Term 2 update

I have just had my meeting with Judy and Greg (my 2nd reader). I will pick up the feedback form on thursday.

I missed a meeting with Judy today, due to work.

Once I have the feedback forms I can get cracking with creating a prototype of the system. This was meant to be done over xmas but I had personal things to deal with and wasn’t really in a work mood (or in the country).

Will meet with Judy next week and hopefully have some more progress to show her.

Draft of deliverable 1

I said I would get a draft of my deliverable 1 to Judy by tomorrow. All is looking on course. Just got to update my literary review. I will get it emailed off tonight or tomorrow.

Otherwise I have been working on a group project for one of my modules. We finished that on wednesday.

Ive also been revising for my exams since I have two this term.

Progress

I have been struggling to come up with a concrete set of system requirements. I spoke to my teacher contact about what she would like to see (to get more indepth than the previous interview).

I have also drawn simple diagrams to try to imagine what the system will look like and to help me see it from a users point of view. I sent this to my teacher contact and she seemed happy with it. The idea is now cemented in my head and I need to get cracking with my prototype once my copy of flash appears (thanks royal mail).

I have started work on my  reading list and will be adding to it as I go along.

I have sent a list of requirements to Judy to see what see thinks. Hopefully she finds them useful and I can finalise them.

Requirement specs

I am meeting Judy tomorrow to discuss my requirements spec. So far I have around 3 pages but I want to make sure im on the right track before I do much more.

Discovered im not as good as I thought I was at illustrator but all my failed attempts will be  included in an appendix in my submission. Also discovered I have left my copy of flash at home but am having it sent to me so I can finally get cracking once my illustrator skills are up to scratch.

Still no word on my police check, although I think I may have applied for the wrong kind. I will get in contact with my teacher contact to make sure.

Slowly

Ive been ill most of the weekend and felt awful again today. I have however been making slow progress on my requirements spec.

It will be finished for wednesday so if I can arrange a meeting with Judy I will be able to get her to check my work. I have also being playing with illustrator to try and remember how to use it. Will email Judy tonight or tomorrow to try to arrange a meeting on wednesday since I will be at the class reps meeting anyway on wednesday

Second meeting with Judy

Met with Judy again today to discuss my findings from my initial research.

We found that my requirements specification has been made clearer by my research, also that I have now decided on a target age group of 5-8 year olds. Also we discussed the use of interactive whiteboads and the use of sound and animation in my project.

Finally we wrote a simple list of tasks still to complete for my first deliverable. Including creating my requirements spec and beginning work on the initial prototype.

Re-Learning Flash

It has been a while since I used flash for anything. I have access to numerous e-books on the topic of flash creation and began reading and re-familiarizing myself with the program.

After my first meeting with Judy we both thought that having a basic prototype ready before the Christmas holidays would be useful as I could test the prototype over the holidays and also receive feedback from the children via my observation and discussions.

I will begin work on the prototype in the coming week. I will also arrange another meeting with Judy to discuss the information that my contact provided.

Meeting my source at school

I sent Judy a list of questions that I thought would be appropriate and helpful to ask my contact at the primary school. She suggested a few small changes which were also useful.

I visited my contact twice during the week of 22nd – 26th of October. In the first meeting my contact answered my questions very well and gave in depth answers. In the second meeting she provided me with very useful information on teaching young children, also supplying me with publications from the DFEE (Department for education and employment). These are the national literacy strategy’s, including poetry for primary school students in England.

Also we discussed how my contact in particular teaches children. It became apparent that teaching is now much more interactive and in this particular school there is large use of interactive whiteboards. This is something I hadn’t thought about before and could be an interesting point. Also brought up was the use of sound when dealing with poetry my contact believes being able to hear the words reinforces learning. The use of sound had occurred to me but I have never used full speech in flash before.

Initial Progress

Following choosing to do a project based on magnetic poetry as a learning tool I arranged a meeting with my supervisor, Judy Robertson.

I have had my first meeting with Judy Robertson, on Friday 15th of October.

We discussed my thoughts on the project, and what I had done so far. I explained my initial ideas for the development of the project for example what technology I was going to use to complete the project.

I also explained that I was going to meet a primary school teacher that would gladly answer any questions that I had and provide me with more detail on teaching young children and their access to poetry.

Dissertation Blog

I will be using this as a diary for the progress of my final year dissertation.

I will post the progress of my work, problems and successes and the reading and meetings involved.