Final PDP Update

These past few weeks i have been putting the final touches to my website i feel that i have achieved all of my targert and learnt even more than i stated in my personal development plan. i have learnt more whilst i have been doing my website as now i feel that i can link all of my pages together and add alt tags which is something that i couldnt do before. Also i have learnt lots about web architecture and components that is included in a web site and creating the website itself. i believe that by creating a personal development plan it has helped me keep on track and learn what i wanted to learn and even to push myself to do more than i orignially stated.

PDP Update 7

In our last few lessons I have been inserting information on to my web pages that we did in unit 2. I have started with all of the hardware components that we did in the table. Then I did my software utilities page and I included the newsletter that we did and this includes, virus protection, firewalls, disk formatting etc. I am well on my way to achieving my personal development plan and creating my website as I only have a few more pages to create then I just need to do is link them all together and add in my interactive elements.

PDP Update 6

Throughout the past few week I have been creating a website for in the know and I have just got to the stage where I have already created my buttons and my template on photoshop and I have sliced it up and created many folders to keep my buttons and banner in I did this to make sure my folder structure was good so I don't lose anything. I have now created a web page that is on the Internet however it is only available for me to see. This past week I have added some information that we did in unit two that includes software maintenance, software utilities and hardware components onto my different pages. My next step is to add images onto my website to make it look more appealing to view I has use the colour scheme purple white and black and my website is consistent with my house style.

Evaluation

So far in my personal development plan I have learnt all the different types of hardware components that I didn’t know before for example, the CPU this stands for "Central Processing Unit." This is the pretty much the brain of your computer. It processes everything from basic instructions to complex functions. Any time something needs to be computed, it gets sent to the CPU. The CPU can also be referred to simply as the "processor." This exercise has helped me to reach part of my PDP as I didn’t know any of them before and hardware components was one of my targets which I have now met. Another target that I set myself as part of my PDP is to learn software utilities and operating systems as I have never done this before. Throughout this unit I have learnt that different computers use different programs for example we have mountain lion, windows 8 and linux mint 14. I would say that all of these work well but for different people and different businesses. By learning this I am one step closer to meeting my targets that I set at the beginning of this unit. Finally we have moved onto website design and this was the last thing that we needed to do to finally achieve my Personal development  plan was to create a website and we have just started doing this so I am well onto achieving all my targets that I set and to meeting my personal development plan in the near future.

PDP Update 5

This week we have been focusing on website and making one of our own. So far we have made a template in Photoshop that shows us where banner, logo, navigation bar and main content are going to go. This will help us keep the consistency of our website the same throughout all of the pages that we will create. This is because if we didn’t then we would put things in slightly different places and this will make the website look unprofessional and all of the pages will jump from one to another and this is not appealing to the eye. We are creating a website as a final task to show what we have learnt as we have to include things like software and hardware etc. basically all the things that we have learnt in unit 1 will be shown in this website. Therefore this will help me to finally reach my personal development plan targets and even though I haven’t set any for website I now realise that one of them would be to become more familiar with Photoshop as I haven’t really used it before but now I am getting more and more confident with it.   

PDP Update 4

This week we have been working on web architecture and different components that work or that are needed to make the internet work and accessible. We learnt that Web architecture includes Internet Service Providers (ISP); web hosting services; domain structure; domain name registrars; worldwide web. Also we found out that components include hardware e.g. web, mail and proxy servers; routers; software e.g. browser, email; Protocols: transport and addressing e.g. TCP/IP; application layer e.g. HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP and finally that web functionality consists of Web 2.0; blogs; online applications; cloud computing. By learning all of these this helps me toward my personal development plan as I know a lot about how the computer works including hardware and software and now web functionality.

PDP Update 3

In today’s lesson we learnt all about software components for a computer and the different types of operating systems that are available for all different computers. These include mountain lion, windows 8 and linux mint 14. We also learn that all these operating systems do different things. For example mountain lion software is for computers that are from apple for example, apple macs and mac book pros etc. iCloud is how a Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch work together.1 It keeps your mail, calendars, contacts, reminders, documents, notes and more up to date wherever you use them. Also you can now send messages to ipod touches macs, iphones and more because of iOS 5 and there is many apps that you can use like facebook, twitter, safari and many many more. There is also many built in features like garage band and more. By doing this I now know understand what the different types of operating systems that computers have this will help me to achieve my personal development plan.

PDP Update 2

This week we started off by finishing our components table then we got into groups and we talked about what we were going to do when we took the computer apart. After this we took out the components out that we were doing, I took out the cd –rom and I was just planning on to talk about the motherboard. Aiden took out the sound card and the video card followed by Alex who took out the floppy disk drive and who was just going to talk about the CPU. Finally Robert took out the two sticks of ram. We then went into another room to record ourselves putting the computer back together while explain what each of the components do.

PDP Update

Following my personal develop plan and what I want to achieve by the end of this unit. This week commencing 14/1/13 I am well on my way to achieving this as we have already listed and learnt about all of the components in and for a computer for example I learn that what a CPU is and what the motherboard does and the motherboard is the main circuit board of your computer and is also known as the main board or logic board. Each motherboard has a collection of chips and controllers known as the chipset. When new motherboards are developed, they often use new chipsets. The good news is that these boards are typically more efficient and faster than their predecessors. The bad news is that older components often do not work with new chipsets. Of course, if you are planning on upgrading multiple components, it may be more cost-effective to just buy a new computer. This shows how much I have learnt just in this first week. Hopefully next week we will start to take a computer apart ourselves and have a really good look at all the components.

PDP

Personal Development Plan Overview

Task 1 >

You are looking for a job in the IT industry and have joined ITK with a view to them helping you to succeed in finding the perfect occupation. ITK have indicated that there has been an employment boom in the web design and computer systems industries recently and feel that one of these occupations could be the way forward to meeting your long term aspirations.

Create a personal development plan based on the ‘Key Requirements’ document that ITK has given you. Your development plan must include:

·         A breakdown of your current strengths and weaknesses in both disciplines

·         A statement of your aspirations, education and training

·         An action plan with clear goals that will help you reach your target

Grading Criteria: P7 – Produce a personal development plan

Useful Information:
The following table outlines the skills that are necessary to succeeded in the web design and computer systems industries and will be covered during the remainder of year 12.

Computer Systems (Unit 2)	Website Production (Unit 28)
Knowledge of Computer Hardware Components	Knowledge of web architecture and components which enable internet and web functionality
Knowledge of Operating Systems	Knowledge of user side and server side factors that can influence website usability
Knowledge of Software Utilities	Knowledge of security risks and protection mechanisms that can effect website performance
Knowledge of Installing Hardware/Software Components	Ability to create a consistent website that meets a client’s needs, including: 1.      Text/Images 2.      Templates 3.      Interactive Objects 4.      Importing of different media
	Ability to design a website that meets client’s needs.

Time Plan:

Unit 2	Term 2 (7/01/2013 – 28/03/2013)
Unit 28	Term 3 (25/02/2013 – 24/05/2013)

Move onto next page for P7, P8 and D2 criteria

P7 – Creating a Personal Development Plan

Activity:

Based on the Task 1 scenario (Previous page) you must now create your own PDP that will be later uploaded to a blog and followed for the remainder of the year.

A - PDP

1.    Establish Purpose/Direction

Based on the ‘useful information’ section on the previous page describe what your main strengths are and what areas you think need to be developed for each discipline. Remember that you must justify each of your strengths against your past experiences and training.

Computer Systems (Unit 2)
Strengths	Possible Areas to Develop
Using windows 7 software e.g. Microsoft word etc… Using apple software Experience with adobe software e.g. flash, Photoshop and fireworks	Need experience in building computers Need to find out what utilities software’s have Need to find out how operating systems work

Website Production (Unit 28)
Strengths	Possible Areas to Develop
Using adobe software like Dreamweaver Previous experience of creating a website.

2.    Identify Your Development Needs

Outline which of the highlighted development areas will be your priority (e.g. which are you main weaknesses) and justify why you have chosen them (e.g. knowledge of building a computer – never had the opportunity to build a standalone computer).

Priority 1	I need experience in building computers because I have never done it before.
Priority 2	I need to find out what utilities software’s have because I haven’t learnt this before.
Priority 3	I need to find out how operating systems work because I don’t know how they function.
Priority 4
Priority 5
Priority 6

3.      Development Opportunities

Explain how you hope to improve the skills that you have highlighted. What resources/opportunities will be at your disposal (e.g. lesson time, online tutorials?)

I hope that throughout the course of this unit on computers I will learn all of the different components of computers and what they do for a computer. I will also like to take a computer apart and put it back together again using online tutorials and lesson time to do this.

4.      Formulate Action Plan – Set Targets

Create a set of SMART targets based on your identified needs from the previous section.

Target 1	Research all the components of a computer
Target 2	Look into a computer and learn how they operate
Target 3	Take a computer apart and re build it again
Target 4
Target 5
Target 6

B - Blogger

Create a blogger account called “<<Your Name>> Btec Level 3 Unit 1 PDP” and enter the details below so that you don’t forget your credentials.

User Name	Hollyfraser96
Password	*************
Blogger Address	http://hollyfraserbteclevel3unit1pdp.blogspot.com/