Summary of course taken

I am a postgraduate researching in the area of innovation in science, engineering and technology education. I am interested in the image/perceptions of the computer geek and how this image contributes to the skills shortage that the IT industry is going through.

I have a blog and have set up wikispaces as well as having a web page on the BCS website

Description of strategies used.

I do not think I use any assistive technologies but having chatted about the subject I now realise that maybe I do, as I use a spell checker when working on-line. I use Google when I have a problem with a word and the dictionary/thesaurus to check its meaning. I used to use Open Office as it had word prediciton.

I tend to print out a lot more than my friends and it takes me a lot longer to read stuff. When I have to write a report I will do a PowerPoint presentation first and then organise my thoughts. It is so much easier to talk about it than to write, but this method provides a structure for my report. I do not like reading slides on-line, but I like the freedom that PowerPoint gives you to arrange stuff. If I am looking for things on the internet I prefer plain web pages.

I use Facebook but I think it interrupts my learning, so I am not sure it helps. But I see my friends using it for their learning although I would rather not put my thoughts on-line. Some courses make groups on Facebook and they support each other with their work. You can find the University of Southampton on Facebook. I use PhD Forum.com to support my work as lots of us go on there to discuss our problems and I use e-mail the whole time and Linkedin which is more business like.

I have used the internet at times when I am struggling with things that are not very clear, such as after a lecture. The notes I make tend not to be good enough and the books are so thick that I now use the internet as a working tool. The technologies have inspired the way I do research - it really has revolution the way I learn, like using Google Scholar and Google Books. It is just so much easier as I do not have to go to the library anymore - that was a real barrier. I have also found Idea Rover for literature reviews.

I use EndNote for my references as well as tables in Word and I have used an open source mind mapping tool for planning, but I do not like that way of working - if I am given a mind map I see it as another task.

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"I hate the assumption that people think that if you are dyslexic you want to use mind maps and they put you into a box and stuff like that!"

I e-mail experts direct like professors in the States and they come back with advice and encouragement, often more readily than some people I meet face to face who you may catch at the wrong time. You can think about how you write the e-mail and can reflect on it - If it wasn't for being able to use e-mail to contact people I would not have been able to do my PhD!

As part of a computer science group I have tended to feel I can cope with technologies and perhaps this has stopped me visiting the Assistive Technology Service in the library - but if there was more help available as part of ones course I would be interested in learning more about it all. I think if there were tools and strategies that we could experiment with in private, at home when there is time, I would try them more often.