There is still just over a month until our subscription to the Jisc Digital Discovery Tool ends on 31 July 2024.
If you would like to keep any copies of your individual reports, please ensure you download them before this date, as you won’t be able to access your reports after 31 July 2024. This FAQ provides step-by-step guidance on how to do this.
If you haven’t used the Digital Discovery Tool before, there’s still time for you to log in and make use of this resource to self-assess and develop your confidence with technology! Please visit our webpage for further guidance.
Complete Guide Courses are now available in LinkedIn Learning to all at Aberystwyth University. These courses are fantastic for those that want to delve into developing specific tech skills with expert instructors. Whether you’re a beginner aiming to learn a new programme from scratch, or someone with more experience looking to progress further, these courses could be for you.
Here’s an example of some of the available Complete Guide courses with new ones being released each month:
Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)
In November 2023, we held Aberystwyth University’s first ever Digital Skills Festival. We held 28 different events over 5 days that spanned a variety of digital skills areas including sessions conducted on AI, cybersecurity, LinkedIn Learning, digital wellbeing, Excel and much more!
You’re able to review all the workshops and presentations that took place on our Digital Skills Festival website under the 2023 recordings and resources tab where you can watch the sessions back and for practical sessions you can work along on the provided worksheets.
If you have any issues accessing the recordings, please contact the Digital Skills Team at digi@aber.ac.uk and keep an eye out for upcoming information on Digital Skills Festival 2024 due to return later this year!
As we bid farewell to our ’23-24 Student Digital Champions, Laurie, Joel, and Noel, we want to thank them for their wonderful contributions over the past year. They have worked tirelessly to encourage students across the university to develop their digital skills and have provided us with valuable insights into what support students need.
Laurie Stevenson
Noel Czempik
Joel Williams
If you haven’t taken a look at their work yet, we’ve a listed a few key highlights below:
Digital Wellbeing Series – A series of blogposts and infographics highlighting key strategies, apps and resources to support students with their digital wellbeing.
Graduate Digital Skills Profile Series – 8 profiles of recent AU graduates about their use of digital skills in their lives since graduating, and the skills they wish they had developed further before they left Aberystwyth.
Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – The champions have also been working on a series of profiles with 8 employers. Keep your eyes peeled on the blog as these will be released next academic year!
Blogposts and infographics on various other topics:
Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)
8th June 2024 is Global Wellness Day, a day to reflect on your wellbeing and mental health. This year our Student Digital Champions introduced a Digital Wellbeing Series that covered a wide range of digital life to help improve others digital wellbeing with tips and tricks.
They explored digital ergonomics including creating a LinkedIn Learning collection about the best set up for your desk and advice on how to reduce eyestrain through the 20-20-20 rule and enabling dark mode. One of our student digital champions embarked on a digital detox which included deleting all social media apps, disabling notifications, replacing Face ID with a deliberate password and being more mindful of their purpose of being on their phone. They recounted their pros, cons, and advice for anyone else looking to indulge in a digital detox.
As well, our digital champion found that the app ScreenZen was a blessing during their digital detox to help enforce better boundaries while interacting with apps and becoming more mindful of your digital consumption. The Digital Wellbeing series also looked at the importance of digital decluttering and organizing your digital spaces, including creating better folders, customising your home screens, and clearing out your downloads folder.
Other digital wellbeing resources include a blogpost for any iPhone user about the inbuilt features in settings to help with your screen time limit and a feature to help distance your phone to reduce eyestrain.
Blogpost by Noel Czempik (Student Digital Champion)
With days getting longer and temperatures on the rise, many crave spending more time outdoors. To enhance your outdoor adventures, I’ve compiled a list of my favourite free apps that will hopefully spark your curiosity and deepen your appreciation for nature.
AllTrails
AllTrails is a pocket guide to walking trails, biking routes and nature spots suitable for various activity levels and abilities. The app allows you to plan your next adventure, whether small or big and helps you discover new places or return to your favourite spots!
These are some of my favorite features in the app:
Search for trails by location and filter by type of activity, difficulty, accessibility and length.
Access detailed trail information, including thorough descriptions of the pathways, current weather and ground conditions, and available facilities.
Check out reviews and photos to help you decide if it’s the right trail for you.
Save your favourite trails and share them with others in the app.
Have you ever seen a plant whilst out walking and wondered what it was? Seek allows you to effortlessly identify species of plants, animals, and fungi on the go. The app does not require registration; simply download it and point it at living things around you!
My favourite features in the app are:
You can point the in-app camera at what you’d like to identify or take a picture and upload it to the app later.
Learn more about the species’ taxonomy, seasonality, and geographical origin.
Being able to engage with a community and share the species that you’ve found with the app. PlantNet is another app that’s useful if you want to be part of a citizen science project on plant biodiversity.
The final app I’d like to share with you is SkyView Lite. This app contains an interactive sky map that allows users to recognise stars, planets and other celestial objects. The app is intuitive, accurate and easy to personalise. In Wales, weather can often be unpredictable, and clear skies often come as a surprise. With SkyView at hand, you can take full advantage of spontaneous stargazing!
My favourite things about the app are:
It does not require an internet connection or GPS, so it can be used in remote areas.
Tap on any celestial object to get a detailed description. Tap again for more information and educational facts.
The app works indoors, too, so you can learn anytime, regardless of the weather.
