Wednesday, September 30, 2020

All About Our Assignments

Hello! This is a blog about this module, Multimedia Development 1 and its different assignments. I am most intrigued by the Unity3D, Blog Comments and Project assignments. 
I like the idea of the blog comments as anytime people post their blogs to twitter I read them anyways so getting marks for commenting on blogs I would already read is great! I really don't think this is like anything we've done in other classes. 
I'm not too excited about the reading assignments, this is purely because I'm a slow reader and the topic would have to be something interesting to keep me focused. I'm definitely going to have to work on that so hopefully, over the next few weeks it'll get better and it'll become easier for me! 
When it comes to extra credit work three of them grab my attention. Tech Tasks, Wikipedia Trials and Extra Commenting all seem great. 
I would think of myself as a techy person so I think the tech tasks would be very interesting and for the 
Wikipedia trials, they just seem really fun. I do that anyway if I’m ever on Wikipedia, I’ll find myself on a page about someone and the next thing I’d be on some random page about some medical problem or some random town in Russia. 
Then, of course, the extra commenting more easy work, as I said I would be reading them anyway so I might as well comment on them for more marks! 
Overall I’m very excited about this module but also very scared. When I did my PLC we had a Games Design module and I was shocking bad at it. So I’m hoping I’ll be a little better three years later. I will update again to see if I am any better (hoping for the best but expecting the worst). That’s all I have to say about the upcoming assignments, I’m definitely ready to get properly into this year.


Photo Caption: A man staring at his computer with headphones in.


Thanks for reading!

-Megan

Monday, September 28, 2020

Discussing Growth Mindset

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

This was my first time hearing of Carol Dweck and of the concept of the growth mindset. I very much like the idea of it and the process of developing a growth mindset. I think schools, colleges and even places of work would be much better if everyone had a growth mindset compared to a fixed one. When someone has a growth mindset they embrace challenges, they put in more effort and they learn from their failure. Compared to a fixed mindset is the complete opposite and they can really bring down the group as a whole. I would love to say I fall under the growth mindset category but I think by researching and looking at both growth and fixed mindset I would fall under fixed. There are some factors of growth mindset that I would have for exampl, learns from feedback and criticism and inspired by others success. It also depends on what I'm doing. If it was something I enjoyed doing or wanted to do I think I would definitely have more of a growth mindset but if it's something I'm not too interested in definitely fixed. I'm very bad for avoiding challenges, putting in less effort, giving up easily, and always thinking of myself as a failure. I think that would come back to my primary and secondary school days, I wasn't very book smart which wasn't what the teachers wanted. I would drop down to a pass class because it was the easy route. I do think this is a problem that I can for sure can work on. Since coming to college I have developed more of the growth mindset so hopefully, by the time I finish, I could have a complete growth mindset because it is very desirable and I think that a positive attitude would help me in the future. In other aspects of my life, I am in no means an athlete but, I used to be and even to this day if I am playing some kind of sport or even messing around I am very competitive, I hate losing and would do anything to win or be better. So, I would have more of a growth mindset when it comes to sports. 

When it comes to online university, I very much give up easily. There are many distractions and I tell myself I'll come back to it later. I also find a lecturer explaining things via online teaching is difficult for me to take in. But, starting the year off right and learning about growth mindset I would love to try and be better and apply these to my everyday life, especially trying to get through online university. I would love to learn more about growth mindset throughout the year but probably in a fun way! I wouldn't enjoy reading about it or even listening to Carol talk about it. 

Link to image
Image caption: Picture emphasises the difference between fixed and growth mindset. 

This semester I would like to get things done when I say I'm going to do them, I'm very bad at procrastinating. I understand most people are bad at it but for myself, I would love to get a bit more motivated to do assignments and study quicker. I'm excited about Website Design and Visual Video Techniques! I am definitely worried about Group Project, Visual Design Fundamentals and this module; Multimedia Development. I'm really not sure how these three are going to go. This is my fixed mindset of course making me think I'm going to fail the three and get on bad. Hopefully now having learnt about growth mindset I can apply it in all modules this semester but particularly the three I am worried about. The pictures above and below although made for children, I'm going to start telling myself these things whenever I sense my fixed mindset coming into place and hopefully get on the right track to having a growth mindset.

Link to image
Image caption: Picture lists different growth mindset statements to tell yourself.

- Megan Kelly

Sunday, September 27, 2020

An Introduction to my Mediocre Life

Hello and welcome to my introduction blog post! I’ll be talking a bit out what the last 6 months have been like and also what my last year of college was like! I hope you enjoy it! 

 

So, I started college about this time last year and boy, to say I was nervous was an understatement. I finished secondary school in 2017, then went into a PLC in Westmeath after that I worked for a year and then came to college. It was a big step from working in Roscommon to moving to Dublin and going to college here. Thankfully the majority of my friends lived in Dublin already as they were also going to college. So, the idea of them being close put me at some ease. I got a hang of the busses fairly quick (thank god), although sometimes stressful. Sometime in the middle of first year a tv show came out called “Inside the K” showing all the crimes happening in the area I was living in, it made my culchie parents VERY nervous. Anyways, college was going great until of course, Ms. Rona came about. Online college was okay, it was difficult to learn online. I’m the type of person who needs the face to face kind of engagement to learn to my full capability. Now, saying that I got on great in the results. In secondary school if I got 40% and passed the subject I was over the moon; it was difficult for me to learn all the information and then just regurgitate it back out for an exam. So, when I came to college and actually enjoyed what I was learning and could pass modules and not just pass but getting mostly A’s??? It was a whole new feeling. Now saying that it was first year so come back to me in a year and see if it’s maintained. 

 

Once college finished for the summer there was nothing left for me to do. When I say I live in the middle of nowhere I mean it. I live on the Roscommon-Galway border, but I am a proud (sometimes ashamed, depends what we’re in the news for) Roscommon girl. My mam is from Offaly so I’m not sure if that makes me more of a culchie? (It probably does). I mentioned that as I am currently wearing my half and half jersey. My mam surprised me with it with Lowry written on the back (my mams side of the family), it is hilarious to look at. Anyways, back to summer I was saying how I live in the middle of nowhere. So, when the lockdown happened and we were allowed to go 2km away from our houses, it was a disaster. There’s nothing within our 2km. We live between two rural villages, but even at that, they weren’t between the 2km. My mam is a healthcare worker and my older sister was the designated person to check on my nanny as she’s 90 and was cocooning. So, the rules were very much imposed here. When we finally could go the 20km, technically I couldn’t see my friends STILL. They were all over 20km away but I had spent far too much time with my family (sorry guys love you and all but only so much time I can spend with you) but they ended up coming to my house and we sat outside by the firepit my dad had made during the quarantine and of course 2 meters at least between us all. If it wasn’t for my friends, I would’ve lost my mind far more times than I did, proof of this? I shaved my head TWICE.



Photo caption: A selfie showing off my shaved head.


My friends and I decided to book a staycation for when the lockdown was over, and we went up to Gweedore in Donegal. Honestly If you’ve never been to Donegal please go (well once lockdown is over). It’s the most beautiful place in Ireland, hands down. We only went for 2 nights but we had the best time, stayed in a gorgeous house with the best views! We drove around, went to loads of different beaches and just explored! We also went on different day trips after lockdown lifted to Connemara and Achil to name a few


Photo Caption: A photo taken by me in Donegal - Photo is of a beach in Derrybeg

Photo Caption: A photo of my friend Genevieve and I standing on rocks at a beach in Donegal.

Photo Caption: A photo of my friends and I at a beach in Connemara 


 

I took up knitting during quarantine too! Well, this was when shops were back opened. I am an avid One Direction fan, and I was on TikTok (also an avid TikTok fan) there was a trend of people knitting Harry Styles’ Famous JW Anderson Cardigan which is gorgeous! I had fallen in love with the cardigan the second I saw it. So, I decided why not?? I wasn’t doing anything else! I had only knitted when I was really young, so I’m really surprised it worked and looks amazing! The brand that made the one of a kind cardigan JW Anderson, released a pattern to follow and I followed that and watched a couple of videos! They ended up liking and commenting on my progress throughout which I was tweeting about! I am super proud of what I made and I’m thinking I might knit myself a jumper too. The question is am I turning 82 in two weeks or 22? Feeling like it’s 82. 

 



Photo caption: Me wearing the cardigan I knitted.



Photo caption: A picture of the back of the cardigan.


Anyways, enough of me ranting and waffling on. I’m so sorry if someone had to read this all. None of it really connected and I just rambled on but hey you now know loads of pointless information about me! :) 

 

Thanks for reading!!

Megan

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Tech Tip: Twitter Widget

I added a twitter widget to my blog! I shamelessly added my own to promote myself. It was between me and Harry Styles but I said hey, hey had enough followers and rarely tweets so instead everyone can keep up with me. 

Tune in next time for a Top Tech Tip from Meg!! 


My Favourite Game!

Hello! This is a post about my favourite game. This was an easy decision as you can see my blog is dedicated to the game. I'm not much of a gamer, I really only play The Sims 4 on the PC, Animal Crossing New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch and maybe a bit of Mario Kart also on the Nintendo Switch! I used to play more on the WII or the Nintendo DS when they were a thing. I loved a good karaoke game on the WII.



I started playing The Sims when I was super young, it would've been The Sims 2 at the time. My sister used to love it and I would sit and watch her play completely engrossed. I would've been 7 or 8 maybe playing that. The Sims 3 game out when I was 10, I remember being so excited when a new expansion pack was coming out, I would go into the local Xtra Vision and get a copy as soon as my mam would drive me in. I think I had most if not all of the expansion packs, I don't know how my mam put up with me. The Sims 4 is what I play now as it's the newest version. It's the kind of game you play for 3 weeks straight without blinking or you don't touch it for 3 years (an exaggeration of course).

There's something about The Sims that I'm obsessed with, I think it could be to do with having full control over their lives compared to us humans don't have the full control (wow is that a bit weird?? probably). I would rather create their houses than actually play the game, I am completely obsessed with building, decorating and everything to do with making a house. There's just some good serotonin when you finish a house and it looks top notch. Again, this is probably down to the fear that I will never be able to own my own house (we do love a good housing crisis).  

Photo Caption: The Sims 4 logo with three sims underneath.



Link to image.


A contender for my favourite game was Animal Crossing New Horizons. I had never played any Animal Crossing game before this one, which whenever I told anyone that they were very confused. But then Corona Virus happened and I was so bored and saw the hype for it EVERYWHERE so I said hey, I have a Nintendo Switch (that I never used) so I might as well since I was spending no money anywhere else. I became absolutely obsessed. It was bad, I could've played it literally all day if I let myself (which I did a few times ops). I used to be playing for I'd say at least 4 hours a day probably more, but now I haven't touched my Switch in about a month? My villagers probably hate me and there are probably weeds everywhere so I am terrified to turn it back on. I got the point with the game where I had enough money to buy everything and had completed all the things you could at the time and just got bored.

Photo Caption: Animal Crossing New Horizons gameplay with the logo at the top right.

That's all from me now, I hope you enjoyed this little piece and an introduction to my favourite games. I think they both say a lot about me as a person.

Megan