Course Elements and Personal Engagement
Skill Development and Application
Future Implications and Professional Growth
Throughout my time in the class, I feel like I’ve gotten a basic understanding of HTML, JSON, and CSS. We’ve had to do a lot of WODs and assignments that dealt with the above. Even though there were times when I struggled with understanding some of the things that we were learning in class, such as the if-else statements, all it took was a couple of tries to get it down. It was also extremely helpful that the teacher assistants were helpful and took the time to help us out if we didn’t understand. The professor also took the time to record and get sources that could help if we didn’t understand.
It’s understandable why MIS people would need basic programming skills and knowledge. Since we will be dealing with information systems, we would need to understand how that information is being processed, how the system works, and more. Basic programming skills could be useful for troubleshooting problems and could also be useful for customization. If there’s a flaw in the system or something that isn’t needed, we could find a way to take it out or fix the problem.
If I had to be honest, the part where I started to piece together all of the information we’ve learned about developing software applications was in the assignments. I had to figure out ways to implement server code, make sure the pages worked properly, the forms where being processed, and even more. I felt like I was always missing information when something wasn’t working, but when I restarted the entire coding process and implemented new code, it worked. I felt like I was experimenting to see what worked and what didn’t work. If something still wasn’t working, I’d look up ways to figure it out and simplify the issue
When it comes to MIS problems and solutions, I was, honestly, completely lost when a problem would appear. I’d figure out the problem, but there’d be multiple issues with the problem. This created multiple issues if I had to work in different areas of code. For example, when it came to the assignments, I had issues adding a way to process the products form that was turned in when a consumer wanted to buy products. I had to switch between HTML and JS, so it got pretty confusing. It was only when I started on one issue at a time when I found out solutions that were simplistic. Though, there were times when fixing one issue created other issues. So long as I solved one problem, there would be more, but if I just kept on solving them and simplifying the issue to minimize the amount of code changed, then the problems would run out.
For the assignments that we could’ve worked on in groups, I ended up working alone since I got a head start on the projects. I took about 8 hours every day, during Spring break, to work on our first assignment (there were breaks every once in a while). Talking about software development issues, it took quite a while to get a lot of my code debugged. When I would get one of my pages debugged, another page would have more bugs than before. Since I had all my functions in a singular file, it may have caused some collision, so I had to find ways around to make sure no bugs were left.
Over time, I gained confidence when it came to addressing problems within my code. While I do not have the knowledge of what it will be like to work with a proper information system, I hope to apply the confidence and knowledge I’ve gained to solving issues and problems regarding information systems as I have a bit more knowledge now than before.
I feel like I’ve learned a lot from creating a professional portfolio and using it in ITM 352. I’d be able to look back on the projects I’ve done and also be able to reflect upon past assignments and reviews in my portfolio. This is also public, meaning I can show this to others if I want to. It would show my accomplishments and how I’ve done so far when it comes to certain areas such as coding.
When it comes to the WODs, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to complete any of my assignments without them. They helped me to get some practice that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Even though some of them took hours as I’ve had to do most of them at least twice to get a better understanding of what I was working with, I felt like I’ve gained a lot of knowledge as I understood how certain things worked. For example, in one of the WODs, we’ve learned how to implement an invoice into a products display so that customers can purchase products (Store1).
If I had to be honest, I didn’t really pay too much attention to the quizzes. Even though they went over information we’ve learned in class (throughout the lecture) and from the labs, I felt like they didn’t provide much otherwise.
The labs have taught me a lot about the different things in coding. We’ve learned about the different data types, how to use them, HTML, CSS, JS, and more. I remember, in one of the first labs we ever did, we learned about the different data types and how they worked. I remember being confused when we tried adding numbers together and it just popping out as a string, such as ‘1’ + ‘1’ = 11. This was because both the numbers before were strings.
I like the idea of being able to reflect on what we’ve done, which leads me to believe that I’ve learned a lot from doing the essays. There were always a variety of questions that were asked or statements that we had to reflect upon, and that helped me understand where I am when it comes to my goals and the progress I’ve made so far. I remember, for E4, we had to reflect on assignment1, and I recalled being so lost at the beginning, and realizing how far I’ve come so far.
I’ve learned a lot from doing assignment 1 and assignment 2. Both assignments have helped me get better practice at using HTML, CSS, and JS. They also helped me to get better at problem solving. I always thought that my problem-solving skills were good enough until we started these assignments. I got so lost when the first problem came up (this problem was the form processing). I didn’t understand why it wasn’t working the way I wanted it to, and so I spent the next 6 hours editing the code over and over until I just restarted. After that, since I had a better understanding of what I was working with, I figured out the problem easily and solved it.
Some of the challenges I’ve faced throughout some of the programming assignments include having to remember and understand how different data types work in a variety of functions. Sometimes, I’d get confused between using arrays and objects, but I slowly got it down over time. Another challenge I’ve faced was understanding functions themselves. I was confused about what kind of functions to use and how to create our own, but when we started on our invoice and products display labs, I’ve gotten it down.
For WODs, some of the challenges I’ve faced was that I would have to understand how to do certain things in a certain way. When I would try to do one of the requirements on my own and it wouldn’t work, the WOD would show a different way to do it. This meant that I’d have to conform to using code a certain way, which didn’t allow too much for adaptation. Other times, I think I’ve stretched my code out too much. Since the WODs had us self-teaching ourselves, there were times when I felt like my code was stretched out too much and took too mcuh space. Later in the semester, after getting a good understanding of what I was doing, I would think back on how much simpler it would’ve been if we had known how to simplify the problem in the first place.
One of the main challenges that I’ve faced throughout the last two assignments regarding web applications was understanding server-side code. I didn’t fully understand how to process forms on the client side through the server, so it took a couple of days to even get the first part of processing down. The other part that took awhile was being able to send the processed forms to the pages that needed the information.
Some of the ways that I’ve overcame these challenges was being able to set time aside to be able to experiment and redo the code that caused the problems. I’d spend about 8 hours a day trying to figure it out, and if I didn’t figure it out then, I’d start on it first thing in the morning. Sometimes, I would get the help of ChatGPT and Blackbox.ai to help me out, but sometimes they were just making the problem worse. I think it just took a lot of perseverance and trial-and-error to overcome the challenges.
I think the achievements that I believe were significant to me were the ones during the last two assignments. I’d be happy when I get CSS to work the way I want it to. I’d also be happy when I solved a problem I’d have. I think one of the problems I had originally was that I was trying to do multiple requirements at once. In the first assignemnt, I tried to do multiple individual requirements at once, but once I started doing one at a time, I felt very accomplished when they worked. I think two of my biggest achievements was that I was able to implement at least 3 individual requirements into my website and that I managed to use two different arrays of products in my website.
For syntactic, I felt like my progress was moderately slow. I didn’t know how to do anything at the beginning, so I felt stuck when there wasn’t something I understood. Over time, I got a better understanding of how to write functions properly and how to implement them into my code. I also got a better understanding of how to use booleans properly as we didn’t have much of a need to use them at the beginning.
For algorithmic, my progress was mostly stagnant until the very end. Most of my code was stretched out and, when looking back at it, gives me a headache because of how long and unneeded it was for specific parts. When I got to the last two assignments, I felt like I had a breakthrough because I was using loops a lot more and implementing functions that simplified a lot of the code used in other parts of my assignment. Putting the functions into a singular document helped me to understand that they can be reused anywhere so long as I can call upon it.
For application, I’m not quite sure on how to rank my progress. I’ve worked alone throughout most of my assignments and I did most of the steps in designing, implementing, and maintaining the projects I’ve done on my own. I felt like it was alright at the beginning, and then most likely dropped towards the middle of the semester. Towards the end of the semester, I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress but it has stopped since as I’ve already designed and implemented what was required of me into the projects.
I feel like the hands-on experience I’ve gotten with the applications have enhanced my understanding and confidence in handling MIS issues as it has gotten me to look at problems from both the company and client perspective. It has also helped me to work on my problem solving skills and making sure I get a good understanding on what I’ve worked on so that I can apply it later on when working with others.
For my last two assignments, I’ve used a lot of ChatGPT to help me solve problems I had. There were times where I had no clue where to start when a problem arised, but ChatGPT helped me to get started on specific areas that the problems were related to. There was also Blackbox.ai that helped me to understand specific code.
Some examples include:
When it came to getting the forms processed for product information, for signing in, for registration, I had a hard to understanding how to get them processed in the first place. I’d go to ChatGPT to help me get started on these areas and then I’d be able to continue from there. ChatGPT, even if it didn’t solve the problem, helped me to get a better understanding of the problem is specifically.
There were times in some of my assignments where I wanted to implement certain CSS in an area, trying to format it a certain way, but I wasn’t able to do so. ChatGPT helped a lot when it came to these problems. It helped me to develop basic CSS when developing a new page and implementing new styling for personalization
Sometimes, when uploading the code to the server, I’d open up the website on a variety of different screens as I had two different computers I worked on. Sometimes, since I used absolute positioning, the positioning of buttons would be off. Blackbox.ai helped me to understand what code to use so that it was centered and also helped to fix some other problems I had (specifically with implementing code that I’ve gotten from blogs online).
Sometimes, the use of AI didn’t help at all, sometimes making the problem worse. It would recommend a solution that didn’t work at all, or make a small change that was unidentifiable to me so that I would have to start over from the beginning.
Some examples include:
At the beginning of implementing my registration form code on the server side, I had gotten the help of ChatGPT to help me out. It was originally fine at the beginning, but when problems came up and I went back for help, it made the problem worse. I tried over and over to get a better understanding but ChatGPT didn’t make it any easier, rather made it harder for me to understand my own code. It got to the point where I just deleted the entire thing and started over from the beginning.
Another problem I’ve had that ChatGPT didn’t help at all with was being able to implement and call upon the function to develop the invoice. Towards the middle of the semester, we had developed a good invoice that could be used with the website we’ve developed with some changes. I tried to implement the invoice into my website but it didn’t work properly. I got ChatGPT to help, but it ended up changing different forms rather than the problem I was trying to address.
While ChatGPT is pretty good at developing CSS for certain things, it wasn’t good at developing CSS when functions were used. I’d have the navbar hide certain tabs and display other tabs when a user was signed in or not, but couldn’t figure out how to do it at the beginning. I originally got the help from ChatGPT to help me with the functions for it, but the problem got worse when CSS was involved and multiple pages were involved. It took just redoing the function and creating multiple if statements to get the navbar working properly.
The things I learned in ITM 352 will be useful for both my studies and future jobs. I learned how to create websites and programs, which can be handy for many different kinds of work. These skills might help me stand out when I’m applying for jobs later on. Knowing how to build websites and fix problems with them could be important in jobs where I’ll use computers a lot. I’m glad I learned these things because they could help me in my career someday. Overall, I think this class gave me skills that I’ll use for a long time.
Understanding how to make websites and solve problems with them could be valuable in future jobs. It means I can understand and solve issues with how information is organized and used in a company. Learning these skills might open up more job opportunities for me in the future. I’m starting to see how important it is to know about technology in today’s world. This class helped me see how I can use technology skills in different kinds of jobs. I think knowing how to work with computers will be important no matter what job I have in the future.
This class was really helpful for me. I learned a lot of important things that I can use in my future career. It gave me a better idea of what kinds of jobs I might like to do. I feel more confident now that I have these skills under my belt. I think this class will be one of the most valuable ones I took in college. Overall, I’m really glad I took ITM 352 because it taught me skills I’ll use for the rest of my life.