Summary of course taken

I have just finished my three year undergraduate degree in Philosophy at the University of Southampton, however my A Levels were in science-based subjects such as Maths and Computing. I initially wanted to study Computer Science at university, but I developed repetitive strain injury in my wrists due in part to the laptop I was using in my Computing A Level. My interest in computing and technology remained with me throughout my degree, and now I have graduated and am working as an E-Learning Facilitator in a Further Education college. One of my main duties is to train staff in the use of their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Description of strategies used

In my first year of university I did not have a computer in my room in Halls, and I tried to reduce the amount I typed or used the internet. In the second year, I bought a computer and continued to use it as I always had, but my RSI returned. to reduce my use of the mouse, which was one of the main causes of the problem. I have also recently discovered a program called "Phrase Express", which allows you to use hotkeys and autotext. For example, I now press "Ctrl + H", and my web browser opens up at www.hotmail.com, because I set up the program to do this. I work with a "Virtual Learning Environment", but this is a long phrase to type out. Using Phrase Express, I now only have to type VLE and then press "SPACE", and it gets converted into "Virtual Learning Environment".

I then tried various strategies for reducing my RSI. Firstly, I used keyboard shortcuts. One of the things that has made the most difference to me has been the Quill mouse. The best way of describing it is that it is like a normal mouse except it on its side and an as a place where you can rest your hand. The reason why this is so useful is that when your using a normal mouse your wrist bones are constantly twisted. A sideways mouse eliminates this strain. Although the quill mouse is good it is important that use it with the right keyboard. I originally tried the quill mouse with the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard. While there was nothing wrong with this keyboard, it was just incompatible with the mouse. The keyboard was so wide that my arm using the mouse had to stretch to the side, which made my wrist bend, which defeated the point of the quill mouse. If you're going to use the quill mouse, you should use a keyboard that does not have the number pad on the right-hand side. Just get a smaller keyboard, or one with a detachable number pad that you can use on the left-hand side.

My favourite web browser is Mozilla Firefox. This is because of the many add-ons that it has. One of my favourite add-ons is the one where you can change the background colour of any website to be the colour that you want. There was also another good one that allows you to enlarge the size of pictures.

When I felt first went to the assistive technology Centre at the University of Southampton it was suggested that I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I tried it and found it a bit annoying because it didn't always recognize what I was trying to say. Since than a new version has come out caught Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9. I have trialled this a few times and found it to be infinitely better. In fact I'm using it now! Not only can it be used for applications such as Microsoft Word, but it is all were also useful navigating the Internet.

Since starting my new job, I had realised that one of the most important ways of combating RSI is to make sure that you have the correct ergonomic set up when using a computer. A point that may be particularly interesting to shorter people such as myself is that it is very necessary to have a desk chair the ones that swivel and go up and down. For myself, the desk chair has to be extended very high up and I have to use a foot rest. The reason why have to do this is because my desk is at a set height. If I could adjust my desk is to be lower down, that would be the best solution, but that is not usually possible. Now that I am at the right height, my wrists are no longer bent, and my fingers hover above the keyboard, which is the best way to alleviate RSI.

One other thing I do is to press the Ctrl key and the scroll wheel on my mouse when I am on the internet. This will increase or decrease the size of the font. This doesn't help my RSI, but I sometimes find out I have eye strain so this helps.