Skills For Life Projects

The Skills for Life Homepage

A SfL specialised home page for use in sessions for both tutors and students. It is intended to be instantly recognisable to students with its Google theme but combined with a simple directory listing layout below the search.

The directory contains listings that are of use to both tutors and students. This has recently been updated with subpages for both numeracy and literacy so the main page does not become too crowded.

My contact details are at the bottom of the page so if you want to suggest a link to be added to the directory then please let me know and I will keep it updated. I am not trying to create the definitive links page, I think skillsworkshop do that beyond compare. I am trying to maintain a tutors homepage with links to the kinds of information that students want and direct links to the online resources that tutors are using.

The homepage can be found here http://www.peterburgess.net/homepages/

Skills For Life Living Documentation Project (S4L/LDP)

The S4L/LDP is a contributor driven database of skills for life knowledge. It is free to all to use and contribute to. At present it is very limited and needs contributions from skills for life practitioners and organisations.

Desktop Software

Multimedia Calculator.Net. This is a replacement calculator for basic skills students. Much like the pocketpc version below but will work on any computer that has the .net framework 2.0 installed. Multimedia Calculator.Net is a FREE download for everyone.

m-Learning  Resources

I have developed two  mobile applications for adult basic skills. These are:

The Multimedia Interactive Calculator. MIC is an ideal alternative calculator for those working with individual numeracy needs. MIC uses the same inverted keypad as the mobile 'phone and most other common numeric pads such as ATMs, telephones and remote controls. MIC provides audio feedback when keys are pressed and differentiates between numeric, operator and function key presses. MIC displays the entire sum all through the calculation. MIC uses the modern oblique (/) for the division rather than the older symbol, the same as mobiles and spreadsheets. MIC forces premeditation when carrying out calculations by asking for which operators to display, mobiles do the same by having only one operator key or menu from which the operator is chosen. MIC offers different levels of precision; remainders which are commonly used with basic skills students; two decimal places for use in monetary situations and six decimal places for metric work, which is sufficient to shift through two major metric units e.g. from mm to m to km. The cancel button does not obliterate the entire sum, but backs up by one stage with each press.

Counting Wheel Counting wheel is a simple to play game that practises the skills of number recognition, counting and hand/eye co-ordination. Its age neutral design means it is equally suitable for children and adult basic skills students.