We have created lyw4.life (Learning YOUR Way for Life) because we found our time in education a chore.
We were told, "Do this! Learn that list! Remember everything!" ... and we didn't. Now we are lecturers and we found ourselves telling our students, "Do this! Learn that list! Remember everything!" ... and funnily enough they don't either.
There had to be a better way. This site is our attempt to find that better way.
The problems start with those of us who are teaching. We all want to make things as understandable as possible for our students, so we present the material in a way that makes sense to us ... and that may not be the way that works for our students.
Therefore, on this site we present the materials as a web page for those who learn quickly, as a PDF for those who prefer to take away a printout to work through it slowly, as a sound file for those who like to learn by hearing it and as a video for the visual learners. Everyone can learn their way, rather than ours.
Each task is a separate, self-contained piece of learning. A task would be about one side of paper if printed and only addresses one piece of knowledge. For example, someone might select a collection of tasks called Software Development and then choose a chapter (a learning criterion) and then you can drill down to a task, say, The story of programming. If there are additional materials, such as coursework templates or subsidiary handouts, these can be found on the collection page (click on the additional materials tab).
Both of us are dyslexic and we are also aware that those coming to LYW may have eyesight problems. Dyslexics tend to prefer a pastel colour for reading since the glare of the white background over-powers the letters. This is why the default background colour for the text is a pale yellow. However, users can change that by choosing a different colour scheme from the Content colour drop-down. You can also increase the font size by choosing from the Font size drop-down, if that helps.
Coursework can be completed a bit at a time and stored on the cloud so that marking and feedback are quick and problems are identified early. This increases student participation and motivation. It allows the monitoring of progress so those who need more support get it. It allows students to progress at their own speed, which means those who are faster are not held back whilst those finding it harder are not pressured by the faster ones.
Teachers and lecturers can then hover, cross-legged, one foot off the ground and say, "It's over there ... and it looks like this!"