Vicki Goodwin, the Open University’s assistant director for student support, and Bonita Thomson, an experienced consultant, have compiled this complex and useful book and CD-Rom package.

The complexity lies in the extensive material on the CD, which has the full text of the book as well as a hundred files of teaching and learning techniques and materials.

The compendium includes wide-ranging information on ICT, mathematics and even sight-reading music. Little is left out, and recommendations include the Optim-eyes lamp, a new option for dealing with visual discomfort. There are plenty of techniques for tackling spelling, but too little distinction between techniques such as mnemonics, which only work for one word, and strategies that are of more general help.

The sections on planning are better organised, and there is good information on screening, including some effective interactive tests.

The authors see their work as a self-help guide but its more likely audience are tutors, most of whom will find something to add to their personal tool kit.

John Bald

Literacy consultant