Come and work with us as a Student Digital Champion! 📣

30 May 202330 May 2023 WordPress User [sil12] Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

We are looking to appoint two Student Digital Champions to work within our Digital Skills Team for a total of 25 weeks (5 hours per week on Pay Grade 2) next academic year, starting in September 2023.

The Student Digital Champions will support the work of the Digital Skills Team through encouraging other students to take advantage of numerous resources to support them in developing their digital skills. They will also provide a valuable perspective on issues relating to supporting the development of students’ digital skill in general.

Here’s what our two current Student Digital Champions had to say about their experiences in the role this year:

“My past year working as a Student Digital Champion has been really interesting, rewarding and something completely different for me. I was looking for something to do alongside a lab-based research placement this year and despite not having any previous experience in digital skills, or even a previous digital interest, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I have really loved being able to use the job as a creative outlet and have developed my graphic designed skills, but I have also developed lots of new skills such as leading focus groups and interviews, conducting user-experience analysis, designing and producing online content for various platforms and writing blogposts. The flexibility of the job has been fantastic, and I am looking forward to continue working with the team next year (who, by the way, are an absolutely lovely group of people), as a nice accompaniment to and change of scene from my normal university work.”
Laurie Stevenson (Year in Industry student, Wildlife Conservation)

“As a Student Digital Champion, I’ve learned lots of valuable skills which will help me in my future career. Getting to know programs such as Word, Excel, and Piktochart have been invaluable to my development as both a student and as an employee. Helping with running stands and on-campus promotional events have really boosted my confidence and interpersonal communication skills. I recommend the Student Digital Champion program to anyone who has a drive to help other students, and for anyone who enjoys trying new things.”
Jeffrey Clark (3rd year student, English & Creative Writing)

Here are examples of the different activities and resources the Student Digital Champions have created this year!

Please note that the closing date for these positions is Monday 31 July 2023. For more information and to apply for these positions, please visit Aber Works. If you do not currently have an Aber Works account or if you have any queries, please contact digi@aber.ac.uk.   

Microsoft Excel Tips and Tricks (Part 2)💡

24 May 202324 May 2023 Laurie Stevenson [las60] Digital proficiency and productivity, Information, data and media literacies, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

Blogpost by Laurie Stevenson (Student Digital Champion)

I published Part 1 of this blogpost earlier this week, where I introduced you to 5 tips and tricks to help you make the most of Excel, and this blogpost contains 5 further tips! If you want to learn more about Excel, please visit my new Excel LinkedIn Learning collection.

Tip 6: Adding in multiple rows or columns at once

If you want to add more than one row or column in one go, this tip will save you the time of having to do this one row at a time.

Highlight the number of rows or columns you want
Right-click on the highlighted rows or columns
Choose Insert from the drop-down menu that appears

Tip 7: Adding bullet points

Finding the button to add these is not as easy as on Microsoft Word but luckily there are a couple of different ways to do this.

Microsoft Excel Tips and Tricks (Part 1)💡

22 May 202324 May 2023 Laurie Stevenson [las60] Digital proficiency and productivity, Information, data and media literacies, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

Blogpost by Laurie Stevenson (Student Digital Champion)

Feel a sense of dread whenever you have to use Excel for your degree? Well, we’re here to help! Many degrees will require the use of Excel at some point for data analysis, maths calculations, graph or chart creation, project management and much more.

Excel can seem complicated and daunting to some, particularly if you are relatively new to it, so I’ve put together a list of tips and tricks as well as a new Excel LinkedIn Learning collection to help you out.

Keep an eye out on our blog later on this week as I’ll be publishing the second part of this blogpost, which will include 5 more tips and tricks on using Excel!

Tip 1: Useful keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts involve pressing more than one key simultaneously and if memorised can save you a great deal of time. For example, use CTRL+A to select all the cells in a spreadsheet. Take a look at the following list of good ones to learn:

Ctrl + N	Create a new workbook
Ctrl + O	Open an existing workbook
Ctrl + S	Save the active workbook
F12	Save the active workbook under a new name, displays the save as dialog box
Ctrl + W	Close the active workbook
Ctrl + C	Copy the contents of the selected cells to the Clipboard
Ctrl + X	Cut the contents of the selected cells to the Clipboard
Ctrl + V	Paste/insert the content of the Clipboard into the selected cells(s)
Ctrl + Z	Undo your last action
Ctrl + P	Open the Print dialog
Alt + H	Open the home tab
Alt + N	Open the Insert tab
Alt + P	Open the page layout tab
Ctrl + S	Save a workbook
Ctrl + 9	Hide the selected row(s)
Ctrl + 0	Hide the selected column(s)

Resources to help you prepare for your exams

9 May 20239 May 2023 WordPress User [sil12] Digital Skills Library, LinkedIn Learning, Students Leave a comment

As we near towards the start of the Semester 2 examinations, we’ve put together a range of resources to help you make the most of technology as you prepare and revise for your exams.

Student Digital Skills Library

There are resources in each of the 6 collections that will support you in making the most of technology as you prepare for your exams

Blogpost: Busting Exam Stress with Technology

LinkedIn Learning Collection: Effective Exam Preparation and Revision

This collection has some tips and advice to help you revise and study for your exams

LinkedIn Learning Collection: Tackling Exam Stress

Exam season can be a challenging time for students, this collection gives you some strategies and advice for managing your stress levels around exams

Please also take a look at the general FAQ’s for exams, and if you have any questions about any of the resources listed above, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).

Online Scams: Identifying Scam Emails and Texts

2 May 20235 September 2023 WordPress User [jec68] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, Digital proficiency and productivity, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

Blogpost by Jeffrey Clark (Student Digital Champion)

The Internet is a great place to connect with friends, work on projects, and even make money. However, there are some who will use the Internet to try and make money from YOU! Unfortunately, scams are becoming more and more advanced but thankfully I’ve got you covered! In this blogpost I’ll go over scam emails, what they are, how to identify them and what to do when you find them.

Make sure to read the Aberystwyth University page on spam emails before reading this blog post.

What is a phishing email?

A phishing email is an email that is designed to obtain sensitive personal data from you. This data may come in the form of your address, credit card information, or even your bank details! Phishing emails are usually disguised as legitimate business emails like the example below.

Screenshot of a Phishing Email from TustedBank — *Image from Wikimedia Commons*

It’s easy to see how one might fall for a phishing email like this. Firstly, the email notifies the victim that their bank account may have been compromised which prompts them to act urgently. Secondly, there is nothing suspicious about the link at first glance. So how can you tell the difference between a legitimate email and a phishing email?