Summary of course taken

I am currently in my 2^nd year of a Biomedical Sciences degree. The modules I am taking include: Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Physiology and Immunology. The course includes lectures and practicals, with research using animal and material models. I have difficulties when presented with new technology and little time in which to learn and utilise it. Sometimes it feels new technology prevents the effective learning of material.

Description of strategies used.

Nearly 70% of our lecture material is presented via PowerPoint and the problem I have is when the slides are so cluttered that I am unable to take in all the information.

Another issue that arises is with the formatting in Word if there is a need to present information in columns or tables with the text justified. It is very hard to align data automatically.

We have to have many images in our assignments and it is often easier to draw them and present items on paper but there are times when we have to present word processed work and then I go into Google Images to find examples of proteins or other molecules. I use the reference that can usually be found at the bottom of the picture or the web page. I have found Google Maps are also useful but usually this is for personal use rather than to assist me with the course.

An example of a technology that I had to learn overnight was the use of Pymol. This enabled us to show a protein in 3D but we also had to download a viewer in the Internet Explorer. This caused more problems than making designing the molecule! The instructions were not as clear as they should have been!

Finally one of my major worries is referencing correctly and using software to help with this task. I have been introduced EndNote but have not managed to use it at present. I am hoping to learn over the coming months.