud.
After explaining this technique to a fellow-student he responded with "So that's why you're always quizzing all us before exams?"

So that's it. That's my studying technique and it's served me pretty well

Weakness

This year I've tried to focus more heavily on managing my time. As soon as the assignments were given I allocated time for them. I made sure that I approached all of my school work as a whole instead of the more serialised approach that I took last year. While this has equated to none of my assignments being completed, they are each very nearly finished, and all of them are above passing point according to their associated marking schemes. I'm pretty proud of this achievement, and will be sticking closely to my time management approach, its served me well.

I've identified a couple of weaknesses that I'm going to work on this semester that that's mostly around my programming approach. I'm very much a write now and ask questions, or not, later type of programmer. On my final year project it was mentioned, and this year it's already been mentioned a couple of times and that's testing. I'm lousy at testing, in that, while I test as I go, I don't keep any record of it. So one could say that I don't do any testing at all.

I went to an interview for a placement and was given an exercise to carry out in a TDD situation. I failed this catastrophically. I should know about unit testing, and TDD as I've had a fair amount of exposure to it but I just never use it.
So this semester I'm going to approach all of my programming assignments using TDD. I've seen the quality of the code it promotes first hand and I want to bring myself up to that level.

Another weakness that I tackled early on and feel is worth mentioning is time wasting. This was actually a bigger problem than I realised. There was the phrase I heard that went something like "A lot of time is wasted beating your head against a wall hoping it will turn into a door." I thought about this and realised that I spent a lot of time not understanding stuff. The next time your in a 'beat your head against the wall' situation think about how much time you spend with your head on the desk, or in your hands, or wherever. For me it was a lot. I've sat for hours thinking and fretting about how I don't understand it, or don't get it, or whatever. As soon as I get past that hurdle, the work would get done. But often by that time it was bordering on too late. So initially I focussed on how quickest to get over that hurdle, which is ridiculous now that I'm looking back at it, it's kind of like planning to fail, or trying to take account of your own stupidity. So I determined that there was no need for that hurdle to be there in the first place. I know I don't understand the subject, which is why I'm sitting there trying to learn it. So now when I approach work I find myself struggling to grasp the concept or whatever I push my brain into different mode, usually I just push on, I try things, test things, read things if it comes to that until the concept become more clear.
I tell you, I'm getting twice the amount done as before.

Onward

I'm officially a degree student now.

I've completed my first semester and I must say, it's good being on the degree course, even if it is all the hard classes. Let me explain.

Now that I've completed my HND, awarded with distinction I might add, I'm topping it up to a full blown bachelor's, but in my HND I already took many of the modules, certainly many of the easier ones. So now on the top-up I'm enrolled in all the more difficult modules of the award, and all at the same time. As one lecturer somewhat apologetically put it, "The games top-up students either thrive or die within the first semester."

So here I am, thriving I think. I'm one of only about 4 surviving games HND students and I'm just doing my best to keep up. I must be doing something right because so far it looks like I'm not going to have much, if any, work to do over the Christmas holiday. Just review for the exams.

End of Year 2 and HND

09-05-2012

I completed an exam today that marked the last of all the work for year two of my HND. All being well I'll have a diploma in a couple months and I'll be more than half way to my degree.

I didn't do particularly well this term. By that I mean that I'm pretty confident that I passed but I don't like having less than distinctions and I'm not sure that I got many, if any, this term. I put it down to poor prioritising. I got so stressed and wrapped up in my project that I let it consume all my energy, thus everything else suffered.

Still, I did very well first term, and I had couple of curve balls thrown at me in the second so I'm still pretty pleased with my over all performance.

Things I learned.

Each subject gets equal time until they're completed.

Learn the academic report structure and get used to using it. Introduction, Implementation, Critical Evaluation each having a conclusion. Most of my assignments had some sort of writing element to them and nearly all of them followed that format. Get used to it, learn to like it, because it's everything.

I've definitely picked the right award. I had a class this year that I hated with my very soul and I found it impossible to put any effort into my work. I suspected this was going to be a problem when I decided to go to University and chose my course accordingly, and it looks like I was right.

Consider applying the chosen methodology of your FYP to all of your work. I found this to be a great way to keep everything moving.

Study groups are very helpful, even if you listen more than your contribute, just getting together and reviewing out loud is very useful.

Always read your assignments over and over. I wasted a lot of time on inconsequential or otherwise incorrect aspects of the assignments because I hadn't read the assignment document correctly... or at all.

Conclusion.

So, pending my results I now move on to top-up, which means I become a real boy and move in with all the degree students. Four terms down, three to go.

Sprint 2 Planning

05-03-2012

I’ve had to take a week break from project work to complete other assignments.
Planning for Sprint 2. The plan is:

Collision Detection. Get the collision forces and vectors calculated correctly.
Gravity: turn down the gravity to a slightly more realistic scale. The idea being that the gravitations might be less dramatic but more realistic and more importantly more manageable while ‘playing’ the game.

Triple all my time estimations.

While planning Sprint 2 I estimated that I’d need 13 hours to complete all the tasks I wanted to complete on this sprint. Looking at my current workload I couldn’t see how I could schedule in that many hours. So I had to push from of the tasks to a later sprint.

The Starting Line.

I'm dyslexic. The official 'diagnosis' is literary dyslexia which put simply means that I can't read or write... My actual situation is quite a bit more complicated than that but that's not really why I'm writing this.
I've suspected that I'm dyslexic for some time now but it was only upon looking seriously at attending University that I really thought about getting assistance for it. I heard that support was offered and I figured 'what did I have to lose?'.

I have never really found the condition to be particularly debilitating, but then my school record it far from exemplary. I dare say that much of the trouble that I have now is possibly the result of my being aware of it. You hear people say stuff like 'Well at least I have a name for it now', well it's kinda like that but in the opposite direction to the context in which that phrase is normally used.  All the little things that I do that drive the people around me crazy are now put down to my being dyslexic rather than something like just not thinking or listening. At the same time, now that all of my teachers have been given my assessment I have found that I'm treated somewhat differently to how I was before. None of my teachers were told until about 7 weeks into the course so their change in behavior with regards to me was sudden and obvious. It's like some of them put on a pair of gloves before speaking to me now. Dyslexia has long been a polite word for idiot, as understanding of the condition has grown, it seems that it's only grown more polite.

Yesterday I had my needs assessment. This is effectively a long conversation with a specialist so that he/she can make recommendations as to equipment or techniques will help me with my studies. They have my initial assessment report in front of them and we discuss it, me, life, etc etc. The whole thing was very interesting to me, not only because the assessor was intriguingly humorless, but because of what she, as an expert, knew of the condition. The idea behind the whole program is to try to ensure that everyone starts at the same starting line, they give us access to things that other students wouldn't necessarily 'need' so that we don't fall behind. In my case I'm simply trying to disarm my tenancy to look for excuses.

A classmate of mine who is also dyslexic had his needs assessment last week and he found it really discouraging. He didn't realize just how much help he needed, despite his continuous efforts to counter the condition, he genuinely works really hard at continually practicing the things that dyslexics tend to struggle with. He came away with a needs list as long as his arm and couldn't help but feel... well stupid.

These are some of the things that can be recommended.
Readers.
Writers.
Dictaphones.
Dictation Software.
Text to Speech Software.
Colored Layovers.
Tinted Glasses.
Specialist Tutors.
Printing Budget.
Colored Paper Budget.
Books Budget.
Extra Time for Exams.
Extra Time for Assignments.
Spelling Errors Allowance.
Grammar Errors Allowance.
A computer.
Access to Lecture notes and other such material before the class.

My classmate got the whole list, plus a few more that I can't recall just now, recommended for him. I can understand why he would feel discouraged. It's a bit eye opening when someone spells out exactly how much you struggle in such exacting detail.

I got everything on that list recommended, I turned down the readers and writers, having to tell someone what to write for me or likewise having someone reading to me is likely to end with some form of face punching. I can't say that I feel disheartened by this, as far as I'm concerned, the fact that I've done alright this far speaks for itself, the additional help can only be... helpful... It's not as disability in the sense that I can't do certain things, it just takes me longer. These recommendations are just to make sure I can keep up and while I'm doing alright now, it's been made pretty clear that's not likely to be the case for long.

One thing that surprised me somewhat but really shouldn't have, was the assessor pretty much scolding me for taking notes at lectures. Apparently this is the worst thing a dyslexic can do because it shuts down all the wrong areas of our brains. I'm now, upon pain of death, only to listen and record... With the dictaphone that I've not been given yet... I guess we'll see how that goes.

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.