When I first heard the idea of a self managed learning plan I thought it would be a nice relaxing assignment. If I’m the one setting the workload and the timescale then I can go at my own pace. I could not have been more wrong.

Due to my minimal previous knowledge of PHP and MySQL I decided that as oppose setting myself an easy target I would actually push myself to learn more complex parts of the language rather than the standard INCLUDE, IF and WHILE statements.

As part of this I set myself a creative brief of making a site which a photographer could log into to upload their own work to display to the world. As part of this I would also be required to build pages that were viewable by the public which had other options available should a person be “logged in”.

I think the targets I set myself at the start were realistic for me to attain.

The Learning Phase
My initial learning of PHP was quite long winded as I used the time to ensure the little pieces of the language I knew were correct. This was done by following the tutorials within my resources from the start instead of dropping into more advanced ones straight away.

Whilst I was going through the chapters of the PHP learning I didn’t move on until I fully understood the concept I was learning. At times this meant I would read over a chapter a number of times and this did become frustrating. The way I over came this was to drop in and out of my other assignment at the same time. I’m not sure how I would have managed this without my A9 assignment running alongside.

My choice of resources in the most, suited my learning style. They taught me real life application of the language instead of just showing the syntax in examples. I did find one of my chosen books quite difficult to understand and as such used my back up book that I had chosen incase of this sort of problem. I was pleased how I had allowed for a problem of this nature when choosing my resources. This is something I will need to do in the future also.

The majority the project I built was using techniques I had learned within the resources and then amending them to fit with my own needs. I think for the timescale involved in this project this was the only realistic way I could get the project together.

As part of my learning phase I also produced a blog/journal showing what I had learned and my weekly thoughts on how my plan was going. Using Wordpress to set up this site meant that I was indirectly learning how to use PHP in other ways from that which I had initially thought.

The Final Solution
The ideas generation stage of my final solution was definitely put on a back burner with this project. As I was more concerned by the learning of the languages I let this side of things slip and ended up with a design I was not overly happy with and hardly any real ideas development.

On the plus side though I can take the following things as positives from the assignment:

I have a basic knowledge of Wordpress as a website creation tool.
I have knowledge of PHP I did not have prior to this assignment.
I am familiar with MySQL databases, users and permissions.
I can use PHP to connect to a MySQL database to update, compare and display items within the database.

One disappointment I have with the assignment is that in the time I had I could not get the delete function of my website to work. This is something I will continue to look at until I am able to use this correctly.

The Crib Sheet
Initially I set myself the task of obtaining real life experience from web designers within the industry as to how they use PHP and MySQL. I sent out a number of emails to various different people within the industry. I was very disappointed that I only received one response I was able to use within my crib sheet. As such I made the decision to use the crib sheet to talk about my knowledge of the languages.

Overall
I feel for the first time I have truly been tested during this assignment and in places been found wanting. Although in some ways this does concern me, the fact it provides me with invaluable experience in a safe environment I can take this on board and learn for the future.
With regards to my initial targets I set myself I still think they were achievable and think that if I had looked at a broader range of resources I may have been able to make the delete function work within the site.

I think the digital work I have created is of a better standard than the paper based products. I also think that this digital work could have been improved with things I have completely left out in this assignment. Things such as SEO techniques and complete commenting within the code to clarify what does what.

Having this assignment as one of the first of the year has also given me the wake up shot that I needed to show me that this year is not going to be a smooth as I thought if I don’t put the effort in.

I think the PHP and MySQL I have learned as part of this is enough to establish me with solid skills in order for my ultimate goal of being employable within the industry at the end of the course.