Evaluation

As an overall statement, I'd say that the Self Managed Leaning Plan has been a really valuable exercise. It has provided an opportunity not just to learn a new skill, but also develop techniques and methodology for teaching myself crucial abilities.

The reason I decided to learn PHP throughout this time is simply the demand for it in industry. My research prior to the beginning the SMLP showed that a large number of jobs in the web design industry require applicants to have a knowledge of PHP. This was backed up by my research in the assignment I wrote as part of my SMLP. As such, I concluded it was a skill I needed to develop in order to make myself more employable.

As I had no previous experience, the aim I set for myself was to learn 'introductory PHP'. I felt this was a attainable goal in the time we had, and would give me a great platform to extend my knowledge in the future. Looking back now, I feel I have met the target of learning introductory PHP, and maybe gone a little further into more complex functionality.

I tried a few different methods of learning during the SMLP. My first approach was to use books to learn the basics - my first choice being SAMs PHP in 24 Hours. This approach was great for me, and a technique that I have used in the past for learning XHTML/CSS. However, this method became a little frustrating after a couple of weeks as I began to feel that despite learning the theories and techniques used, I wasn't putting them into action.

As I became frustrated with not creating any functioning PHP, I decided to undertake a different approach, and used a more proactive methodology. I began to develop the relevant functions needed in order to create the website I would be building in my creative brief. I found this to be much more fruitful, as I began to understand how the language actually works in practice - reading about it is one thing, but using it in a real situation is completely different.

Part of the learning process was to record what I was learning. Whilst this is necessary for evidencing what I'd done for assessment, it became a little frustrating, as it seemed to detract from my concentration on the actual learning. However, as it was necessary I got on with it, and I feel that it effectively records what I've done over the weeks.

As mentioned previously, including some real life experience whilst learning is important in understanding how PHP works. I therefore acquired a client for the creative brief part of the assignment, my former colleague Dan Cooper. Dan is a graphic designer and wanted an online portfolio to display his work. Learning through actively building a live and professional site proved to be challenging, but very rewarding. I felt this put me under pressure, and gave an edge to the project as I needed to ensure my work was done well and that it reflects kindly on me and my skills.

An interesting aspect of the creative brief was working with Dan to design the website together. As Dan is a designer himself, the ideas generation was more of a collaboration than I am used to, with ideas being put together to develop the site. This led to a very different ideas generation process than usual, with the full development being done in the course of one meeting on an evening.

A problem with this method of ideas generation is that it could be perceived as contradicting my SMLP learning objective, which is termed 'use a full ideas generation process'. As the development was done in one evening, with limited sketching, some could argue that the full process was not used. However, I would argue that a full process was used. Dan came with set ideas, and these were then developed to be relevant for the web using my knowledge. The fact that a final product was created and that it is of a good standard is testament to a full process being used. Working with another designer has proved a very valuable experience in used collaborative and communication skills, as well as showing how a process can be used between two people successfully.

Overall, I feel that I have succeeded in meeting my SMLP. Firstly, I have met the first learning objective of producing an essay on the use of PHP in the interactive media industry- which has proved to be a useful insight as to why developed skills with PHP could prove crucial in securing myself a job after completing the course.

I have managed to get an understanding of PHP: it's capabilities, it's limits, it's structure, it's semantics. I have also begun to get a foothold in being able to develop my own PHP functions, creating an image upload, gallery, and delete function, as well as a contact form with PHP validation function.

The creative brief has been a success, with Dan very happy with the results. The website complies with relevant W3C standards, and uses a number of PHP functions in order to operate. Whilst the design isn't something I'd necessarily go for myself, it meets Dan's needs and comes from his own ideas. On the whole, I believe the site meets professional standards in terms of technicality.

I have also met the fourth and final learning objective by entering an evaluative post on my SMLP blog each week, as well as posting this final summative evaluation. I feel this has been beneficial throughout in pointing out where I needed to change my learning methodology and adapt different techniques in order to effectively meet my learning objectives.

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