Matt Headleand - BTEC National Cert for ITP Blog

Blog Post 2

2009-01-27T16:41:35+01:00

Since my last reflective post, not much has changed in my skills and understanding. However I feel I have slacked a bit in my work, particularly in website development.

I will review all of my lessons and then analyse how I can improve upon anything I am lacking in.

Advanced Databases [ADB]
Last week we discussed with John that the method he used that lesson was more effective than the PowerPoint presentations he has been doing and he would consider using the method again. I feel I have made slight progress in this lesson and I have a better understanding of Microsoft Access, such as validation rules.

Website Development and Management
I’ve actually fallen behind in this lesson and have to get Task 1 completed as I have failed to do so thus far. Whilst I am falling behind, I am actually concentrating and achieving the required exercises in the lesson.

Communications and Employability Skills for IT
I feel I am achieving everything I possibly can in this lesson. I do my best work when concentrating in this lesson and feel its actually helping me reflect as a person, much like I am doing right now, but not just about college. Sue Marr helps encourage me to do better, probably because she challenges my capabilities by suggesting that I am unable to do as she expects.

Key Skills
I’m falling behind in this lesson, mainly due to the fact that I am unable to concentrate on the subject. I am doing my best to catch up and achieve the pass I need for this lesson.

Computer Systems
I feel that in this lesson I have accomplished considerably more than I had by this point last year. I hope to achieve at least a merit by June. I must try harder, however, to get work handed in on time to the best of my efforts.

VB.Net Programming
I am moving on reasonably well with the assignment, however am finishing a lot less than I want to. I can probably sort this issue out by moving to another part of the room away from my friend group.

Principles of Networking
I am moving on well in this lesson and should have this finished with no problems at all, however I do need to motivate myself to do the work.

My attendance up till now has been poor, and I am working on improving this. Medical conditions have hindered my ability to come in and I have informed the college of this.

Looking at what I’ve done so far makes me consider working harder towards my goal of going to university in 2010.

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Blog Post 1

2008-11-17T22:54:52+01:00

Since starting this course (BTEC National Certificate for ITP [IT Practitioners]) I have acquired a variety of skills and improved my motivation to get work done. Since last year I felt I was underachieving at college and have decided this year to work my hardest to get my work done to the best of my abilities.

Skills I have gained range from social skills to work-related skills, for example; I can explain exactly what I am trying to say with little to no work at all. I feel this year I can achieve a distinction for this course over the next 2 years if I try hard enough.

Advanced Databases [ADB]
In this lesson, I feel I am not learning anything. I feel that there is too much talking about the subject and not enough actual work towards our assignment. I think the lesson could be improved by a small segment of talking at the beginning of the lesson covering what we will need for that specific lesson and then work on a task set for us by the tutor, possibly breaking the lesson into 4 segments of 2 talking segments and 2 working segments.

Website Development and Management
I have learnt a variety of useful things in this lesson, particularly something that had been bugging me for some time, a table but styled in a profile format

These, amongst other things, have been helpful in designing various layouts both for personal use and for college work.

Communications and Employability Skills for IT
This lesson is one of my most productive; probably because I’m mostly encouraged by the tutor to do the work at my best potential. This lesson has helped me to motivate myself in college, getting the work done with the most detail I can and explaining points I feel may be a little fuzzy without the explanation.

Key Skills
At the beginning of the year, we worked on getting another qualification; CLAiT Plus, I feel this has improved my knowledge and usage of Microsoft Word and Excel.

Computer Systems
I’ve learnt in more detail than last year, how a computer works. I have also gained knowledge and information about various types of hardware and software.

VB.NET Programming
In this lesson I have improved my programming skills since last year, I have a wider knowledge of various functions in VB and can use them effectively for my project at hand.

Principles of Networking
Gordon teaches this lesson well, this lesson is very practical and I feel this is the way I learn best. I prefer to either learn by doing or reading about the task rather than have someone speak it to me.

A weakness I mentioned in my SWOT analysis was my motivation and confidence. I feel that this year, I have improved greatly in my motivation and am getting work done on time and to my best capabilities. I am constantly working to improve my confidence, particularly in groups.

When I reflect upon my progress I feel my attempts to better myself have gone well, although sometimes I could have done better or tried harder. I feel that I can, if I try, improve upon all of my weaknesses and make my strengths stronger.

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My blog

2008-10-07T08:31:45+02:00

What is a blog?

A blog is an online diary of sorts, it can be seen by anyone in the world and you can display your viewpoints and opinions on it.

The word blog came from the word “weblog” first used by John Berger in December 1997. The shortened, more popular version, “blog” was first coined by Peter Merholz in May 1999.

A blog post is an entry to the blog, like an entry into your journal. Though any post may become a discussion and anyone can read it. It can be a sort of two-way news, allowing the reader to ask questions, express their opinions and spam.

People can comment on your blog entries if they feel you might want to see their opinion or if they feel they need to express themselves as well. Blogs are about connecting with people and they do that by allowing posts from both the blogger and the reader, some blog sites like this one (though; not liking it so far) allow “friends” to add you; like a social networking site (Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, etc).

Another interesting aspect of a blog is that the potential audience is the entire world, whether you are writing a blog for a college course, like this one, or writing about games/consoles, anyone can read it and become interested.

Blogging has increased in popularity over the years due to the fact it can be done by anyone, not just professionals. You can write about any news you like with your opinion. Some people have even decided to deviate from news sites and focus on getting their news from blogs.

People can read many blogs at once using a technology called RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This grabs the posts from the blog and displays them in a window for you to see (normally just the title). If the user sees something they want to read, they can click it and it will take them to the post.

What is my opinion on blogs?

I think blogs can be a very good source for information on anything. I have a few blogs I read daily, I’ve also owned quite a few blogs, one of which almost landed me in serious trouble with the law, proving that anyone can read them (although; the police use specific software to scan the internet for keywords and then read it [took them long enough]).

Blogs can also be a good way of expressing yourself, instead of owning a diary, you could own a blog and let other people read how you feel about life in general.

What are the advantages of having a blog?

The advantages are many, though I will list and explain a few here.

Blogs are easier to write than an actual written diary. Some people find it easier to type their thoughts and opinions than write them down; they have the option of going back and deleting it. They also might consider typing less effort.

Blogs are also a good way to communicate with others; people can post anything they like, be it extremely political such as exposing corruption, or something related to the blogger themselves, such as their day at work or college.

Blogging is affordable, there are plenty of blog sites that allow free accounts with full access to features (Blogger for one [owned by Google]) and is accessible by anyone to create or read the blogs on that site.

Blogging holds much potential for making someone famous because of the way they write, what they write about, who they write about, and much more. This is a different form of becoming famous than the way people are used to seeing. Famous bloggers aren’t normally known outside the internet and it doesn’t hold much in the way of fortune, but it does gain respect for you.

A blog post is an entry to the blog, like an entry into your journal. Though any post may become a discussion and as mentioned before; anyone can read it. It can be a way of two-way news, allowing the reader to ask questions, express their opinions and spam [seriously.]

The dangers and disadvantages of Blogging.

There are many dangers and disadvantages to blogging, many of which can be avoided, some however, cannot. I’ll explain a few below.

Internet trolls and Identity trolls (two very different things the latter is which Sue, our tutor, confused with an internet troll).

An internet troll is a person who posts controversial/irrelevant posts to anything with the intention of getting a reaction from people. They generally want to disrupt and disturb other users of that community.

An identity troll is different, they attempt to gain information about a certain person and post it to various places. This can lead to defamation of the person (another danger of blogging) and may affect future job opportunities and offers (Employers are using the internet a lot more to search their employees/potential employee’s names)

Negative propaganda on that person may be created/posted which can also lead to defamation.

The bloggers code of conduct

The bloggers code of conduct is a proposal made by Tim O’Reilly for bloggers to use when owning a blog and when posting to it. This is pasted below (taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/).

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

Finding other blogs

Finding other blogs is easy with the use of blog search engines. These are easy to use and a good example of a blog search engine is Technorati.com. They index over 112 million blogs and finding one related to your interests is easy.

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