DigiTip 9 – Record your screen directly in PowerPoint 🎥

If you need to include a screen-recording in your PowerPoint presentation, you can do this directly in PowerPoint without having to use any other software! Open PowerPoint and then watch the video below or follow these instructions: 

  • Select Record 
  • Select Screen Recording 
  • Open the page that you want to record 
  • Click on Select Area and choose the exact part of the screen that you want to record 
  • Select Audio if you want to record audio with your video 
  • Select Record (you should see a countdown before your recording starts) and complete your recording 
  • Once you’ve finished your recording, hover your mouse over the top of the screen and select Stop 
  • Your screen-recording will be automatically pasted into your PowerPoint presentation 
  • You can edit your recording by clicking on your recording and selecting Playback 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

AU Graduates Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 1 (Francesca Hughes)

Blogpost by Laurie Stevenson (Student Digital Champion)

*Please read my first blog to learn more about our AU Graduate Digital Skills Profile Series*

Our first graduate interview is with Francesca who now works as a support secretary within the NHS and wished she had been able to improve her knowledge and proficiency using MS Excel before she graduated.

Our Digital Skills Festival (6-10 November 2023) has two events on using Excel for both everyday use as well as working with more complex data sets. For more information, and to book your space on any event at the festival, please have a look at the programme.

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Learn to code for free with CoderPad in LinkedIn Learning

There may be many different reasons why you want to learn to code. It may be a skill that you want to practice for your degree; it could be a hobby of yours; or your may be interested in developing this skill to enhance your employability.

Knowing how to code is an incredibly valuable skill, but it if you’re new to coding, it may be difficult to know how to make a start. Luckily, LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform which all students and staff at AU have free access to (learn how to get started), have launched a new partnership with CoderPad.

They have launched an array of new Code Challenge courses on Python, Java, SQL, JavaScript, C#, and Go, designed to help beginner to advanced learners develop their coding skills through interactive exercises and real-time feedback.

Take a look at the video below to learn more about these challenges:

There are currently 33 Code Challenges (but this is continually increasing), and you can also learn how to code and practice your skills with additional GitHub programming courses in LinkedIn Learnings.

Here are a couple of Code Challenge courses for you to get started with!

Beginner Code Challenges

Advanced Code Challenges

If you have any queries about any of the content mentioned in this blogpost, or if you have any general queries about LinkedIn Learning, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).

DigiTip 8: Limit your scrolling time on Instagram 🤳

Are you struggling to concentrate on your work? Are you procrastinating on social media?  

Do you need to limit your scrolling time? 

Did you know you can now limit your Instagram scrolling time through the Instagram settings.  

Go to: 

  • Settings, 
  • Time spent, 
  • Set daily time limit. 

You can set these limits so that a reminder appears after your chosen time suggesting you take a break.  

To reset the timer simply close down the app and reopen it.  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

Introducing our new ‘AU Graduates Digital Skills Profile Series’!

Blogpost by Laurie Stevenson (Student Digital Champion)

As part of a project organised by the Student Digital Champions, we will be publishing a weekly series of interviews with graduates of Aberystwyth University about their use of digital skills in their lives since graduating, whether that is in their current job, Postgraduate studies, or career pathway. We’ll also hear about the skills they wish they had developed further before they left Aberystwyth University.

We will be releasing four profiles this semester, one a week on Thursdays, and the other half will be released in Semester 2. The first profile will be published this Thursday and will be available from this page on the Digital Skills Blog, but in the meantime take a look at the JISC Digital Capabilities Framework, the framework we follow here at AU, to learn what digital skills are and why they matter to you.

Keeps your eyes peeled on Thursday for our first profile!

DigiTip 7 – Learn new digital skills for free with our digital skills collections from LinkedIn Learning 💻

Do you want to learn or develop your digital skills but not sure where to start? With our LinkedIn Learning digital skills collections, you can now develop your digital skills further with easily digestible courses and videos that are tailored more specifically to what you are looking for. With a variety of content to choose from in LinkedIn Learning, we have developed 30 new collections (15 for students and 15 for staff) to support you all at Aberystwyth University to find the most appropriate content suited for what you want to learn most. Each collection contains 9 resources, and these resources can range from short 3-minute videos to more in-depth courses. 

If you have any questions about these LinkedIn Learning collections, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

DigiTip 6: Set your status for a set time in MS Teams to show that you’re busy 🔕

Sometimes, you may need to set some time aside to concentrate on a particular piece of work, but how can you show other people who are also online that you’re busy? Microsoft Teams allows you to set your status to Do not disturb, meaning that you won’t be interrupted by Teams notifications or calls (unless you choose to receive these from specific people), but it can be too easy to forget to turn this status off once you’re finished.  

Luckily, Teams allows you to set your status for a set duration. Take a look at the video below or follow these instructions:  

  • Open MS Teams and click on your profile picture 
  • Click on your current status 
  • Select Duration 
  • Choose Do not Disturb (or whichever status you want to appear) 
  • Choose for how long you want this status to appear
  • Click Done 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

Come to our Digital Skills Drop-ins throughout Semester 1

A member of the team will be available each week to support both students and staff at one of our weekly Digital Skills drop-ins.

We can help you find resources that you can use to develop your digital skills; give you general advice about developing your digital skills; and we are also very happy to discuss your Digital Discovery Tool reports. 

📍 We’ll be at the Skills Hub (indicated by the star on the image below) on Level D of the Hugh Owen library on the below Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout Semester 1. If you have any questions, please email digi@aber.ac.uk.

Tuesdays
11:00-12:00
Wednesdays
10:00-11:00
October ’2311 October ’23
17 October ’2325 October ’23
31 October ’23November ’23
14 November ’2322 November ’23
28 November ’23December ’23
12 December ’23

DigiTip 5: Split your screen and multitask 💻

Are you working on one screen and struggling? Are you tired of swapping between two windows? 

Did you know that you can split your screen to view two things at once making it much easier to view two windows at the same time. This means that you can work on documents, tabs and much more side-by-side.  

  • On your keyboard, to the left-hand side of the space bar there is the Windows button. 
  • Hold the windows button and then tap any arrow key you would like. For example, hold the windows key and then tap the left arrow key.  
  • This will move your document to the left-hand side of your screen.  
  • You will be shown all the open windows you have to fill the remainder of the screen. Simply select which window you would like to open.  

Please note, these instructions are for Windows PC only. If you are working on a Mac, please view split screen instructions here: Use two Mac apps side by side in Split View – Apple Support (UK) 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!