Summary of Course Taken

I am now in my third year of a nursing degree. It can be quite hard juggling between family commitments with two children and the fact that we are on the Portsmouth campus whereas all the student support and main library is in Southampton. There are times when we have to use video conferencing which does not work well for me. Often we just sit and listen to every single student in Southampton. Of course, we can’t hear anything and half the time the lecturers are saying: “Please be quiet, students”. I hate it !

Description of Strategies used

I finally got all my equipment, sorted out the glitches and have had my first training session! It has already improved my work. I have done another essay and handed that in, and the final result was much better than the previous one. I used Dragon and transferred it into Word. I used Read & Write Gold and then printed it all off. At the moment I am using Inspiration to do a presentation. Then, I’m going to take the information off Inspiration and then use Dragon to write the actual essay. It has increased my concentration and it’s helped with memory. So, I can study for longer periods of time.

I have customised tool bars and the menus on my computer. I get rid of all the things that I don’t use. Mouse buttons I left alone. I changed the background colours and I change them regularly, depending on what kind of web page I’m accessing. Some colours don’t show up well on the background, so I have to either decrease or increase the blue.

The dictaphone has come in really handy and I don't know how I survived through my 1st year without the PDA. The PDA has probably been the most useful item so far. I used it on placement instead of a written notebook and it was a definite asset. More manageable and pocket friendly.

My mobile phone is Bluetooth-linked onto a PDA and then PDA can then access the world using WAP and GPRS using the Virgin.com connection. It gives me full access to the web. I use it in between or before lecturers. To check the timetable hasn’t be changed – that kind of thing, because we’re changing a lot... I have a terrible habit of driving half way into Portsmouth and suddenly thinking: “Oh no, I should be in Southampton!"

I have no problems using technology to help me learn, as long as that technology is … useful and …It’s got to work. My concerns are, this year, we have to do an exam. It’s a written essay. It’s the same question and how am I going to do that without my technology?