Rounded corners

Journal

Self Managed Learning Plan – Week One

Learning PHP Fundamentals

After the first week of studying some fundamental processes of PHP I have found that the language seems quite easy to pick up. There is a vast amount of new syntax to learn and to add to my vocabulary but I am sure this process will pick up pace in due course.

Glad To Be Back

Well, four months doesn’t seem like two minutes ago now I’m back in the class room. It’s good to see everyone settle into the routine fairly easily and it seems like no one has been away. There was usual banter while on our break and everyone has a smile on their face.

Myself, Tim and Martyn were able to talk to some of the first years and get a feel for their tensions that I know we had on the first day of college. It’s good to see, in a way, that they all have the same expectations and feelings as our group did.

Resources For My Self Managed Learning Plan

Stated below is a list of resources I will be using to help me manage my SMLP. These include a mixture of online manuals, tutorials and physical copies of books.

  1. http://www.php.net
  2. The definitive resource for php. This will be my bible, at least for php coding, that will guide me through my SMLP. There are many snippets of useful information and users comments that will help me along the way.

My Self Managed Learning Plan

After looking at many available languages to study for my SMLP I have decided to choose a language I feel that will benefit me as a developer and increase my chances of employment in the future.

Sign Of The Times

It’s hard for me to imagine that one (academic) year has passed already. It’s even harder for me to imagine that by this time next year I will be finishing my education at Wakefield College.

I doesn’t seem like two minutes ago that I was getting paid peanuts working in a job I had no interest in. This, however, has made me want to excel all that much more.

Final Stages

Since my last entry I don’t think that my head has stopped spinning. There is very little time left and I have still an advert and a web page to design.

This said though I have created my logo and album cover, both inner and outer, and finished putting together the postcard for the Moo order that will be sent out today.

A Reflection Of One Year

As we approach the end of the first year I can look back and say that I have accomplished more than I would have ever thought possible. It’s scary to think that one academic year has passed already and I am sure the second will fly even quicker.

I have had a mixture of results from the assignments handed in and I can honestly say that I am pleased.

R-N065: Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Insen

From start to finish Insen is a journey of experimental sound bound together with the harmonies of mellow piano chords and the unique, extraordinary one time chorus of bird song.

Alva Noto has pieced together an experience of deep basses and ambient beats together with the help of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s perfected piano pièce de résistance to help elevate the listener to help elevate the listener to a higher state of consciousness throughout the forty-one minutes of listening pleasure.

Building The Big Picture

Our two new assignments (A5 Builder & A6 The Big Picture) have been handed over and we are now two weeks in.

I am looking forward to the coding side of A5 as I have some experience and should be able to keep on top of things. A6 on the other hand is new territory to me. The program we need to familiarise ourselves with is Adobe Photoshop.

Act II

It’s been a crazy four months since I enrolled on the HND media course. I feel like I have absorbed a lot of information some of which has been taken on board and some that still needs my attention.

My initial thoughts concerning the HNC course, the one I applied for originally, was that it would give me a general taste for this industry.

Quarter Complete

As I anticipated the deadline for these two latest assignments have crept up. I feel a lot more confident at present then I did the previously. I only have a five-hundred word evaluation and a few references to complete on one assignment.

I probably will feel nervous handing in my work as will everyone else but I think what I have done should suffice for a pass.

Talks, Time and Terminology

My head has been crammed with a lot of new information since my last entry. With the new assignments we are now undertaking there comes a lot of new terminology and techniques. Some of the lectures, especially Colour Theory, really opened my eyes to how much I don’t actually know. I have nearly filled a sketch book already on notes alone.

Referred But Not Deterred

It’s been a hectic fourteen days. There have been two new assignments to consider on top of one ongoing and one referral.

Receiving the referral didn’t come as a shock as knew I had made a mess of presenting the information on the CD that was required. What was a shock was the amount of other things I had done wrong or simply not addressed.

Industrial Insight

I was fortunate enough to be enlightened on the ins-and-outs of the industry I have chosen to pursuit. Two people, Dave and Craig, from The Design Mechanics gave their views and practices they have encountered while working in this field.

The information presented before me hit home and mapped out just how much work is ahead of me to succeed in the future.

ITC Bauhaus

Bauhaus is of German origin and is roughly translated as Building House. The name was also given to the institute that ran in Dessau, Germany from 1919 until its closure by the Nazi regime in 1933. The Bauhaus produced works in a variety of fields such as art, design and typography.1

The font ‘ITC Bauhaus’ was developed by Edward Benguiat and Victor Caruso in 1975.