Evaluation

Over these past 2 1/2 months, I have been teaching myself PHP. The Learning Contract that I made myself (at the time I thought I was being quite realistic in setting myself goals I could actually achieve) was in fact a little out of my skills base, which I found out whilst trying to build what I had intended.

In a way this is a good thing as I have pushed myself to try to learn the things I set out to learn, but on the other hand, I have not actually met my own targets, which is disappointing none the less. As soon as I picked up my first book, I knew I was going to struggle and not enjoy the module.

Dividing my time between this module and the others we had on at the same time has proved quite difficult. Because I did not particularly enjoy it, I have found myself putting it to one side and concentrating on the other modules which I have enjoyed far more. I think the reason why I do not enjoy it is because I do not understand it, I understand parts, but then working out why a certain something is happening when you have followed the books and tutorials right down to the spaces, full stops, brackets and line breaks baffles me.

In a way learning PHP is like when I first starting learning HTML and CSS, except with these, I can see changes in text size, colour and paragraphs, where as in PHP I see no changes it just stops working and displays an error message. At least with HTML if I have done something completely wrong I see it on the screen in front of me and I can then figure out where the problem is and go about finding the piece of code that I have entered wrong and fix it.

My learning process has been mostly reading, which I like when it is a book I have chosen myself, but when its a book of code it’s a little daunting. I have used some online tutorial videos also which I have used far more than my books, and enjoyed learning this way more than reading. I have found it hard to make myself sit down and read a book, and follow out the exercises in the book, which is probably why I have not met my own targets.

So, at the end of the module how much have I actually learnt?
I have made a database with username and password capabilities, a log out function and a styled website. This is not as far as I would’ve originally like to have been, but given how much I have struggled learning PHP I am quite proud of myself. If I had been more passionate about it, and stricter on myself I probably would’ve produced higher quality work; hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I have found I am still developing the skills I need to be able to teach myself, my lack of self-discipline and not following my own plans has deterred my learning, but at least I have learnt something about myself throughout this module. I feel like I missed the structure of having a tutor, of being told what I needed to do and when I needed to do it for, I would’ve prefered to be taught PHP than teach myself it, I think it is one of those things where you need an experienced coder to help you along the way, because as many books as you have and as many tutorials you watch, something can always go wrong and when it does, who do you ask for help?

Diary Entry 2

From my research in LO1, I understood that in order to start writing PHP code and making a database driven website, I needed to install the appropriate software. I installed MAMP to start with, and apparently this is all I should need!

When I first opened up MAMP, this box appeared along with a web page:

MAMP start-up

At first, I had no idea what to do, how to use it, what the writing meant or how to make it do, well, anything. But after a while, and looking through some of the tutorials I was using and books I had bought, it began to make sense.

To make a database, first click on ‘phpMyAdmin’ at the top of the web page that opened at the same time as the box above:

MAMP Web Page

This page will then appear:

Type in what you want the database to be called then click ‘Create’.

On the next page, type in what you want the table to be called, and how many fields you want it to have. Fields are basically data inputs, so if you were doing a simple login in, like I am, you would want 3. The id, Name and Password.

Now it’s time to write the code that will allow you to link your website with your database. You need to store all of your .php files in a folder in MAMP:

I have saved my files in APPLICATIONS > MAMP > htdocs and created a file called Login.

From here on, I used online tutorials and the books I had bought to enable me to write the code I needed to create my website. After writing the PHP, I then styled my website using HTML and CSS.
This is my final project. The website I have created has simple username, password and log out features.

Once you reach this page, you can ‘click here’ and it returns you to the log in page.

After finishing this, I felt an enourmous sense of relief. I have no desire to continue teaching myself PHP, nor did I enjoy these past 2 1/2 months. I can see the benefit of learning more, however I have no intention of getting a job where I need to know PHP.
In a way this is good, at least I know what I do not want to do with my life, however I now have a new found respect for websites such as Facebook and Twitter which I never really understood how they worked until I started to create my log in page. I dread to think what I would have to learn to make ‘Follow’ and ‘Like’ links.
If, in the future I find myself in the position where I need to learn more about PHP, I will not take it upon myself to learn as I have for this module. I now know I am not good at teaching myself something I find very difficult.

Learning Contract – PHP – Starting Out

In this module, we have been given the task of being in charge of our own learning, like we were in PPD2 in our first year. I have chosen to widen my knowledge and study PHP.

Throughout the module, there are four learning outcomes that I have set myself, with a certain amount of hours spent on each to achieve the objective, and a maximum amount of words I have to reach in my journal entries to show the progress of my learning (along with screen shots and other illustrations.)

Before I start my learning, I have gone over the Honey & Mumford questionnaire that I took this time last year to make sure that I am still following the way of learning that is best suited to me. As I expected, I am still an activist. Now at least I know that I can get the most out my learning by doing it the way I prefer.

Learning Objective 1: Research the background of PHP: It’s importance in the Web Design Industry, it’s uses and it’s limitations. I have a number of resources that are going to help me achieve this objective.

PHP stands for ‘Hypertext Preprocessor’. It is a server-sided scripting language that is embedded into a HTML source document. It was created in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf and is now used as the server-side programming language on over 75% of all web servers.

Web content management systems that are written in PHP (and seem to be the most popular ones) include: Mediawiki, Joomla, WordPress, Drupal and Moodle.

Based on this research alone, I know that learning PHP is going to be beneficial to me so I can become an employable web designer.

Some targets I have set myself for the course of my Learning Contract:

Evaluate the progress I am making thoroughly and regularly.

Create a timetable that is structured to allow me to make the best of my self study time.

Use my time wisely, I am going to benefit from this learning in the long run as well as in the present.

End of year presentation

At the beginning of the year I knew little about web design, I thought I knew quite a bit, through self learning and bits i’d learnt at my previous college, but all this just turned out to be a grain of knowledge in what seemed to be a desert of information.

Turning up on the first day, Steve said to us ‘This first year will go quickly’ and I sat there thinking to myself, ‘Yeah right, no it won’t!’ but yet here I am, at the end of my first year giving a presentation, and standing here knowing a lot more than on that first day.

The first assignment we did will always be something I remember,  self doubt, worry and awkwardness were 3 of the things I felt just as Steve was telling us about what we had to do! At that moment I was thinking, god, what have I got myself into here?!

The journal entries we wrote helped a lot, writing down our feelings, how we think things have gone, targeting things we need to work on, is all a good learning process and when I read back on my entries, I smile now, and think ‘If only I’d’ve know then, what I know now’.

I enjoyed the typography module, whether I was any good at design or not, I don’t know, well actually, yes I do, and I’ll just say… it’s definitely something for me to work on over summer!

Overall, the structure of the assignment, having a given time to complete tasks in, and having instructions for what we had to create,made me feel more like I was in a job role, which I liked a lot.

Interface design wasn’t an easy one for me to come up with, I disliked everything to do with my design, but didn’t feel I was good enough to make it any better, I literally couldn’t work out how to make it nicer, so therefore, when we came to build it in WRL1 my heart wasn’t in it because I didn’t like my design so much. This could be seen as a bad thing, but I like to think that it is a learning curve, something for me to work on and get better at. At the end of the day, when I’m designing for clients, I’m probably not going to like every design, so it’s something I’m going to have to get used to it.

I think out of everything, digital imaging was my favourite assignment to do, it was hard coming up with a personal identity, I have trouble describing myself, or what I am interested in, but eventually I came up with something that I didnt totally hate!

The Jelly Belly task was very enjoyable (not at all to do with the fact that Steve gave us the jelly bellys to munch on while we worked, nope. not at all) The colours, and the fact that we had a specific design layout made it easier to understand and design for.

I massively enjoyed WRL2, I took into account the feedback I had from WRL1, and incorporated it into my design work and building for the task. I found myself doing more sketchbook work, more designs, trying out more typefaces and colours, and my wireframes and screen designs were more detailed, I like to look back on it and see how far I have come, because I wouldn’t have thought I’d know as much as I do now.

PPD2 didn’t go as well as expected, a lot of pressure was put on one of my classmates and it wasn’t their responsibility to sort everyone out, even though it was made out like it was. All in all it was quite unfair the way the work was spread out between us, some of us had a lot of work to do, some of us were doing a lot of nothing.
It would be very, very different if we had the chance to do it again, and there’s going to have to be big changes in peoples attitudes and work methods if we’re doing commercial work next year.

Overall, my first year on this course has surprised me. The amount I have learnt, and the detail that goes into it is unbelievable, I am excited to start again in septemeber.

Things I have learnt:

Every detail is important – from picking the right typeface for the work, to the spacing between each letter; how typefaces can change the meaning of a sentence; the amount of planning a website needs before you start building, and how much easier it is to do it that way; how important it is to document each stage of the journey through education; looking back over notes and books is so important; time is everything, if you give yourself enough the job gets done properly.

Team work?

Working as a team is always going to be difficult, however you would have thought it would be easier with fewer people rather than more. Our group is made up of 5 people, and for 5 people to communicate so badly for one task, well, that is pretty embarrassing.

During all of the miniature tasks we’ve had for PPD2, (one in particular) the communication between the group hasn’t been as good as it could have been, I am going to analyse where I think both I, and the group went wrong.

Make a Splash! was an assignment made for us to promote the course to the local area. We came up with a few ideas about how to do it, some were for free, some would cost us money, but that didn’t seem to stop us thinking we could do it (when we were in class).

When we were outside of the classroom, and were getting back to our families, jobs and other responsibilities, we would not seem to make an effort to talk to each other.
The odd exchange of a text, or an email asking how we were doing happened now and again but not free-flowing conversation as you would expect from a group as close as us when we are in the same room.

I do find it quite strange at times but then that is how it has always been, since the very start of the year. I suppose a reason for this could be that we don’t live near each other, or have the same interests in our social lives, however we get on so well when we’re together so it’s quite unusual.

We had a lot of ideas for the task and it felt like we were on track with what the aim of the assignment was, but then it turned out we hadn’t been on the right lines, and had wasted quite a bit of time getting on and preparing for our ideas. This was obviously frustrating for us, and I think this is what knocked us down, and made us less enthusiastic to complete the work.

I don’t think the lack of communication between the group is on purpose, it’s just what happens when you get back to your life at home, sometimes the last thing you are thinking about is getting in touch with your classmates.

The rest of the mini assignments went according to plan, we had no trouble with those, they were all quite enjoyable. The problems just seemed to lay within team work.

This task has shown me not only that effort from all members of the team is crucial, but it is also just as important that all of the members of the team feel like they want to be in touch and work with you.

Thinking of future employment for myself, I now know that being in touch with your team is one of the most important things you can do. If you do not communicate your ideas, feelings and thoughts then they will just be wasted, and in an industry such as web design, every idea counts, and needs to be thought through.

So to help me be a better team member, I have three aims for myself to carry out for the final year at FdA Web Design, and probably for the rest of my life.

1. Know my team well, getting along is important.

2. Even if there is a task/job that does not require team work, keep in touch, if only to let each other know how you’re doing.

3. Sharing the work load with team members makes everything easier, share it out equally, make sure everyone is doing their part.

If I can carry out these 3 simple points, then working as a team in future shouldn’t be a problem, it should be enjoyable and easy. Team work shouldn’t be about one person doing more than the other, or not speaking to each other until the next week we’re in college, it should be about communicating, sharing ideas and thinking together.

I am glad we have made these mistakes, I just hope that it has taught us a lesson we won’t forget.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit

Today, we visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Each of us was given an artist that had designed a, or several sculptures which we had to find, take pictures of and gain inspiration from.

I was given Sophie Ryder as my artist, and firstly had to actually find the sculpture, which deemed to be the hardest part of the whole visit. Luckily, I was teamed up Emily Young and we had a map (not that we actually made use of it) and somehow, managed to stumble across two huge human/rabbit-type sculptures in a large, quiet area of the park.

My first thoughts on these enormous sculptures was “Crikey, these are a bit big!”
After my first, (very obvious) analysis about my assigned sculptures, I studied what I could only presume was the ‘male’ of the two a little more, and after about 10 minutes of staring, ‘umm-ing’ and ‘ahhhh-ing’ things started to flow a little more.

Male Hare

Even though he is a statue, standing next to him, being in his ‘presense’ was still a little intimidating. He is on all fours, has the body of a human and the head of a hare, slightly unusual if I may say so, but intriguing none the less.
Up close, on his arms, the joins of his arms and legs, there are what seem to be large cogs, and machine-like parts that piece him together underneath his ‘skin’.

To me he seems futuristic, dangerous, domineering, like he is out hunting, or looking for trouble. Parts are still covered, and you cannot see his metal skeleton, but here and there, it is like he has been weathered, and his skin has been torn or pulled away from the effects of being in the wild. Almost like he was a project, made in someones shed then he escaped or was released into the wild and forgotten about.

A little way on from him, was a female of the same kind. Human body with the head of a hare. The sculpture is called ‘Sitting’ and that is exactly what she is doing.

'Sitting'

Made out of galvanised wire, she is pristine compared to the male, however there is an air of sadness about her. Sat on the top of a hill, looking over her ‘territory’ or perhaps waiting, she seems lonely, but completely at peace. Looking at her from the side was the biggest shock, she is split in two front half and back half. Unsure if this is a meaningful part of the design it makes me think if she is torn between the male, and her ‘land’. Does she stay or does she go?

Looking at them both, the male in the background, it seems as if the male is crawling towards her, and she does not seem aware (or bothered?) he is there.

I have enjoyed our visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. When I first heard we were going on a trip there, my reaction was one of confusion: Why would we want to go to a Sculpture Park, what have sculptures got to do with Web Design?
Now though, my feelings are completely different, I now have a new way of finding inspiration, and a new way of thinking about things. If you look at something long enough, there will always be ideas that pop into your head, they might not be what the artist was aiming for you to feel, but at least you’re getting something from it.

 

Word Count: 572

Make a Splash! – Proposal

What we are going to do:

Within this proposal, we are going to compile a list of Industry Professionals, whether it be from twitter, emails or company contact information.

How we are going to do it:

Within this task, we are going to compile a list of Industry Professionals,  send the professionals information about the course, show some of our work, and tell them what we do when we’re in class and what it is that we learn about.

This will not only get the course known to professionals in the industry, but may also persuade them to back the course, and fight against those who say education isn’t the way to go.

Strengths:

- Gets the course known to industry professionals and talked about among them

- The course will get talked about more, therefore possibly boosting how many people apply each year

- May persuade people to start promoting the course, if they think it is a good idea

Weaknesses:

- Each professional may have a different view, might persuade them to continue saying that being a self-taught web designer is better than being in the education system

- Could be ignored

- Professionals might not be interested in listening to us

Mini Learning Contract

Learning Objective

A basic insight into the making of mobile Apps (for iPhone)

Methodology

I have learnt this by watching tutorials on youtube, and reading articles on the internet.

Resources

http://mashable.com/2009/02/21/how-to-build-an-iphone-app/

http://www.getelastic.com/want-to-build-mobile-app/

http://www.iphonesdkarticles.com/2008/07/first-iphone-application.html

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-code-iphone-app-with-xcode-269807/view/

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/index.html?section=Resource+Types&topic=Coding%20How-Tos

Results

My research into how to go about making a Mobile App took me a little way down into the depths of the developer world, phrases I had never heard of and programs I did not know existed were appearing on my screen and I did not quite know what to do with them. Now though, after 24hrs of learning, I feel I am a little more the wiser to how this process works.

Firstly, figure out what ‘Platform’ you want to create the app for. For example, Blackberry, iPhone or Android are just a few of the many platforms around at the moment. I think the obvious one to go for, is the iPhone.

There are many programs that you can use to create Apps, from the App Inventor for Android,(this one seems to be like the Dreamweaver of App building, helps you out a lot and it only takes a few clicks to have sound, image and text in an app) to Xcode for iPhone.
I, whilst learning and watching tutorials, have used ‘Xcode’ to create the most basic App out there, with surprisingly little code.

The tools that are generally needed to create an app are as follows:

-An iPhone or iPod Touch
-An Intel-based Mac computer
-The latest version of the iPhone SDK

Once you are in Xcode, create a new document, choose what kind of application you want it to be, then open up the  mainwindow.xib, this will open up a new window where you can drag and drop icons such as text boxes and buttons that you want to be in the app. Once you have the basic layout of the app, there are a few short commands that need to be coded in, links need to be made between the icons and the App delegate and then its ready to go.
When you click on ‘Run’ the program compiles, checking that the links and codes are correct then has a iPhone simulator that appears with your app running on it.

After creating this myself and seeing it work, I realised I have only skimmed the surface of what is a massive ‘web’ of apps, I think it will definately be something I keep at my fingertips.

Conclusion

Planning my own learning was a little bit daunting. When I receive work from my tutor, I normally just take it and read it and don’t think about the preparation that has gone into it or the research he has had to do in order to give out the assignments.

Structuring my own learning plan took a lot of self dicipline. I realised that if I didn’t read up on it, or research it myself, no one else was going to be there to teach me what I had set out to learn.

I felt a bit lost, not having someone telling me what I have to do makes me wonder if I am producing the correct work, the right amount, or in the correct way.

I know normally I am responsible for my own learning and what I do and don’t do, but having a tutor there to nudge you back on track is almost like a safety net, and I think, after this assignment, I am rather happy to stay being taught for the moment, instead of teaching myself.

Word Count: 600

Looking Back

Thinking about the past 4 months it doesn’t seem like I am 1 quarter of the way through the course.

Four months ago, I was sat in a room with 5 people that I didn’t know, nervous, scared, terrified even, however after a few ‘getting to know each other’ games, we began to open up and have a laugh with each other. Some people came out of their shells straight away, others took a while, but I think we’re there now and getting on quite well.

The first assignment, Work-Related Learning 1, was one that I did not particularly enjoy at first. I am quite shy when it comes to speaking to people I do not know, so being pushed into the deep end and having to contact web design professionals to interview them to then write a report about it was like hell for me.

The main thing I couldn’t get over was the fact I felt like I didn’t know what I was talking about. So while I was asking questions about the current web design industry and the effects the recession has had on it, I felt like a fraud. However, after the initial ‘terror’, the rest of the module was rather enjoyable. I found out so much about the web design industry, so many hints from each person I interviewed about how to get my foot in the door.

This first assignment showed me that I had a lot of work to do to get my writing and confidence up to scratch, I may have thought I am no good at speaking to people I don’t know, but now, after this assignment, I find myself thinking ‘what’s the worst that can happen if I speak to this person?’ And the answer? Nothing, people do it every day of their life, so what am I so worried about?

Personal and Professional Development 1 was interesting. Actually writing down my thoughts and feelings helped a lot with the process of understanding things I needed to learn and how to recognise things I need to work on. It was also interesting to read about other people and how they’re feeling the course is going. Being able to leave comments and talk to each other about it made me feel more relaxed about the work I had produced.

A main point for me in this course was the first hand in. It was very scary, I couldn’t help thinking will the CD work, have I written enough, have I included everything that was on the assignment sheet? After a couple of months, the day came where I would get my first grade back,  butterflies in my belly, I walked into the room thinking I knew I had failed it and would have to re-do it.

However, thankfully, I had passed! I am happy enough with my grade, I knew I could have done better, written more, interviewed more people to get a better mark but this is a learning process and I will know for next time.

Typography was an enjoyable module, I loved getting stuck into some design, playing with fonts, seeing which go well together and which not to use! Learning the typefaces was a hard task, one that I still do not feel completely relaxed with, however I still find myself looking at shop windows and working out what typeface and size they have used, I think it will be something I’ll always do.

The interface design module surprised me. I originally thought this would be far too difficult to complete, as I do not think I am a good designer, but once I had found my unsung hero and got to know him a bit, the design came through without too many difficulties. The main thing I struggled with was, as always, my timing. I had not managed my time correctly and therefore ended up feeling stressed and worried about it right up to when it was due.

A few ways to measure my progression:

•To achieve a merit or higher on each of my new assignments

•To complete assignments in good time, leaving a couple of days (if not more) to look over and correct my work, therefore leaving me ‘stress free’ on the hand in date.

•Increase the amount of sketchbook work I do for creative modules, more is better.

•Ask more questions

Where I am going

It’s hard to tell exactly where I’m going this soon into my journey, however I know where I aspire to be.

As I have not received any feedback from the work I have done, I am not sure what level I am currently working at. I want to build up confidence so that I am happy with the work I produce then I will be able to speak convincingly of my opinions if criticised. I will continue to work hard, try my best and complete all of the work I am given. However, at the moment I have a feeling of uncertainty about myself.

I would like to become adept at using Indesign and Photoshop I feel these are an integral part of succeeding on the course. Likewise I would like the use of CSS, PHP and HTML to become second nature to me.

Research is always good, in every situation, every assignment, every module, doing research will help me immensely. If I do more research each time I get a new module, it will become easier for me. I need to build up my collection of books and my knowledge will also eventually build up.

I hope that over the next 2 years I will be able to read articles by Andy Rutledge and fully understand what he is talking about, maybe even have my own opinions on his views. I would like to be able to disagree with things he says and know that, if it comes to it, I would have enough knowledge to back up my argument.

I would like to think that I will be able to overcome weaknesses such as a lack of confidence in myself, my own work and my motivation to do things I do not want to complete. Instead of thinking about ‘now’ I should be thinking about the future, and where doing these tasks will get me.

I would like to complete the course with flying colours, be employable and succeed in finding a job in a business. Here, I could develop my skills even further and then potentially go on to opening my own business, which could then lead me on to working around the world. This last part is more like a dream I think, but I like to keep all options open.

Failure, however, is not an option, I want to be proud of myself, and more importantly I want my family to be proud of me. To gain this feeling of pride, I need to keep my head down, and keep focused.

In three years time, when I am asked by old friends ‘what are you up to now?’ I would like to be able to call myself a web designer with confidence. I would like to be happy and content with where I am and be in a working environment that I love to be in, not one where I feel unhappy just thinking about it. I want to look forward to going to work, not dread it.

A summary of my goals:

• I aim to do well in the assignments that I am currently working on. I would like to complete each module and gain a merit or distinction with each one. I would like to become employable, know that I am good, and be happy with what I have achieved.
• In the long term I hope to become part of a business, large or small and build up friendships, contacts, my own knowledge and experience, and then go on to owning my own company. In 3 years time, I do not want to have a name badge that says ‘Sales Assistant’ on it.

It is easy to reel off a list of things I would like to happen in the future, but without pushing myself towards these goals, I’m never going to get there.