New Unit - U03 Information Systems! + Sidekick Reflection Maths!

Aim: Introduce Unit 03 and discuss different types of information.
Objectives:

*Listen to the unit introduction.
*Complete the pre-survey quiz and copy the folder structure.
*Complete the big data quiz and try to gain the dual screens.
*Define the terms ‘information’ and ‘data’.
*Contribute to the four different sources of information.
*Discuss the different types of data.

Aim: Discuss different properties of information and write about suitable examples.
Objectives:

*Discuss different aspects of information.
*Some will work collaboratively to define a given term.
*Apply the required terms to assignment examples.
*Explain how information can be good.

Hello!

When I came to college today, I firstly completed the unit survey for the new unit with Adam: U03 Information Systems. I then copied the folder structure for preparation and Adam gave his small introductory to the unit as a whole. We also had a quiz about information. In the end, around four people got the lowest score of 7, including myself. After hard decisions, I have been picked to make a Kahoot quiz for 14th April. I will make sure it is worthy of challenge.

Adam started the day off by telling us to write down the different definitions of information types on the whiteboards and how it is applicable and its examples. Since I have studied these in the past, I found them generally easier and this was a strength. We then had a good amount of time to start the first task of the assignment where we had to explain the information types and link it to the hypothetical examples provided and how the information types will relate and affect it.

After the first break, we moved onto learning the different characteristics that makes information good. In this task the class was paired up and had to create a mind map about each different characteristic (11 terms in total). Since my partner Chris was not here, I worked alone and had the word 'sufficiently accurate'. I found this relatively easy and even spent the second break furthering my mind map. At the end, we all presented them and I made notes - this is very useful and less dull. My weakness was struggling to link my terminology to the hypothetical example but in the end I was able to.

An inspiration today would be about my past experiences as I have paid good attention in Business GCSE - I am able to reuse what I have learnt and reapply it in college. Furthermore, I believe that understanding about to analyse and interpret data will also help develop entrepreneurship. This links with the book I am reading about Game Producer's Handbook!

To reflect, today has been a great start to the unit. Many people find it boring but I find it decent. I will work on any outstanding work over the break and hit my SMART target of remaining succinct yet informative. I will also be having a Learner Forums chat with Adam and the other representatives about the End of Year Show after college.

Aims and Objectives from Emily:
*All learners to have complete the assignment to a pass.
*Recognise the difference between reliability and validity.
*Identify key elements of a reflection.
*Provide useful feedback on another study.

As I have been working on my assignments throughout the time off, I have gotten my work completed to a pass and merit, therefore I worked on the distinction for the rest of the day. I used the structure Emily gave and started typing away. In the end, I have reflected on my project but not on another, yet. I will therefore work at home and submit this as today is the submission date.

Easter holiday begins now!

Review Week: Maths

Hello!

I am currently in review week, where students only come into college if they have outstanding work. In this case, today I came in to work on Maths as there were particular things I've missed and some additional work I needed to do.

For the first half of the day, Emily re-explained the recursive algorithm step by step and made sure we included everything. This includes structure, conclusion, layout and content. I found this very informing, helpful and I enjoy being taught extra if necessary (such as today). Although it was difficult to understand the parts I had missed out, in the end I managed to resubmit U26_A2T2. This was a weakness and strength.

In addition to this, I got lost part way and could not link my standard deviation (for secondary data Maths test score) against the histogram and required help. Emily helped me quickly and I cracked on with work with the rest of the time we had. By the end of the day, I have managed to complete U26_A4T2 too.

To reflect, it has been a beneficial day. My goals and self objectives throughout the break is to proof read and add anything I missed out for U26_A4T2 as the assignment is due in next week (along with U26_A4T3). Furthermore, I will be continuing on working on self projects such as my new game concept and its art. 

I will be in next week as a full day because we will be beginning the next unit with Adam and Emily's maths! However, it will then be a Good Friday followed by Easter, therefore that's 2 weeks off, again. Oh well.

See you in a week!

Student Finances & Standard Deviation!

Aims and Objectives from Emily: 

*Make valid observations about your results.
*Graphically display your results and use calculations to support your observations.
*Be able to evaluate the limitations of your data.

Coming into college as half day only, I instantly sat down for Catherine's Student Finance talk. This talk has been very informative on my next steps and as for the future. I firstly identified how much my parents earn annually and then used the calculator provided on the website to see how much I can loan out. With Norwich University of the Arts confirmed as my firm choice, I am able to stay at home for the first year to not only save money but also find new colleagues to move with for the second year forth (if I do). I also learnt about bursaries and scholarship, which I will not be eligible for but that is ok! Soon, I will set up an account at Student Finance England and begin the process. I have discussed this with Catherine and parents for a good guide/plan.

We then had Emily for the remaining half of the day. There, she covered what to do for U26_A4T2. This was all about how we represent and interpret our data. I have been doing this for the past week at home, therefore I am half way through (quite ahead) and understand reasonably well of what needs to be done. However, she retaught the class Standard Deviation which is the mean of the mean, to help work out the spread from the average of the secondary data's results. The purpose of this is to help further prove or disapprove my hypothesis with analytical evidence. After today, I understand what to do now.

Moreover, I brought my portfolio in and Adam took a picture of me for the CEIAG Newsletter, followed by a short story containing my quote, his thoughts and other comments from Norwich University of the Arts. I am happy to share it when it is released. Big thanks to the editor, Jo.

Since I have completed U29 incredibly early with a few other peers, I have permission to not come in on unimportant days (which I have been doing for the past week). However, I will be off from today to near-end of March as it is review week and upcoming Easter. The only days I will/might come to Develop is every Thursday for Maths. 

Today has been very productive once again, see you soon!

Binary, Decimal, Hexadecimal & ASCII etc.

Aim: To install and upgrade software.
        To understand the handover and completion process.
        To understand numbering systems.

Objectives:
*To create user guides to explain back ups, upgrading and installing and back-out procedures.
*To explain the user acceptance process.
*To understand and answer questions on numbering systems.

Hello!

Despite that U29 is still ongoing for other surrounding peers, I have completed this a while ago and only came in to sit through the recap pitch talk John gave later, this is in regards to future units ahead.

The traffic was horrible therefore I arrived later but of course, I have no work outstanding. I spent some time looking at NUA's accommodation and I read about their FLINT magazine they sent to be via post. This is all about the latest issues in regards to NUA. One part in particular that interested me was the student life about accommodation. 

For an hour or two, John went over binary, decimals, hexadecimal, ASCII and more. Using whiteboards, we were converting code around and learning the process of how and why. This is extremely useful for future units where we will be building robots! However, my memory will not be as good, although John did send this link which is a good read through.

For the remaining part of the day, I got ahead with Maths and started to write about the results and trends I discovered about the primary and secondary data. 

Edit: 

I will be having the student fees and finance talk by Catherine on Thursday lunch instead of a Friday as on Friday, the majority of the class would not be coming in due to the completion of the current unit and are awaiting for the next.

Over the independent study time, I will get my Maths U26_A4T2 advanced to a good position and further research about other competitions I would like to enter.

Variational Day!

Hello!

Returning into college, Zoë recapped U29_A2 for those who have resubmissions against it. This was all about potential risks and minimising the risks of installing/upgrading software. Over the period of my independent study time, I acheived all the crtierias for my U29_A2 resubmission - thank you Zoë! The weekly Thursday quiz has also been postponed to Friday as we had the Monday quiz relatively early. The quizzes seem to be alternating between the last two week days now.

With little work to do, Zoë resent me U29_A1 (minor corrections), U29_A3 (minor corrections) and U29_A4 resubmission. I made all the necessary chances applicable to the assignments and resubmitted U29_A4 only. For the rest of the marked documents, I created a submission folder in the submitted area and created an organised folder directory. In addition to this, Zoë sent me the observation form for the practical/installation processes and thus I filled in the Scheme of Assessment for this unit.

Making myself a little more occupied, I tidied my computer desktop and filled in the end of unit survey. In summary, this unit has been relatively easy, quick and simple yet informative and beneficial. This is because in the future if I work in the games design industry, being able to understand the procedures I can do and take such as data integrity before installing relevant software will be a useful knowledge. The strengths of today is being able to complete all required tasks. My inspiration is Zoë again because she is very intellectual around this field.

For the remaining part of the day, I did some drawing on demons to further practice my fictional character designing skills until we move over to Emily's maths session after Lunch. I am also currently drawing a portrait for this weekend's mother day gift. I am also considering to enter the BAFTA 2016 competition again but instead of Game Making, it will be Game Concept as I would like to try and come up with a game idea and visualise it using art. I will be researching about this.

Objectives from Emily:

*All will have written their project proposal and plan.
*All will have a document displaying the raw data they collected.
*All will have created graphs presenting their results.
*Some will have started writing up their results.

Today we began creating and interpreting the data we gathered a few weeks ago and plotting them into graphs. For me, I created a pie chart and a column bar chart about my questionnaire which will help my hypothesis. Next, I created a histogram, stem and leave diagram and box and whisker diagram as secondary data to help test my hypothesis. We were also taught standard deviation which is the mean of the mean and will be beneficial for our histogram explanations - I will be doing this next week. My outstanding work is to explain the different graphs I have created for my U26_A4T2 and go over my histogram graph in pen for a higher quality image. Today has been really productive but the hardest part was standard deviation.