END OF MY FIRST SEMESTER IN ISLINGTON COLLEGE

It feels like I am still in the initial days of my study at Islington college but it’s almost the end of the first semester. Times were tough in the beginning and I was in a mess, I couldn’t manage my timetable nor could I cope with the teaching environment here. With time I have gradually learnt to be a part of the university.

During  the end days of the semester we had tests, assignments, course works  and presentations of all modules simultaneously. It’s was very hard for everyone to manage time for every module because the pressure was immense. 

We only had written exams for “Logic” module and I did well in the exam as we had practiced a lot in the tutorial classes and also because I was already lot more familiar to the course from my school level. We had a group presentation for “Study Skills for Computing” module. Everyone was quite frightened about the presentation as the presentation wasn’t that well prepared but  with a lot of effort we managed to give a good presentation .

In the “Problem Solving for IT” module we had a coursework based on Ms-Access and Ms-Excel . This coursework  wasn’t that hard for me as I had the basic knowledge about Microsoft package. “Introduction to Programming” had the hardest coursework of all modules. Using the necessary codes and compiling the program correctly  in BlueJ was very tough for every one of us. It took days for us to complete the coursework. 

There was a different environment during the end of the semester, everyone was in a rush, tensed and worried. These days will be the most memorable days of my  first semester in Islington College.

INDIVIDUAL REPORT:SURAJ THAPA

Working in a group is a lot more fun and easier than working solo. The best thing about working in a group is that everyone comes up with different ideas and approaches thus making any task easier to solve.

In this module “Study Skills for Computing” we have a group presentation as our final coursework for this semester. We were divided into groups and I came to be a member of Group3 along with four other colleagues. I wasn’t that friendly with my team members in the class so I was quite doubtful about the co-operation between us but eventually everyone turned out to be very friendly and helpful.

In the beginning the biggest challenge we faced was to select a proper topic for the presentation. We proposed many topics but almost all of them were rejected. Finally everyone agreed to make a presentation on Java. The main reason for choosing Java was that we had already studied Java in “Introduction to Programming” module so, we thought that it would be very easy to make beginners understand and write a simple Java program via our presentation but it turned out to be easier said than done.

As this is a group presentation, different tasks were assigned to each members of the group. My job was to collect the necessary data and contents for the presentation. For this I took help from various available re-sources like the library, websites and also the lecture slides provided from London Met. Not only did I collect the data, I also worked hard with my team mate Kiran Chaudhary to make the slides more presentable and good in contents. As the presentation was created using my laptop I also used to check the progress made by the members and scan for any mistakes in the slides in my home.

We were able to complete the presentation before the deadline because of our strong determination and co-operation between the team members. I got experience of how team works are handled and how good presentation can be made via team unity.

This Group presentation has taught me many things and now I have a better experience and I am well prepared for such presentations in the days to come.

ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT AFTER WEEK 5

So many weeks have already passed by still the excitement of studying in Islington college is getting higher and higher. With time we are getting more used to with the college environment and the courses offered here.
Unlike the starting weeks of this semester the courses are getting tougher and more exciting too. We are having very busy time handling the projects and the course works also.

We studied about Modularization, Abstraction, Accessing private fields, Formal and Actual parameters and many others JAVA related topics in “Introduction to Programming” module.
In “Study Skills for computing” module we learned about how Proper Referencing is done and also had a presentation practice for the actual group presentation in the 13th week. The dummy presentation wasn’t that good as our presentation wasn’t properly prepared but we all are working in making our presentation best.

Similarly in “Logic” module we studied Set Theory, Predicate Logic, Number bases, Quantifiers and many other mathematics related topics. This module has been the easiest of all because all the topics are somehow related to the ones that we studied in School and College.
Furthermore in “Problem Solving For IT” module we learned about Structure Charts, IPO Charts, Flowcharts and Algorithms. It turned out that this module was not only about solving tricky questions it is more complex than we had thought.

We also had "written closed book exams" for all three modules except “Study Skills for Computing” module. The “Logic” module's exam went very well but unfortunately I only scored pass marks in “Problem Solving For IT” and “Introduction to Programming” module.
So I am concentrating more on these modules and hope I will score good marks in every modules in the remaining days of this semester.

MIND MAP

This post is about Mindmaps. A mind map is diagram used to represent words,tasks,ideas or other items which are connected,linked and arranged around a central idea or keyword.As seen in the image above this mind map is based on OPERATING SYSTEMS.

An OPERATING SYSTEM(OS) is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide  common services for the computer application.An OS is the most important SYSTEM SOFTWARE that runs in a computer.It acts an intermediary between APPLICATION PROGRAMS and COMPUTER HARDWARE for hardware functions such as input,Output and memory allocation.Most of the Operating systems today are very USER FRIENDLY.An OS can be classified as follows:
1.REAL TIME
2.SINGLE USER/MULTI USER
3.SINGLE TASKING/MULTI TASKING

A real time OS responds to input instantly.General purpose operating systems like DOS and UNIX are not real time others are.
A Single user OS allows only 1 user to run programs but Multi-user OS allows multiple users to run programs at the same time.
Like single user A single tasking OS allows only one task to be performed at a time whereas a Multitasking OS allows more
than one program to run concurrently.

Other Types
1.DISTRIBUTED
2.EMBEDDED
A distributed Os manages a group of independent computers and makes them accessible from a single computer.Its useful for
computers in group work in a cooperation.An Embedded OS are designed to operate on small machines like PDA's with less anatomy.They are able to operate with a limited number of resources.

Some most widely used and popular Operating Systems today are WINDOWS,MAC OS X,ANDROID etc.

ISLINGTONG'S BLOG

It has been about three weeks since i have been studying in Islington Collge.The education quality here is totally different from the ones i have experienced before. The college has equally provided us with all the necessary practical as well as theory classes as we have 2 lectures classes 2 tutorial classes and 2 practical classes in a week.

 The first week was quite tough for us because we were not that familiar with the teaching environment here.We studied about Logic and solved many tricky questions in Problem Solving For IT classes and i found this class to be the most interesting amongst all.We also got the basic ideas about coding and programming in our Introduction To programming classes.I found programming to be quite harder than other subjects.Each one of us gave presentation on Tutorial classes of Study Skills for Computing class.Giving presentation for the first time in front of the whole class was quite nerve breaking but eventually we got used to it.The teachers are quite friendly and helpful so it has been more easier for us to understand the subject matter.

We have also experienced the way projects and assignments are done in a university level.First projects couldn't be prepared that well as we are new to projects but now we are quite familiar with projects, assignments and the teaching environment here.The time table of the classes here is unique to other universities so in the beginning it was quite hard to manage the time but we are getting used to it.The overall experience of studying in ISLINGTON COLLEGE has been great till date.