week 5/2-5/6

Not much happened this week; I wasn't here for most of it and I was prepping for an exam when I was here. Johnny finished his project and we need to go over some stuff so that he knows what he's doing next year. I think we can do that for the next couple of weeks. We can outline what he needs to change in order to have a more successful study for next year. Johnny needs to improve his sense of awareness because sometimes he isn't able to answer questions or explain things directly, which will be problematic for him because I won't be here to speak on his behalf anymore.

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5/6

Today I studied for my AP Stats exam and played with the rift. The rift is super cool and stats is super uncool. I'm not looking forward to taking the exam, but at least I was able to distract myself with the rift.

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5/4

Infirmary

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5/2

Infirmary

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week 4/25-29

This week was really good. Johnny got a lot of stuff done and finished the two week dry run. We also presented on Friday and things went really well. We got some really good feedback and I think Johnny has a lot to work towards/look forward to. I just hope he's able to find someone to work with that can help him express his thoughts more clearly on paper. As long as he has that, he should be just fine. I hope he stays on top of his work because when he does, he has good results. I'm really happy with the way this last quarter went.

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4/29

Today was good; Johnny and I presented to Dr. Bill and Mrs. Petteys. I think it went well and Mrs. Petteys had some really helpful feedback that will be very useful to Johnny in the future. I think the presentation was really encouraging and probably gave Johnny a bit of boost because he was receiving some recognition for his work. I hope he can take her constructive criticism and make the changes necessary to improve the project; she had some really helpful observations. I think the idea that the research can lead to more personal awareness among students is really valuable and wasn't something I had thought about before, so I'm really glad she brought that up. The most effective change is one that is on a personal level because individuals are all so different. If Johnny's project can lead to increased self awareness in the student body, then I think he has more than accomplished his goal.

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4/27 Sydney

Today was good; Johnny worked on using the extra software that the Muse comes with. He's getting better at it which is good because it may be helpful in the future. He also started looking at the Emotiv and its functions, but the censors are corroded so he has to fix a model before he can use it. I was talking to Ilan about AI and the Emotiv for next year; he seems really interested in machine learning and all that stuff. He was actually looking at the new Emotiv model online without even knowing we actually had an older one. He's really hardworking and can stay on task, so he might be a good partner for Johnny to have in class next year. They're also in the same grade and dorm, so that could make the partnership really cohesive.

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4/25 Sydney

Today was good; the first week of the dry run has ended. Things went pretty well aside from the Lumosity aspect, which people had a difficult time completing. We decided to cut Lumosity out entirely and just roll with the survey Johnny developed. He added a few things to the survey so that it is more conclusive and uses aspects that Lumosity offered. Johnny needs to figure out if he wants to have students use the survey on the weekends. It's difficult to get people to do it on the weekends, but I think valuable data can be found from weekend usage. In addition to that, Johnny needs to find a way to keep participants accountable for their participation. He mentioned that boys usually do a better job because he is able to reach out to them in the dorm. Maybe he should do a chunk of the study using just boys to see how that goes. Overall, things have been going pretty smoothly.

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4/18-4/22 Sydney

This week was good. Not much happened because we already got the study rolling, so it's just a matter of waiting to see how the week went with the participants. Johnny and I will discuss how the first week went on Monday of next week. I don't think we'll make any further adjustments just so that the study remains consistent. The adjustments will be made at the end of the dry run. Things have been going well and I'm really proud of Johnny for managing to get all of this done in a pretty organized way. I was really impressed with the way he managed to communicate with me on how things were going and if any changes were necessary. I look forward to checking in with him to see how the week went and I'm excited for the end of the two weeks.

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4/22

Today was good; we had guests so not that much happened. Johnny started trying out a different headset to see its capabilities and see if it's relevant to his study. He's also getting the hang of the extra software that the Muse comes with and was working with that. The muse is super receptive; it could tell when he blinked or when he turned his head. We need to discuss the first week of the dry run and see how that went, so I'm sure we'll do that on Monday. We decided to take out the Lumosity aspect; it was not that relevant and people had a hard time getting it done. Johnny incorporated some of the same stuff into his survey so it was more streamlined.

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4/20 Sydney

Today I worked with Johnny on some kinks in the study. He said that people (mostly girls) were not completing the Lumosity tasks necessary, so we have been tackling that issue. We may decide to eliminate the Lumosity portion entirely. I also spent a lot of time looking at the Amazon dash button with Erin, which is a cool new thing that uses a really cheap wifi chip to connect to your phone and make orders. It's really simple technology that eliminates the need to ever leave your house to go grocery shopping, which is freaky but I think it will be undeniably successful. Johnny is doing well and I'm pleased with how things are going, although I think things will be increasingly difficult throughout the end of the year and the beginning of next year for him. My biggest concern is his writing ability. I hope next year he has someone that can keep his writing up to par.

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4/18 Sydney

Today was good; I helped Johnny finalize everything and we sent everything out to initiate the study. We had to make some changes to the account settings and had to troubleshoot the survey and the calendar. We set it up so that each person involved in the study will receive a daily reminder to complete the survey, so it'll be hard for participants to claim they forgot. I'm interested to see how many people stay involved and actually update the survey and the program consistently. I don't know how to hold people accountable in this study to make sure that they will participate daily. That's a really huge factor that I need to work on because otherwise, the study will be ineffective and skewed by the people really excited to be involved. I look forward to see how the two week dry run goes.

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4/11-4/15 Sydney

This week was hard for me because I've been sick. Johnny, however, proved how capable he is and I'm really pleased with the way things have been going. He's managed to stay on task even while I'm not in class, which is awesome. He got a lot done and we managed to check in with each other pretty much every day to see how things were going and discuss future tasks. He is really enthusiastic about the study now, and I think that's because we actually have something starting now. His enthusiasm is really good to see because it means he should stay pretty ambitious through the following year(s). I'm happy with the way this week went; Johnny managed to get the study out to all the participants. The next two weeks, we will see how things go. I'm excited to see the results and to talk about the changes that need to be made in order for the study to run even smoother in the future.

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4/15 Sydney

Today was good; Johnny has been working hard. Today I had him make a few adjustments to the set up of the study. He had input some incorrect information, which we changed. He also sent out the study emails, so the "dry run" should officially start today. I hope the people involved actually participate. If not, we know that things need to be adjusted in order to have maximum participation. It shouldn't be easy for to "forget" to do the survey one day because it will be emailed to them every day by Johnny, so unless they aren't checking their email nightly, things should go smoothly. I have high hopes and I'm excited to see how the study goes.

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4/13

Infirmary

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4/11 Sydney

Today was good. Johnny and I talked with a guest pretty much the entire time, which I think went well. Johnny could work on being more eloquent and direct, but I think a lot of that stems from English being his second language. Johnny's been doing really well lately and I'm really pleased with the amount of work he is putting in, even when I'm not in class. He stays on task (as far as I know) and has gotten a lot of stuff done. I'm mostly concerned with his writing and speaking; he struggles with efficiently getting his point across. I guess as long as he is open to editing, he should be okay. He definitely will need someone to edit his work.

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4/4-4/8 Sydney

I missed most of this week due to a trifecta of infections (sinus, ear, lungs). I am on the upswing this week. The good thing is I was able to check in with Johnny pretty much every day and it sounded like he was doing a good job of staying on top of his work. He sent out his study email and said he got responses from mostly girls (typical). I instructed him to send it out to a larger pool of boys if he hadn't received the amount of boys necessary for the study. He did just that. He also started working on an app, which I think is awesome and will help keep him organized for next year. It was a good week for Johnny so I'm really pleased with how things went.

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4/8

Doctor's appointment for sinus/lung infection

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4/6

Infirmary. Sinus/lung infection

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4/4 Sydney

Today I reviewed and edited Johnny's email while he worked on potentially developing an app. He watched a lot of videos on research kit and did Lumosity for that day. It'd be interesting if Johnny participated in his own study just to see where he lies on the spectrum of sleep/concentration. The email had a lot of things that needed fixing, but I attribute a lot of that to English being Johnny's second language. I think that will be a bit of an obstacle next year when he won't have anyone to review what he writes before it's 'published'. I sent the edited email to Dr. Bill, so if it's approved, I think Johnny will be sending that out today or so. I hope Johnny actually gets enough participants so that he gets a better look at what the study will be like, its successes, and its failures. The trial one is really important to his future progress, so I hope he has a decent pool of participants so that it's as realistic as possible.

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