I am currently studying ICT Betec National diploma at Bedford College and so far I think it is going very well. I have learnt about my personal skills using SWOT analysis which showed me how well I learn whether it is from visual, vocal, practical etc. This information was displayed on a graph showing which learning style I am best at. According to my results I learn well from visual and work best when I am working on my own. Working with this information I have found that I really am better at working on my own and I learn better from seeing things done and doing them myself rather than someone describing it to me. So far I think my progress this course has been good overall but I need to make sure I keep track of my work as I am finding myself finishing it at the last minute when it could have been completed the week before.
ICT Troubleshooting and repair
This subject is all about learning how to locate a fault in a computer by troubleshooting and then fixing the problem. This is useful because if I became an IT technician I would have to know how to find the problem with the computer and then fix it in the shortest time possible lowing possible system downtime. Last lesson our teacher had us work out what was wrong with the network on each of our computers, once I had located the problem and fixed it I had to configure a wireless network on my computer for every other computer in the room to connect to and send packet data between them. This was useful because I have had no experience in setting up such a large wireless network but I found it relatively easy because of the troubleshooting before.
Event driven programming
I have learned a variety of new skills in this lesson and all have been to do with core programming. I have learnt how to write programs in visual basic which is a program used by software developers for windows applications. So far this term I have made around 8 programs to build up my skills in how the program works. The last of which was a conversion program which allows the user to convert Celsius in Fahrenheit and vice versa. This was challenging because I had to use math in the source code so that it would give the correct conversion every time.
Controlling systems using IT
In this lesson I have been learning about all the different things a computer can be found in and sensors that make them function. Everything from an air conditioner to a car use a computer and sensors. For example cruise control in a car, This uses sensors to measure the speed, gradient and conditions around the car which are given to the computer in the car so that it can maintain the cars speed by adding more power or less to keep the speed exact.
Ccna Discovery
In ccna discovery I have been taught how to connect two computers together to transfer files and send messages between them. After this as a group the class connected all of the computers we were using together to create a network so that instead of two computers connected together there were over twenty. To do this I had to connect my pc to the network router were all the other computers were connected to via a crossover cable and then had to assign each computer its own ip address so that it can be identified and located over the network. These are very important skills which employers in large firms were large computer networks will be connected together to share information about the company and allow user to log In. After creating a network of computers in the classroom we used a program called apache which is a core program of the internet and is used to host over 90% of websites. I got the program running and created a simple html webpage which I have been learning to use in my web production lesson. The goal of this was to allow me to connect to the simple html page from any other computer on the network by typing in my computers ip into another computers web browser.
Communicated technologies
Is all about learning how signals can be sent and received between electronic devices. I have learnt about analogue and digital signals and what is different about them. At first I thought what has this got to do with ICT but my teacher showed us that every electronic device relies on these signals. Like a mobile phone for example, to send a message it uses electromagnet waves to transmit a message in binary which is received by the radio mast and sent to its destination. Using signals like this is the only way to send a message without delivering it myself.
Computer Systems
In computer systems I am being taught about what a computer needs to function and how it functions. For example a computer needs not only the hardware like motherboard and processor it needs an operating system to control and manipulate it to carry out tasks like moving a file. For this the operating system first needs to find the file then send it through the processor which then sends it to the hard drive to be written onto it.
Website production
I have learnt a lot of new skills in this lesson such as html and java which are the core of the internet. Every web page you see on the internet uses either java or html, sometimes both. Basically it is a guide for your computers web browser to create the web page into a visible and usable form. This saves on bandwidth because instead of a webpage being in the form of like an image which would use a lot of memory it can be converted into a small text document that isn’t very much memory. The browser receives this then using the code inside it builds the web page to what it should look like. In the lesson I have learn how to write html and use it to design web pages. Then using the java I have learnt I can add animated pictures, information panels and just about anything onto my webpage!
