Where I am going.

This is the post I have been looking forward to the most. This is because I always think about ways to improve myself all the time. I think a lot in my mind and how I think I should improve myself. This is a perfect opportunity to review myself here in this post to think of what my plans and aspirations are. Also to identify what weaknesses I have. Then to have an action plan and stick to it for the next year and a half I am here.

I went into the course blind on what to do and how to action plan and spend my time correctly on the course. So far I believe that I do work a lot of time on my studies, but I lose concentration really easy. So my first target when I am doing I study is to concentrate more and make sure I complete the tasks in hand. I also have a lack of self belief and confidence in what I do. My plan to counteract that is to be relaxed and don’t over think the objective.

Looking forward to the future, I am looking forward to learning new skills and technologies that will arrive. I believe that using social media will benefit me in the long. Using it to its advantage can be beneficial to me to learn things quicker.

In the next five years I plan to become a competent web designer. Working for a company were I feel comfortable and enjoy the job I am doing. Money does not give me happiness, enjoying life to the full does. I have aspirations to have my own business and have flexible hours to enjoy some of life’s little luxuries. To get to work for a company, my plan would be to develop new skills and techniques from the time I am here. This would link with developing a personal high quality portfolio showing a wide range of skills and techniques.

I believe I need to become more professional whilst I am on this course. This should allow me to reach my target of working for a web design company in the future. To become more professional I believe that I have to take constructive criticism. I want to be enthusiastic in every aspect of the course. As I have already realised, all the time I have spent in class has had a meaning to it.

My goals and aspirations for the course are: 

• Continue to improve in all aspects of the course.
• To improve my English writing skills.
• To use social media to it’s fullest.
• Listen and get feedback. 

 Word Count: 442

Where am I now.

This is very interesting to me. It intrigues me to learn about where I am. I tried out a numerous amount of tools to assist me. I used a book that would allow me to determine my strengths and weaknesses. This was the Honey & Mumford book.

I completed this and I got my final results. I was wondering what an Activist learner is. Activist was the learning style that the book said that was where I had a Very Strong Preference. There is a section in the questionnaire booklet that described what an Activist learner is.

It was amazing to find that some of the aspects of an Activist learner are what I am like. It says the learner is willing to have a go. Well I am a person who is willing to have a go. So the book is correct on that feature. The mention of generating of lots of ideas is remarkable as I want to be a future web designer. I do love to experiment and try out new things.

The weaknesses are to a lack of attention to detail. Which I believe is a weak point of mine. It also points to do a thorough job, I have just realised that I do that. One thing I don’t agree about the weaknesses is a lack of practice. This is something I do all the time. Another weakness is struggling in lectures, which from the results I am now afraid of getting the right information from the lectures.

Basing on where I am on the article produced by Andy Rutledge on the employable web designer. He refers in his article that student’s that go into the industry after study lack fundamental skills. I believe that at the moment, I will learn these skills while I am a student. I do believe that I am nowhere near ready to work within the industry at the moment. He does mention that he thinks we need skills in public speaking, written communication and idea communication & support. I believe at the current time of writing this entry I have some of these skills, but they can be enhanced too.

I have enjoyed the team working activities they have been very interesting and have improved me as a team player in a team. I have also enjoyed the individual task to give me more confidence in what I am doing and having belief in myself.

My presentation skills at the moment are lacking in terms of confidence and a poor showing of my mannerisms, where I do things that I don’t realise I’m doing. Presenting seems to be important in the industry, especially with clients to show your ideas.

I believe at the moment I have good time management and communication skills. I do this by using different kinds of social media and creating my own professional email address. This has allowed me to be more professional and show that I’m willing to try out things that can benefit me in the future.

At the current time I am juggling between quite a few assignments. I find this a challenge necessary to help prepare us for work. I believe that I give enough of my time for my studies. I have a balanced structure, which is working for me at the moment.

The current assignments I am working on are Typography, Interface Design and Personal & Professional Development. This is going well; at the moment I am trying to understand these subjects to produce good assignment work. I have also got to do my referral for the Work-Related Learning. It is progressing really well and I have learned a lot about my credentials in that I can do a lot better. I have created a benchmark for myself to work towards and improve upon.

At the moment I have aspirations to be a good, quality web and graphic designer. I would also like to show my skills and expertise to other people and help the Internet to be much stronger than it is today. What I can reflect on at the moment is that there are different skills I need to develop, in order to become the best that I can be in web design.

Word Count: 706

Where have I come from.

I went to Mount Saint Mary’s Catholic High School in Leeds. I left there with 13 GCSE’s. I put a lot of effort into my studies. I got better than expected results in most of the subject’s I undertook. I then had a year at Leeds College of Technology which is now known as Leeds City College. I was doing an electrician course. After the first year, It just didn’t interest me at all.

I then looked at doing an IT course. It was my favourite subject in school. I wanted to get more skills in IT. I found the perfect course at Wakefield College. It was a BTEC National Diploma for IT practitioners. The course was great. It had eighteen units of different sections of IT. I thought to myself that, well there is different options I can look at. It also made me think. I could pursue one of these units at a higher level.

I got really into the web design unit. I like to be creative and learn new things all the time. My course tutor told me to have a look at the interactive media course done at Thorne’s. I took that advice. I wanted to know more about the course. I also applied to mainstream universities.

I then went for my interview with Steve. I found the interview great. Steve said the right information. Then he said to me, that we are changing the course to Web Design. I thought well that’s great for me, because that’s what I wanted to do. Success!

The fact that the course was only a tiny group. It would give me more support, if I needed it. The fact that the course was going to prepare me for employment made the decision much easier for me. That is the aim after University, is to get employed.

So I wanted to know how to get employed in the industry. I thought to myself; Great! I have sorted out where I wanted to go. Now to get the grades to get there. I got them. But I feel like I could have done more and got higher grades.

So when I finished the course. I reflected on how I did and my effort towards it. Then I drew up some targets for the web design course. They were what I wanted to achieve personally. I feel prepared and I’m eager to start. The summer has been a time for me to think. It has allowed me to try and approach the course in the right manner.

I am now ready. I have got everything Steve has asked us to get. I am now ready to go and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead.

Word Count: 454