Mentor reflection.

I selected Daniel Filipe as my mentor, I have worked with him on many diffrent tasks since entering college in 2006, and have always completed the tasks given in a quick and efficent manner when working with him, I have asked his opinion on personal tasks such as the SWOT, and VARK, to see if he overall agreed with the results. During writing my academic paper on 'computer related RSI' I got him to check if my pie/bar chart's were easy to read and understand, this lead me to alter certain aspects of the paper to make is clearer and easier to follow.

Presentation review

I thought my powerpoint presentation on the subject "Computer related RSI" went well and was delievered in a clear informative manner, the information given was mainly on the the type of RSI contracted from using a computer, common areas that computer users contract RSI, the consequences of not addressing computer related RSI and finally ways to prevent this problem. If i was to change anything for next time it would to be more prepared for questions at the end from the audience, but overall I'm happy with how it went.

Above is my mind map which gave me a number of ideas to use in my paper on 'Computer related RSI'

Research/Design methodology for computer related RSI paper

Research methodology

The research for this report was sourced mainly from a questionnaire; other sources included internet articles and reports, an e-journal, and an e-book. The main focus of this research will be to gather the results of the questionnaire, determine if these results show a positive trend towards RSI from using a computer to see if people are aware of ways to help reduce or lower their risk of RSI from computer use, and then compare these results to see if in fact the amount of RSI complaints has increased or decreased with the rise in people buying a PC.

Design methodology

The design methodology of this paper will be mainly a quantitative theme but will have qualitative aspects when producing descriptions and explaining the numerical date, this numerical data will be mainly graphical forms with pie and bar charts, the reason for choosing the quantitative method is it will allow crucial facts such as the amount of people who suffer from RSI to be shown easily and clearly.

Computer related RSI Literature review (theoretical background)

Catherine Doyle from the website ‘natural bloom’ (naturalbloom, Doyle, 2003) has stated that RSI is caused by the repetitive movements made by such people as musicians, sports people and increasingly, computers users, she goes onto list the following as potential warning signs that RSI from computer use maybe setting in:

• Pain
• numbness
• tingling
• weakness, and/or
• stiffness

She states that noticing any of the above issues in a computer user’s thumbs, fingers, hands, wrists, arms, elbows, shoulders, upper back/neck should prompt them to stop the activity and to seek relevant medical advice to stop the issue becoming a bigger problem. Along with listing taking regular breaks as a way of preventing RSI, and should the users begin to feel RSI related pain to leave the work area, stand up, walk around and generally loosen the body. She also states that the user should research into ergonomics to be sure their computer is setup correctly for them interms of monitor height, chair position’s e.t.c, and to take note of forearms, arms, wrists, neck and back positions. Radhika Meganathan from the website ‘Writers-World’ (Writing-World, Meganathan, 2004) agrees with Catherine Doyle in ensuring that user’s take regular breaks from their computer. In Radhika’s report he states that at least 10-15 minutes of every hour should be spent away from the mouse and keyboard, and that like Catherine Doyle, the users should also get up from the workstation and move around. Geoff Hart, again from the ‘Writers-World’ website (Writing-World, Hart, 2004) has listed that many computers users have their chairs set incorrectly. This agrees with Catherine Doyle and Radhika Meganathan interms of incorrect ergonomics. He states that when the chair position is set incorrectly it can cause the user to slouch and put strain onto a user’s muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons. The book ‘Women’s Work’ (Women’s Work, Nussbaum, p.177, 1994) states that many office workers who have suffered similar RSI injuries to those stated by Catherine Doyle in the neck, shoulders, back, hands and fingers have infact sued computer equipment manufacture’s in connection with the RSI they contracted whilst using their computer products. The journal ‘Conservative treatment for repetitive strain injury’ (Conservative treatment for repetitive strain injury, Konijnenberg et al., p.300 p.305, 2001) also agree with Catherine Doyle and Geoff Hart on the benefit of correct ergonomics in terms of specially designed office furniture, keyboards and computer mice. A table is provided within the journal (Appendix2.) of a ergonomic trial approach with four keyboards designed for RSI sufferers involving 44 males and 34 females with suspected carpal tunnel syndrome or wrist/forearm tendonitis with the suggested results showing a significant drop in RSI pain and a gain in movement for two of the keyboards used over the 6 months period, once again agreeing with Catherine Doyle and Geoff Hart that improved/correct economics can improve RSI.

Learning line.

My learning line from when I was at primary school, up until this present BSc course.

Personal reflection:

I joined South View Community primary school (which is based in Crowland) in 1995 when I was 5; I stayed at this school right the way through my primary education before leaving it and progressing onto secondary school.

Joining St Guthlac’s (secondary) school in 2001, this school (which is also based in Crowland), was where I took my Year 9 SAT exams to determine which GCSE "set's" I would be placed it, my exams results were good enough to allow me to get into the top sets for all the subjects I was taking at GCSE level.

I progressed through years 10 and 11 onto GCSE's which I didn’t find too interesting but managed to pass all of them, and gain 8 GCSE "C" grades, these GCSE's let me then apply for the PEO course in electro-mechanical engineering at Peterborough Regional College in years 2006-2007.

Once the PEO was complete the course progressed onto the BTEC First Diploma in Engineering where I gained an overall merit, a level 3 course came next in the form of the BTEC National Diploma in Elec/Comp Eng which spanned of 2007-2009. This course proved to be a good challenge for me as it was level 3 and I was pleased to gain an overall DMM grade.

From September 2009, through to May 2009 I studied at UCP on a HNC Engineering course, overall i found the course to be very challenging and satisfying once complete but overall I was not interested in the course and decided to change from an engineering career path to computer's.

I joined the BSc Comp and Inf Sys degree course at UCP in September 2010, and plan on graduating in 2013.