Assignments

 Assignments

Our assignments this year consist of writing our own blog to document what we are learning throughout the semester. I think it's a nice way to express my opinion on some of the topics we are covering.

We are also tasked with maintaining an online presence on Twitter to help each other out in terms of discovering content that may be beneficial to one another.

In the coming weeks we as a class will be starting to use the game engine known as Unity  to develop our own 2D or 3D game. Having never done anything like this before, I'm sure it will be a challenge but one that I look forward to.

  

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Technology

 Tools of the trade

There are many online tools available to use during this semester that will help further develop the skillset required. I have only used Twitter on a couple of occasions and that was many years ago, it is just not an app that I was drawn towards, However it is a great place to keep up to date on how things may be evolving giving the persons chosen line of work. It is also a relatively easy to use app with an quite simple learning curve. I will be using Twitter this year to help connect myself with like minded people to get an insight into how they are developing creatively while also developing myself so others can look to me for inspiration and information.

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Another tool that I will be learning to use as part of this semester is a game engine called Unity. Unity is a cross platform game engine that lets people create 2D and 3D games. I enjoy a good video game as much as the next person but never have I imagined learning how to make one, it is something that I look forward to doing and I am excited to see what I will come up with and make.

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Time Strategies

 Staying on track

Keeping up to date with assignments and deadlines is something that I have always tried to adhere to. whilst nothing can be done if something in your life happens unexpectedly it helps that if you have yourself in order with your work should the problem arise. I like to keep a personal calendar at home with dates marked accordingly, this not only helps me know when something is due but for me it has a slight feel good factor knowing that I have completed something and can move onto the next task. There are many online tools and apps that you can avail of for time management and keeping yourself on track to complete a task. I found one app that is called Forrest, I thought this app had an interesting concept on trying to keep a person focused. The user when starting a task has to plant a tree and in order to get that tree to grow he/she must stay concentrated on the task they are doing. It might seem like a strange way to get someone to keep focused by challenging them to keep the tree growing but I guess some people may find they have an obligation or even an emotional connection to the tree so they will stay focused in order to achieve this, and when all your task have been completed you have a cool forest to look at and be proud of.   

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 Growth Mindset 

Fail forward / Fail

Students

There are two mindsets when it comes to the term Growth mindset. It is a term coined up by a Dr.Carol Dweck who is a professor of psychology at Stanford University in America. Dweck's work involved her studying her students to see what their reaction would be to failure and how they would cope with and deal with it. Those with the growth mindset had a much more positive reaction to failure. Studies have show that people who have a growth mindset are much more open to criticism and see failure as something that can be learned from. while on the other hand those who have a fixed mindset can have a negative response to failure resulting in them having self doubt thoughts and struggling to complete the task at hand and ultimately end up quitting.

Workplace

The workplace can be a place where it is altered in a person. Companies that promote and reward risk taking and learning from mistakes have show that the people working there are those with the growth mindset and while those who work in a fixed mindset company are more likely to engage in cheating and deception in order to get ahead in there respected field.

Everyone has both

Studies have shown that everyone has both the growth mindset and the fixed mindset, and both develop over time with experience. To continue to develop a growth mindset it is critical to reward learning and progress and to capitalise on setbacks in order to move forward. Everyone has also got fixed mindset characteristics and must avoid setting off triggers in order to try remain in the growth mindset   

My Favourite Game

If I had to choose one game that was my favourite I would have to say Tomb Raider 2 for the PS1. This was one of the first games that I ever played. The fact that you could run around as a person in a 3D

environment was mind blowing, then on top of that they throw in that you can shoot the crap out of people also, Mind blown aged 7!. You could also run around her mansion having her butler follow you like a lost puppy and lock him in a walk in freezer which I found way too funny, poor chap never got a moments rest when I was playing.

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My Favourite Place

 

I have not done much travelling in my time but I do plan to do more in the future once all this covid craic is over and done with. I have however been to America on two occasions visiting family I have there. America is a whole other world in comparison to Ireland and to be honest it was all a bit overwhelming to me as the first time that I was there I was only 8. The second time was much better and I have more fonder memories of it as I was a little older. Anyway this blog post is about my favourite place and I can honestly say that it is when I am playing football or training for football.

Training for football

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