Conceptually I have increased my understanding of many concepts because of how necessary it was to comprehend my code and how dependent I was on code inspiration from the internet. This meant that I needed to have a deeper understanding of every function I forked, every line of css that I utilized, & even the bootstrap references I utilized to create my website. I think the most valuable yet underrated aspect of this project is how customizable and free-standing the project content was in terms of what I could design my website to look like and what not. This allowed me to be slightly less focused on certain aspects of the website that weren’t necessarily detrimental to the grade in comparison to other requirements such as the rows needing to be generated in a for loop and called from a separate json file.
I need to be able to create code from scratch much more easily and efficiently. I think that one thing I am struggling with is starting a project from the ground up without any “handicaps” or starter guides. I think it was an excessive crutch that I depended on heavily. This ultimately led me to creating a subpar project in the end that I was simply following instructions of a box rather than “baking” from my own skills.
I wish that I could say this holistically, but as the WODs got more in-depth and the instructions ended up being more vague, it was easy to fall into a slump that I felt like I could never recover from. This ultimately led me to watching the screencasts, if any, for the latter half of the WOD assignments as it was a great way to pace and see where I was in terms of knowledge required for the WOD in comparison to the screencast. It helped me to pinpoint what modules I was weaker at and it ultimately showed later down the line in this Assignment1.
The labs are a bit difficult to follow, even when I spend the time reading the articles, & watching the screencasts. Albeit, there are times where I often have space in my schedule to go over all the supporting readings in detail. But I think it’s just a discord within the professor and the students at times. I’ve discussed this among other students who have shared similar experiences both current and past semesters. With that being said, I often find myself working on the lab the morning of class that it's due, and especially on the content that we covered in class because of how fast paced the lab work in-class can get.
I think Assignment1 was a great jumping off point for Assignment2 which is essentially building off of Assignment 1, however it is an entirely new beast in and of itself. I would be hard-pressed to say that I am ready for Assignment 2, but I think I can utilize a similar approach to learning how to solve Assignment 2’s problems in the same way that I solved my issues with Assignment 1. The individual requirements help to have a distinction between each student's website and how each student tackles the issue is very interesting. I think the turnover time to recover from Assignment 1 and straight into Assignment 2 is very short however, & that the amount of time allotted for the assignment is misleading as there are multiple deadlines due within the week that we start Assignment 2 which causes a hindrance in us starting the project whilst
I think it would be beneficial for class engagement to be improved upon for the upcoming semesters. Perhaps implementing a method of calling upon students to maintain engagement and to address potential gaps in their understanding. This can help those who are struggling yet afraid to speak up as I found myself in that situation more often than not. It can be scary to ask a question when you may feel like you’re slowing the class down of some sort, but it can also be important as there may be multiple people in that situation.
The most helpful resource in class would have to be collaboration with classmates. Although the professor and TA are always there for guidance, the students are the ones who are on the same level of understanding and can be the ones that can break down concepts and explain procedures in the most effective way for the other student. I found that working with my classmates was the most effective way for me to learn the concepts. However, I do want to strive to utilize the professor, & the labs in a more meaningful way moving forward.