Summary of Course Taken

I have recently completed a three year course at Southampton University, studying Information Technology in Organisations; an IT degree with a sprinkling of management and business development. I achieved a 1st class honours and feel it necessary to stress, that although at times the issues I discuss in this write up did hinder my learning, the strategies developed by LExDis, CELT, and support from tutors, had an enormous, positive affect on helping me gain a classification I did not think was possible when I first joined University.

Many years before contemplating University, I was told by a number of teachers that my handwriting was messy, rushed, and reflected something produced by a 5-year old with a box of crayons. This naturally had a detrimental affect on my grades, as teachers did not want to struggle to read my work, instead; giving a mark based on presentation alone. I too, eventually gave up with my handwriting and consequently, stopped note-taking because I could not read back what I had just written. My parents said I should become a doctor, but later, my high school thought it would be more realistic and better, if I completed my exams and assignments on a computer.

To throw another spanner into the works of my education, near the age of seven, I was diagnosed with having a red/green colour deficiency – known commonly as colour blindness. Although my colour deficiency did not affect my love for Maths or English, it did have an affect during Art and Science – especially Chemistry, whilst working both by hand and on computers. In this write up I wish to share my experiences, strategies, and my personal positive/disadvantage opinions on current developments/strategies to help students/staff with; writing difficulties, colour issues, and computer use in classrooms/at home. Each point is broken into a separate heading for ease of viewing.

Description of strategies used

Writing Difficulties – Having messy handwriting, or hands that become tired quickly through taking notes during lectures. One major issue I have had since the start of my schooling life is, when typing; my hands quickly cramp up and cannot write or hold a pen without extreme discomfort. This has meant that whilst note taking and exams as examples, I find it difficult to write – but continue for the crucial reason that I need to pass the exam. As a result, my handwriting becomes unreadable towards the end of the lesson/exam and this ultimately has an effect on my ability to read my revision notes and final exam grades.

Distinguishing Colour – Colour deficiencies, colour overload affecting your ability to name colours or see images correctly. A further issue I have is the ability to distinguish colours, especially red and greens. This is due to a condition, known commonly as Colour Blindness, which affects around 12% of males and 0.5% of females in the UK. Lectures can be a problem when the lecturer is presenting material electronically via applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint. It also becomes a problem if they use a laser-pointer to highlight information on the screen, especially if the pointer’s tip is red. Graphs and tables can be difficult to read if too much colour is used. Too much colour will cause the results in a pie chart for example, to ‘blend’ with each other making graphs unreadable, or display to the user an entirely different result.

Computers in the classroom – Noisy keys and distracting others around you. One problem I had in lectures was using a laptop for note taking. Pressing the keys can cause a lot of unwelcome noise, and similarly, the light given off from the screen can be a distraction for other peers in the lecture theatre.