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Dr Nicola Blackie

An investigation into best lecturing practice for students with learning difficulties with special emphasis on Dyslexia: A comparison of two student cohorts. Dr Nicola Blackie. Introduction. Dyslexia 4 % of the population are seriously affected

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Dr Nicola Blackie

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  1. An investigation into best lecturing practice for students with learning difficulties with special emphasis on Dyslexia:A comparison of two student cohorts Dr Nicola Blackie

  2. Introduction • Dyslexia • 4 % of the population are seriously affected • 10 % of the population are affected to some extent • What is dyslexia?? • Dys = difficulty • Lexia = with words (reading, writing, spelling) • Over 500 definitions of Dyslexia exist

  3. Introduction • Dyslexia in the classroom • Reading, writing, spelling • Difficulties ‘getting ideas down on paper’ • Maths • Disorganisation • Difficulties in sitting and listening • Difficulties in following instructions • Distracting behaviour • Attention/focus problems • Low confidence • Loss of motivation • Poor attainment

  4. Introduction • However, • Dyslexia can be managed • Many dyslexic students find effective strategies • Dyslexic students can be the most careful Dyslexia does not affect: • Reasoning, problem solving, creativity or intuition

  5. Methods • Questionnaire given to all the first year Agriculture and Animal Students • Total students = 139 • Total responses received = 101 • Response rate = 73% • Mix of open and closed questions • Emphasis on learning style and use of PowerPoint technology for teaching

  6. Results – Basic student details

  7. Results – Basic student details

  8. Results – Basic student details % % 64% of learning difficulties = Dyslexia, others include Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and Physical problems

  9. Class Preference - Agric

  10. Class Preference - Animal

  11. PowerPoint Style

  12. PowerPoint Style

  13. PowerPoint Style - Colour • What colour(s) if any cause you problems on PowerPoint slides for you? • Red (8) • Yellow (34) • Blue background/ Yellow writing • Orange (5) • Blue (9) • Bright (5) • Pale/Light colours (12) Blue background/ Yellow writing (8)

  14. PowerPoint Style - Colour • What colour(s) if any cause you problems on PowerPoint slides for you? • Green (9) • Dark • Bright White (4) • Purple (1) • Not enough contrast Dark background (9)*

  15. PowerPoint Style - Colour • Learning difficulties specifically • Yellow, red • White background • Blue or light colours • Dark backgrounds make text hard to read • Yellow (words) • Bright white (2) • Blue/Yellow hard to see • Red • No background colour, light lilac preferred • Green + Red (light blue on dark background preferred) • Yellow on blue - hard to read • Bright colours such as Yellow/Orange

  16. PowerPoint Style - Colour • Generally students with Dyslexia gave more detail on colour • We are encouraged to put everything on PDF format on Moodle • Student can’t adjust to requirements • Inclusive approach? • Avoid Yellow and light colours??

  17. Recording Lectures % % 18 % of students record lectures

  18. Sans Serif Arial Calibri Tahoma Veranda Serif Times New Roman Century Footlight MT Light Font Type 14% 77% 9 % have no preference

  19. Sans Serif Arial Calibri Tahoma Veranda Serif Times New Roman Century Footlight MT Light Font Type – Learning difficulties 19% 81%

  20. What do students find useful? 92 % like Photos

  21. What do students find useful? 61 %like figures

  22. What do students find useful? 61 % like mind-maps

  23. Learning Styles • All = 4 % • Auditory = 7 % • Kinaesthetic = 30 % • Read/ Write = 16 % • Visual = 16 % • Visual + Kinaesthetic = 10 % • Other combinations = 17 %

  24. Learning Styles

  25. So what do we do well? • Repetition of complex or difficult topics • Miss out words so you have to fill them in • Pictures, examples • Give practical examples of information • Use videos and images • Clear text, interesting pictures and diagrams • Use real world examples/ experiences to describe case studies

  26. What is not so good? • Reading the slides out • Putting lots of info on one slide = hard to read • Speed, some lecturers go too fast, or putting up irrelevant wording or text • Yellow and blue colours, too much text • Blocks of text, blocks of figures • Not explain or talk about any slides/ diagrams/ pictures etc • Covering over pictures with more pictures, Figures etc too small and unclear. Adding additional slides that are not in the lecture notes.

  27. What do they want more of? • Provide PowerPoint's as a handout or on moodle before • Ask questions at the end of lecture • More visual aids • Make lectures more interactive, work as groups to answer questions • Videos! • Online quizzes • Further reading sources • Have a visual and attractive PowerPoint so it doesn’t look boring

  28. Questions?

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