Reflection

The CMT-199 module on computational thinking has multiple points to learn from, besides the main theme of Computational Thinking; it also introduces HTML and CSS for web development, responsive design, and proper working practices withing developing and computing. These concepts are touched upon in the lectures and learning resources delivered, but I personally found them to be best absorbed within working examples and ultimately, this assignment.

The concept of Computational Thinking is already notably similar to general problem-solving approaches taught in STEM subjects (decomposition in particular), so this part of the module for me was more of an adjustment of methods than a brand-new system to learn and apply to problems. That said, these adjustments will still have immense value for me both in this assignment and translating future problems/solutions into something understandable by machines throughout the rest of this course and hopefully a future career. Within this assignment I have applied these methods to the brief to properly meet each requirement.

I believe the other elements of this module as mentioned previously are my main personal take-aways from this module. Prior to starting this course my only exposure to HTML and CSS was opening developer tools accidentally, each tutorial and explanation provided something new and interesting to learn – not without individual stresses of course – HTML has been much easier to understand whereas CSS clearly has a higher ceiling of its capabilities and complexities, I personally still struggle with properly arranging written HTML elements on a page despite the explanations within the course and external resources. I also believe this is a personal issue in understanding rather than a lackluster area in the course, and I will try to find time to work on this further.

The module has also highlighted for me the importance of responsive design; the variety of viewer displays; the futureproofing involved considering the constant stream of advancements in personal technology, and from my own experience trying to implement something responsive in this assignment, just how difficult it can be to make a website work properly across even a relatively tiny range of devices - I feel my own implementation of responsivity could have been much better given more practice and planning in the earlier stages. As well as proper working practice like consistency and commenting in code, or being efficient where possible in CSS, as the style sheet quickly becomes a lengthy, unclear file. Aside from these, returning to my studies and handling this first assignment has brought to my attention the degradation of my time-management skills, which I can now work on and improve.

In conclusion, this module prepares students by teaching multiple skills and leading them to realisations that can be carried forward to future learning and assessment within the course. Reflecting on this module has also allowed me to identify personal weaknesses to improve upon moving forward.