Review of my progress

I feel very upbeat about my recent progression. I am currently working at a distinction standard which is well above my target rate of a pass. I still have a couple of tasks to do, however these are very minor tasks whih shouldn't take long to complete. I have been very motivated throughout these units due to my wish of getting into university. I aim to finish all of these tasks in the next couple of days and complete the course to a distinction standard. I feel I have gained a lot of knowledge throughout this course which I definitley believe will help me sometime in the future.

User-side and server-side

Amongst many of my weaknesses was my lack of knowledge in user-side and server-side interactions. Before starting the course I had never heard of these. Included in one of my many tasks it was asked of me to create a newsletter explaining the user-side and server-side factors that affect the performance of a website. As I had no knowledge in this area I realised I would have to carry out some of my own research not only to enhance my knowledge but also to familiarise myself with some terminology. After carrying out this research and completing this task I now feel very confident on the topic of user-side and server-side interactions. Furthermore I feel it has helped me progress even further than I already have as I have now learnt more terminology.

Website Update

In my personal development plan I identified that on my website I needed to include interactive elements. I have now created a range of interactive buttons. All buttons include an up state and an over state so that when the mouse is hovered over the button, the text then changes colour and the button bevels in. As this was pointed out as a possible area to develop in this unit I feel that I have progressed well over the past couple of weeks.

Review

I am very proud of what I have achieved in this first unit. I have successfully completed every task however this wasn't all straight forward, there was many hiccups and mistakes along the way. There were times when things had to be redone and ammended however I am very happy with the final outcome. I feel I have gained knowledge in a lot of new things such as operating systems and software utilities. In my opinion I think that all of my hard work and effort has paid off.

Creating a website

A downfall of mine was that I have never had any experience in creating a website. One of the tasks I am facing is in fact to create a website. To make the task more difficult the programme that needs to be used is Photoshop which I have never used. I have spent time getting used to this programme which has enabled me to start creating my website. I have now so far completed the logo and all of the buttons that are required on this website. I will create a further update when more work has been done on this task.

Operating Systems

A lack of knowledge in operating systems was amongst many of my listed weaknesses. I therefore carried out a task which enabled me to research the different operating systems and what features they all have. For example I researched windows 8, mountain lion and linux mint 14. I feel researching all of these operating systems has enabled me to develop myself through this course. Once again I now feel confident enough to say that this is now a strength of mine and no longer a weakness.

Software Utilities

Today I have completed my newsletter on software utilities. I looked at things such as virus protection, drive formatting, firewalls and clean-up tools. This was again an identified weakness of mine so I feel researching all of these has helped me to develop. I feel I used my resources very wisely. I used the internet to research these utilities however at one point I did get a little confused on the subject of drive formatting so I decided to ask my teacher to explain in order to make sure that my knowledge was the best that it could possibly be. By completing this task I have again completed another target and another of my priorities.

Installing Components

This week I have successfully shown that I can install at least 2 components into a computer. My 2nd priority in my personal development plan was to gain experience in building a computer. By installing a floppy disk drive I have not only focused on one of my priorities but I have also completed another one of my targets. In my personal development plan I listed buliding a computer as one of my possible areas to develop. I took this on board and have improved my knowledge and experience in building a computer and in my opinion I have been successful in chaging this to a strength. The research I carried out last week in researching the different hardware components definitley helped me as if I didn't have any knowledge in the hardware components I wouldnt have known what i would have been installing.

PDP Update

In my personal development plan I identified that researching hardware and software was one of my main priorities. Consequently on the week commencing 7/1/13 I started to research the different hardware and software components. I successfully researched 19 different components by finding out what their function is and adding a corresponding image to each component. This is because I have no familiarity with any of the hardware and software components. One of my tasks in the near future will be to build a computer collectively with the class, therefore not having any knowledge of any of the components would be a definite barrier to my success.