Friday

Today we started off the day with creating some PowerPoints. We had two different scenarios that we had to work out and one group would present at the end. We were put into groups and there was a set group leader. In my group I was the group leader. I was quite nervous about that because I am not good with being a group leader. In the end I think it went well when Adam came and helped a little bit with the organisation. This was to help us with assignment three task two and to help us understand it more.

After that we moved onto assignment work. There was an option to either do assignment two or assignment three so I went with assignment two. I had not started task one of assignment two so I wanted to work on that. In the end I managed to nearly finish it. I only have to explain one more part and I will be done with task one. That should not take long to finish off so I can do that other the weekend ready to submit on Monday.

We also had the quiz today. This was made by Adam and it was about the different generations such as 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G. I got the massive grand total of 3/10 however I was not last. Brandon only got 2/10 so I managed to just miss making the quiz next week.

Thursday

Today we started off with a crossword puzzle. This was about communication technology and we had to find all of the words. The first person who found all the words won a prize. In the end Adam won the the crossword. This was a good way of recapping on all the different keywords and it does help remember the keywords.

Then we moved onto looking at different guides to help us with assignment three. I looked at a guide by Wikihow and I liked it because it was clearly laid out and it had pictures to explain each step. It also had a handy tips and warnings section at the bottom. This helped me design my step by step guides and I am now more confident when I start to design the guides.

After that we moved on to assignment three. This is the last assignment in the unit and this one is about writing different guides. The three guides are a Skype guide, connecting to Wi-Fi guide and connecting a device to Bluetooth. I started to work on the Skype guide and I have nearly finished it.

Tuesday - Assignment 2

We started off today with a little game of charades on our phones. The aim of the game was to guess what we had (we had to put our phones on our fore heads so we did not know what we had). This task was to improve our descriptive language when explaining things. I found this quite a fun activity and it does help you improve your descriptive language.

After that Adam moved onto explaining assignment two task two. This task was about transmission technologies. I found it quite interesting and I do understand all of the different transmission methods and communication methods. I made notes from the PowerPoint and Adam also sent us the PowerPoint so I found that quite helpful so I could look back on my notes and the PowerPoint if I got stuck or needed some information.

For the rest of the day we worked on task two. My aim was  to get as much as I could get done. I started off writing down one limitation and one strength of each of the methods so I could get down my initial idea. After that I moved onto giving an example of explaining each of the methods done. I had some time left so I wrote a couple more advantages and disadvantages in different methods.

Tomorrow I will aim to finish off the strengths and limitations. This will leave me to finish off explaining why the methods are good and I will need to explain the different communication methods.

Monday - Submission day

We started off today hearing about an event called Creative Futures event. This is a careers event where we can learn about different careers. I think this will be quite interesting learning about the different careers that are out there. I selected games design and animation as I am quite interested in these areas but I am not sure yet.

After that we cracked on with our work. I have nearly finished so I will be finishing it off tonight. All I have left is four parts of section seven on task two and I am done. I did not want to go for the distinction as I did feel too confident with it.

I am happy with my progress today and I am excited for learning about assignment two. I will finish off assignment one today and I will proof read it all before I send it off.

Friday

We started off the day with a little countdown game. This included numbers and letters. I managed to get two off in the numbers game and in the letters I managed to get a five letter word. After lunch we also played the binary game however I score was lower the second time we played it.

Most of the day John was explaining about assignment two. This seems simpler than assignment one but it is still a little bit confusing. We were learning about the different signals and how they can be converted. It is quite interesting as I have never looked at it before. I am pretty confident with assignment two so far so I do not think I will struggle much.

After John had finished teaching us we moved onto work. I managed to nearly finish off access methods. I will finish off the rest of the work by the end of the weekend and I will submit it Monday. I will proof read all of my blogs to double check that they are right.

Thursday

Today we started off the day with the quiz. This time it was created by Danny and it was about CSMA. This quiz was more knowledge base so it was different compared to other quizzes. I managed to get 7/11 so I was pleased with that. Adam is making the quiz next week so it will be interesting to see what it will be like.

I managed to finish most of my work today. I started off finishing the network topoligies so I moved onto network software. I did quite confused on the network topoligies but in the end I managed to finish it. I did not get as confused on network software but I managed to finish that off. I started access methods but I have not got too far with it so my goal for tomorrow is to finish it off. 

I am happy with my progress today and I will try to finish all of task two by the end of the weekend. 

Tuesday

Today we were mainly working on assignment one task two. I have managed to progress quite far with it today and I am happy with all of my progress. I started off finishing off assignment one task one. I did not have much to do so I did finish it off quite fast. I have also finished the networks and I have moved onto network topologies.

Adam also started to teach us assignment two. We were learning about how information is checked when it is sent. This is called error detection / correcting. It was quite confusing at the start but in the end I managed to work it out. I also made notes about it so when we start assignment two I can refer back to my notes and I would be able to understand about it.

I have done two of the five network topologies and I am pleased with how much I have got through today. Network topologies are quite confusing for me but in the end I have worked out how they work and I am more confident with them now. The diagrams I find help me understand more about the topologies so it useful.

Monday

We started off the day preparing to make a PowerPoint about the group activity we did yesterday. We were all assigned a different network service and we had to explain what it is, the benefits and limitations and where it is used. I am not too good with doing presentations but I think it went well. Adam asked us to write a SMART target about what we could improve. My target was to not read off the board so much.

After that we worked on assignment one. I had to change one of the network services as it was wrong. Most people had got it wrong so I managed to fix it. I also worked on task one that I have nearly finished. All I need to is finish off server and then it will be finished.

In the afternoon John was back again to talk about more assignment one task two. This time John was talking about protocols and packets and many other stuff. It is quite confusing but I do understand it now. John explains it clearly and we can make notes what is helpful.

Friday

Today we had Adam for the first two lessons and John for the third lesson. With Adam we did a group activity for task two. We were doing all the different network services what are quite confusing. In our groups we had to research Packet Switched, ISDN, Wireless Access Protocol and broadband. We had to find out about what it is, the benefits and the limitations. I was researching the Packet Switched. It is quite interesting learning about all of the different network services.

We also watched a video looking at Bletchley Park and how they were cracking pieces of code. This video was quite interesting showing about how they worked together and cracked code. It is quite interesting seeing the past and how they worked back then compared to now.

After lunch we had John who was talking various things for task two. Today he talked about network software, access methods and communication and protocols. This was quite confusing however once John explained it I did understand it better. I made notes throughout the PowerPoint so if I get confused I can easily go check my notes to help me.


Here are the answers to the questions:

Name two top level protocols on TCP/IP?

HTTP, HTTPS

How many layers does the OSI model have?

7

How many layers does the TCP/IP model have?

4

What does IP stand for?

Internet protocol 

New unit!

Today we started a new unit. The unit we have started is called communications technology. I have hardly done a lot about this so what I am learning is all new to me. So far it has been quite an interesting unit and I have enjoyed it today. It is with Adam so the lessons are interactive what is quite fun as it makes learning easier.

We have been working on assignment one task one and some people have been working on task two as well if they have finished task one. I have nearly finished task one so I will aim to finish that off tomorrow. I did find task one quite confusing at the start but in the end I managed to work it out. 

Adam used a good example when explaining task two. Task two is about networks and he did an activity to demonstrate all of the different types of topologies. I found this quite helpful and it helped me with task two. I am more confident with task two now so I should not get too stuck with it.

Overall I am happy with what I have learnt today and  I cannot wait to learn more tomorrow. It is quite a confusing unit.

Last day of games design

Today was our last day doing game design so I had to finish my game manual and my technical document. I managed to finish it just before study time so I sent it off ready to be marked. I have enjoyed the game design unit but it did not beat my favourite unit we have done (programming).

I first started off working on my game manual. I had four pages to do so it did not take too long. I managed to finish off the game manual just after lunch so I could work on my technical manual.

 I got a little confused on the technical manual but Danny showed me his and explained what we had to do so that was very helpful. I worked on the technical manual and I think I have done what is needed for the task. I was a little unsure on the structures but I gave it a go anyway.

I am happy with the progress I made today and I am looking forward to the new unit. I hope I will learn some more information that can improve my IT skills. 

Work submitted!

Today's main aim was to start the manuals for our games and to finish our personal development plan as that needs to be submitted today. We first started off writing about our personal development plan. We had to write a report about it and say what we did and what we can improve. I managed to finish that just before break.

After break some people (including me) moved onto designing our game manual. I have been making my game manual in Photoshop as I prefer it to Publisher. I have made 3 pages and I am half way through my 4th page. I will be finishing off my manual tomorrow morning so I can work on the next part of the unit.

I am happy with my progress today and hopefully tomorrow I can finish the rest of the unit off.

Testing the game

Today I was working assignment three. There is two tasks for assignment three. The first one is getting some screenshots in game and annotating it and the second task is the testing and getting feedback. I also had to write about black box and white box testing that I have not finished. I will be working on that tonight and I will be sending it off.

I first started on working on the screenshots so I could annotate them. I managed to finish them just after lunch so I started to work on my testing document. I tested the main parts of each of my levels to find out of they worked. I did the same test twice so I could check if they work. I had one issue with the player spawning in a random place so I fixed it quite easily.

I am happy with what I have done today and I will finish off the work when I get home.

Finished game!

My main aim for today was to finish my game. I managed to finish my game just after lunch as there was a few little bugs I had left. One of these bugs were how the enemies were getting stuck again. I fixed this simply by adding some more collisions to bounce back. I managed to add a message at the end to say that you won. It also sends you back to the start menu if you want to play again.

Then I moved onto commenting on the screenshots. I managed to write about two of them so I still have a couple left. I wrote about the buttons and the main character so I still have the items and the enemies left. I also started to work on the test document however I worked more the screenshots. I wanted to lay out the test document so I could work on it tomorrow.

Overall I am happy with my progress today and I will aim to finish off the work tomorrow ready to be submitted.

First day back

We are back from the Christmas break and we were mainly working on our game. The Christmas break was nice and it was good to have a little break from college. Today I have worked on designing more of my game and I will finish it off on Thursday.

I started working on level two as I had only just started that. I had my specification open to follow my design for the levels. This made it easier to work out how I was going to plan out my levels. I had a couple of issues with my levels such as the enemies were not bouncing back when they went into a wall. I managed to fix this by adding invisible blocks for the enemies to bounce on.

In the end I managed to get to level three and I will be finishing it off on Monday. All I need to do is add in the items to collect and test all of the levels. I think I could have a few bugs with the enemies but they can be easily fixed.

P.S. I forgot to post this on Tuesday so I'm posting it now (I wrote it on Tuesday).