John Cozens - University of Bristol

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Organisation

University of Bristol is a UK university, currently ranked no. 44 by QS World University Rankings.

Program/Project

MSc in Computer Science was a 1-year full-time course. For my dissertation, I designed and programmed a text processing tool for dyslexic and deaf users.

Course Modules

Programming & Software Engineering
> intensive programming courses in C and Java
> software engineering fundamentals

Object Oriented Programming with Java

> more advanced applications, including early Swing GUI toolkit

Software Project
> team project, developing an airline ticketing system

Information Systems
> essentials of UML and systems thinking

Design Methodology

Overview of Computing

Professional Studies

Dissertation

I worked with the university's Disability Unit and an external partner, to understand the needs of dyslexic and deaf students. Both groups struggled to process lecture notes, typed word-for-word by a professional note-taker. Dyslexic students are typically non-linear, but exceptional at finding connections. Deaf students also valued some way to reduce the overall volume of text into a more memorable, visual format.

During several meetings with dyslexic/deaf students, I sketched out draft ideas for a system that might help them. The eventual solution allowed the user to mark up a plain text document with "smart highlighting" and images. Highlighted words/phrases were then auto-extracted into a mind map format, which the student could then evolve.

A further view was available, with all mind map elements dropped into a text outline, which could act as a skeleton for any related coursework submissions.

The final system was around 8,300 lines of Java, using Swing GUI libraries, and common Design Patterns. It was tested via field trials, and presented to a project board.

The client and users were very happy, and asked me to extend the system, and productize it for use by other colleges, after my degree ended. I did that work as a contractor, before accepting a role at U4EA Technologies.

Challenges & Opportunities

Crash courses in programming were intense, but exciting.

Most students on the course were smart, and had very diverse backgrounds. For programming assignments, we tended to work together in computer labs, and we spent most spare time together.

My dissertation topic gave me an insight into some of the realities of accessibility, and a respect for the user community, who were prepared to share knowledge about their challenges.

Mock-up designs for user feedback

Explanatory notes on design and test approaches

Examples of operational and detailed design elements

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