% CST8207 Assignment 01 -- Multi-tasking and Schoolwork % Ian! D. Allen -- -- [www.idallen.com] % Fall 2015 - September to December 2015 - Updated 2015-09-04 02:47 EDT - [Course Home Page] - [Course Outline] - [All Weeks] - [Plain Text] Due Date and Deliverables ========================= > **Do not print this assignment on paper!** > > - On paper, you will miss updates, corrections, and hints added to the > online version. > - On paper, you cannot follow any of the [hyperlink URLs] that lead you > to hints and course notes relevant to answering a question. > - On paper, scrolling text boxes will be cut off and not print properly. - **Due Date**: `14h00 (2pm) Tuesday September 15, 2015 (middle of Week 2)` - Your next assignment will be available in a few days and will overlap this assignment. Start work on this now! - Late assignments or wrong file names may not be marked. Please be accurate and punctual. - **Available online** - Version 1 -- 03h00 September 4, 2015 - **Prerequisites** - Any text editor capable of creating a Plain Text `.txt` file. - An ability to **READ ALL THE WORDS** to work effectively. - **Deliverables** 1. One plain text file uploaded to Blackboard according to the steps in the [Submission Method] section below. Purpose of this Assignment ========================== > **Do not print this assignment on paper!** On paper, you cannot follow any > of the hyperlink URLs that lead you to hints and course notes relevant to > answering a question. This assignment is based on your weekly [Class Notes][All Weeks]. 1. Read excerpts of research to understand the bad effects of multi-tasking and distractions on learning. 2. Consider making changes to your own study environment to avoid multi-tasking and promote memory. 3. Answer three questions using the exact format described below. 4. Create a Plain Text `.txt` file containing the answers. 5. Submit the plain text file as course work to Blackboard using the exact file name. Assignment: Multi-Tasking Considered Harmful ============================================ For full marks, follow these directions exactly. **READ ALL THE WORDS!** below before you start to answer any questions. 1. In the Course Notes, read the one page of [This is your Brain] essay excerpts. (You do not have to follow any of the hyperlinks on that page, but feel free to also read some of the original essays from which these quotes are taken.) 2. After reading the above web page, answer the following three questions in your own words: a. Given that studies show that multi-tasking makes it harder for your brain to remember what you have been doing (see the readings), in what ways does your method of doing school work and homework suffer from multi-tasking? Label your answer to this question with number `(I-2a)` (including the parentheses) in the file. b. How would it be possible for you to single-task your schoolwork, to remember it better come exam time (and job interview time)? Label your answer to this question with number `(I-2b)` (including the parentheses) in the file. c. Do you find that your brain has been trained to "process information rather than understand or even remember it"? (As an example: When given an assignment question, do you Google for the answer every time, or do you remember the answer and write down what you remember?) Label your answer to this question with number `(I-2c)` (including the parentheses) in the file. Answer in your *own* words. There are no *right* answers. 3. Put your three answers in a plain-text file on your computer. Each answer can be made up of long lines of text (with no word wrap) or each answer can be made up of shorter lines of text (e.g. less than 80 columns wide) with blank lines between paragraphs. 4. Create and edit a plain text file (*not* a word processor file) using the *exact* name `assignment01.txt` with no spaces or upper-case letters. This file name is 16 characters long and is all lower-case letters with two digits and one period. The name does not contain capital letters or spaces. There is only one correct way to spell the word `assignment`. Be accurate. 5. Upload your plain text answer file containing your three answers to Blackboard. Do not upload the essays or this assignment question file as part of your answer. Only upload your three answers, just your three answers, in Plain Text format. **Make sure you label each of the three answers exactly as shown above.** - Write and submit your *own* answers to the above three questions. There are no "right" answers here. You decide your own answers. - Minimum length: Three small paragraphs, one per question. - Maximum length: five single-spaced pages (plus optional bibliography and/or references). (Nobody has yet written anything this detailed.) - Do not upload the original essays or this file as part of your answer. Only upload your answer itself. - The uploaded format must be plain text (**Notepad** or **TextEdit** or **VIM**), not a word processor document. - You must *not* upload this file or the essay text with your answer. - Plain Text Only. No word-processor documents accepted. - For full marks, number each of your three answers exactly as shown above using the exact headings: `(I-2a)`, `(I-2b)`, and `(I-2c)`. The case of each letter must be exactly as shown. - Answers must be hand-typed original answers for this term. Any copy-and-paste in your answer file (e.g. from the Internet, previous terms, or other students) will result in a mark of zero. Write your own words. - **PLAIN TEXT ONLY: NO EMAIL, WORD PROCESSOR, PDF, RTF, or HTML DOCUMENTS ACCEPTED.** **READ ALL THE WORDS** Blackboard Submission upload method =================================== 1. Follow the directions above to answer the three questions above in a plain text `.txt` file using the *exact* name `assignment01.txt` with no spaces or upper-case letters. This file name is 16 characters long and is all lower-case letters with two digits and one period. The name does not contain capital letters or spaces. There is only one correct way to spell the word `assignment`. Be accurate. 2. Upload the `assignment01.txt` file from your local computer to the correct Assignment area on Blackboard (with the exact name) before the due date: 1. On your local computer use a web browser to log in to Blackboard and go to the Blackboard page for this course. 2. Go to the Blackboard *Assignments* area for the course, in the left side-bar menu, and find the current assignment. 3. Under *Assignments*, click on the underlined **assignment01** link for this assignment. a) If this is your first upload, the *Upload Assignment* page will open directly; skip the next sentence. b) If you have already uploaded previously, the *Review Submission History* page will be open and you must use the *Start New* button at the bottom of the page to get to the *Upload Assignment* page. 4. On the *Upload Assignment* page, scroll down and beside *Attach File* use *Browse My Computer* to find and attach your assignment file from your local computer. Make sure the assignment file has the correct name on your local computer before you attach it. 5. After you have attached the file on the *Upload Assignment* page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the *Submit* button to actually upload your attached assignment file to Blackboard. Use only *Attach File* on the *Upload Assignment* page. Do not enter any text into the *Text Submission* or *Comments* boxes on Blackboard; I do not read them. Use only the *Attach File* section followed by the *Submit* button. If you need to comment on any assignment submission, send me [EMail]. You can revise and upload the file more than once using the *Start New* button on the *Review Submission History* page to open a new *Upload Assignment* page. I only look at the most recent submission. You must upload the file with the correct name from your local computer; you cannot correct the name as you upload it to Blackboard. 3. **Verify that Blackboard has received your submission**: After using the *Submit* button, you will see a page titled *Review Submission History* that will show all your uploaded submissions for this assignment. Each of your submissions is called an *Attempt* on this page. A drop-down list of all your attempts is available. a) Verify that your latest *Attempt* has the correct 16-character, lower-case file name under the *SUBMISSION* heading. b) The one file name must be the *only* thing under the *SUBMISSION* heading. Only the one file name is allowed. c) No *COMMENTS* heading should be visible on the page. Do not enter any comments when you upload an assignment. d) **Save a screen capture** of the *Review Submission History* page on your local computer, showing the single uploaded file name listed under *SUBMISSION*. If you want to claim that you uploaded the file and Blackboard lost it, you will need this screen capture to prove that you actually uploaded the file. (To date, Blackboard has never lost an uploaded file.) You will also see the *Review Submission History* page any time you already have an assignment attempt uploaded and you click on the underlined **assignment01** link. You can use the *Start New* button on this page to re-upload your assignment as many times as you like. You cannot delete an assignment attempt, but you can always upload a new version. I only mark the latest version. - I do not accept any assignment submissions by EMail. Use only the Blackboard *Attach File*. No word processor documents. Plain Text only. - Use the *exact* file name given above. Upload only one single file of plain text, not HTML, not RTF, not MSWord. No fonts, no word-processing. Plain text only. - Did I mention that the format is plain text (**VIM/Nano/Pico/Gedit** or **TextEdit** or **Notepad**)? - **NO EMAIL, WORD PROCESSOR, PDF, RTF, or HTML DOCUMENTS ACCEPTED.** - No marks are awarded for submitting under the wrong assignment number or for using the wrong file name. Use the exact 16-character, lower-case name given above. - **WARNING:** Some inattentive students don't read all these words. Don't make that mistake! Be exact. **READ ALL THE WORDS. OH PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ ALL THE WORDS!** -- | Ian! D. Allen - idallen@idallen.ca - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Home Page: http://idallen.com/ Contact Improv: http://contactimprov.ca/ | College professor (Free/Libre GNU+Linux) at: http://teaching.idallen.com/ | Defend digital freedom: http://eff.org/ and have fun: http://fools.ca/ [Plain Text] - plain text version of this page in [Pandoc Markdown] format [www.idallen.com]: http://www.idallen.com/ [Course Home Page]: .. [Course Outline]: course_outline.pdf [All Weeks]: indexcgi.cgi [Plain Text]: assignment01.txt [hyperlink URLs]: indexcgi.cgi#Important_Notes__alphabetical_order_ [Submission Method]: #blackboard-submission-upload-method [This is your Brain]: 005_this_is_your_brain.html [EMail]: mailto:idallen@idallen.ca [Pandoc Markdown]: http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/