Summary of course taken

I am a second year undergraduate studying Computer Science which involves lectures and lab sessions along with end of year exams and projects.  I have completed an internship developing some course materials and have helped design the ECS Jumpstart guide for freshers.

Description of strategies used.

I'm getting very interested in technology and learning, I'm a huge fan of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement and similar endeavours. Not sure what I'll end up doing with my life, but it'll be something to do with education, I hope. I helped design the Comp1004 course at the university.

As a result of designing the course for 'Programming Principles'  I have become used to making slides in PowePoint.  I tend to keep the slides very clear with only 5 main points, plenty of white space and simple graphics.  I like transitions for text arriving on the slide and highlighting important points in bold.

When brainstorming ideas, it is helpful to get out and about: going for walks, sitting in the park and things like that. However, in these environments it can be hard to note down your good ideas. Taking a Dictaphone and recording your thoughts as they occur is very helpful for making sure you don't forget any. Typing up your ideas afterwards allows you to revisit them and develop them. It also means you have had time to subconsciously process them in the interval between recording and typing. This can add new ideas to the mix.

I also do mindmaps on paper rather than on a computer so you are free to doodle and write whatever comes to mind. It shows you the salient points and then all you have to do is weave them together with words.  The example you see on this page was based on some course work I did to design the interface for a PDA the assist the elderly.  There were several icons that made items easier to understand such as the phone shown.