Author: WordPress User [shs63]

Sunshine, Summer, and LinkedIn Learning ☀

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Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

As the summer break approaches, did you know that if you are a current AU staff or student you can continue to learn and develop new skills with LinkedIn Learning. There may be a particular skill that you are looking to develop, or you might be interested in searching for specific skills you may need for future employment. And now, with the LinkedIn Learning app, you can learn wherever you are and while on the go. The app includes the ability to download courses to continue learning while offline or to engage with courses as audio only. For more information on the new features and how to learn on the go, read our previous blogpost: Get mobile with the LinkedIn Learning app! 📲 | (aber.ac.uk)

Note for graduating students: you will have access to your LinkedIn Learning account while you are still a student, but you will lose access once you graduate, so make sure to download your certificates while you can. Learn how to do this by reading our previous blogpost about adding certificates to your personal LinkedIn account.

You can learn more about the features on LinkedIn Learning including adding certificates to your LinkedIn profile and more through the Digital Skills Festival session:  Getting Started with LinkedIn Learning – Digital Skills Festival 2023 (6 – 10 November) (aber.ac.uk)

If you have any questions about using LinkedIn Learning please contact the Digital Skills Team at digi@aber.ac.uk or view the LinkedIn Learning FAQ: How do I use LinkedIn Learning? (aber.ac.uk). 

DigiTip 32: Do Not Disturb your sleep 💤

WordPress User [shs63] DigiTips Leave a comment

Notifications and messaging with friends and family can often distract you from the time and keep you awake. Did you know that you can set a “Do Not Disturb” schedule so that you are no longer alerted to incoming notifications or calls although they are still received.  

You can do this by going to: 

  • Settings 
  • Focus 
  • Do Not Disturb 
  • Set a Schedule 

You can also personalise the ‘Focus’ to allow certain calls or notifications from key contacts.  

There are also other forms of focus such as driving.  

View the short clip below to see how to set up the schedule.  

Please note, these instructions are for iPhones. For Androids, please view the following instructions: Limit interruptions with Do Not Disturb on Android – Android Help (google.com) 

Each week we’ll be posting a useful DigiTip to help you make the best use of technology. 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! 

Rock your LinkedIn Profile 🤘🏻

WordPress User [shs63] Digital communication, collaboration and participation, Digital Identity and Wellbeing Leave a comment

Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

As the end of the academic year approaches, you may be starting to think about job prospects and future careers and where to start with this journey. LinkedIn now offer “Rock your Profile” webinars to help you learn how to build an interesting profile that is appealing to your ideal audience as well highlighting key features and best practices for building an engaging profile. These webinars are available at different times of day, register now at: Rock Your Profile (linkedin.com).  

Aberystwyth University Careers service also offer reviews and advice on improving CV’s and LinkedIn profiles. You can access these services through in person drop-ins at Level D Hugh Owen Library during term time, the Careers team are also available via email at: careers@aber.ac.uk. Alternatively, the Careers team also conduct sessions on successfully building a CV and a LinkedIn profile, these sessions are advertised on the career’s portal: www.aber.ac.uk/ABERcareers. We also had a session about how to use LinkedIn at our Digital Skills Festival which you can access here: How to use LinkedIn – Digital Skills Festival 2023 (6 – 10 November) (aber.ac.uk). You can view further resources on LinkedIn through the videos below: 

DigiTip 29: Move between Windows with ease 🔁

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Whether you’re working on one screen or two, you will most likely have multiple windows open and as such you have probably found yourself frantically trying to find the window you’re looking for.  

DigiTip 29 has the solution! 

You can view and swap between all your open windows by using Windows key + Tab.   

View the short clip below to see the shortcut in action.  

Each week we’ll be posting a useful DigiTip to help you make the best use of technology. 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! 

Global Work from Home Day 🏡

WordPress User [shs63] Digital Identity and Wellbeing Leave a comment

Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

Working from home for most people has now become the new normal with home offices now a staple of most households. Being able to work from home is a positive in many ways but it can also allow us to be too consumed by our screens as well as having to adapt to new ways of working. As today is global work from home day, we want to share our tips and tricks for being more successful with working from home.  

  1. Step away from the desk! 

As with working in any office, having regular breaks and stepping away from your computer is essential. This could be taking a break to make a drink, taking the time to stretch or even doing some desk yoga! You can view the below LinkedIn Learning courses and videos for some tips on taking breaks and stretching courses. 

  1. Is your desk set up for success?

Digital ergonomics is important both to help your productivity with feeling comfortable and happy with your space but it’s necessary for maintaining your physical health too! You can improve your digital ergonomics through making sure your at home office space is set up correctly, be aware of eye strain and making the needed adjustments where you can. You can learn more about digital ergonomics through the resources below: 

  1. Establish a Routine

Working from home is a great benefit, but it can be very easy to be consumed by work and lose your day which is why it is so important to establish a routine. This can include maintaining a consistent lunch break, having specific focus times on certain days and if you have recurring tasks, completing these on the same days. View the below videos and courses for tips on establishing a routine. 

  1. Perfect Online Meetings

Meeting virtually is now a requirement for anyone working remotely and with this has come about a new form of etiquette. It’s important to maintain professionalism while working from your home office. This can be having a virtual background, ensuring you have a headset of some form, joining the meetings early and being aware of whether your microphone or camera is on. You can learn more about best practice for online meetings with the resources below. 

  1. Stay connected

Although there are so many advantages and benefits to working from home, it can be isolating and difficult to maintain communication with fellow peers and so it’s highly important to stay connected. The best way to do this is to utilise online communication tools. This can be using Microsoft Teams or collaborative documents like Word online or SharePoint. You can learn more about the different types of method to stay connected below. 

Spark new ideas with Ayoa! 🌟

WordPress User [shs63] Digital communication, collaboration and participation, Digital proficiency and productivity Leave a comment

Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

As a visual learner, I work best when I can lay all my ideas out in one place. I used to do this through pen and paper but now, with Ayoa I can do this online! Available both online and as a phone app, Ayoa allows you to create mind maps for free. It is a multilingual service, available in both English and Welsh where you can create as many mind maps as you want to help with multiple different projects or even if there is one plan that you want to split up further.  

Features provided within the app include the ability to begin a mind map from scratch or select from one of the pre-created templates. Within this you have full power over customisable features for example, you can add unlimited branches from your centre title and colour code these according to your project and what makes sense to you! You can also fully edit font and text size as well as the sizes and shapes of each box and change the colour of each branch. If you even decide that a series of ideas and branches need to be a different colour you can change these through the “children” function which will subsequently change all formatting along this branch.  

There are also additional features such as being able to insert emoji reactions to each branch and being able to insert or upload images that may help spark further ideas or reinforce points. You can add notes to certain points to add more information. If you want to share your mind map with others, you can export it as a JPEG and PNG and each mind map that you create will be saved to your Ayoa homepage.

These functions are all available on the free version of Ayoa which is permanently free. There is also a paid version of Ayoa (Ayoa unlimited) which has additional features such as the ability to collaborate live on a mind map as well as share mind maps with others in the app itself. You also gain access to different types of boards including whiteboards and task boards.  

For more information view Ayoa now at: Ayoa – Mind Mapping, Whiteboards & Tasks. Powered by AI.

In just a minute: Set a screen time limit! ⏳

WordPress User [shs63] Digital Identity and Wellbeing Leave a comment

Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

Whether you’re trying to work and keep getting distracted or sat on your phone before bed and can’t seem to put it down, using the screen time function available on iPhones may be beneficial to you. Accessed through settings and then screen time, there are multiple features to help manage your usage of apps as well as limit communications.  

  1. Downtime 

When activated, if your phone is in downtime this means that only apps that you have chosen to allow and phone calls will be available. You can turn on downtime at any time or you can schedule it to automatically occur on certain days at certain times.  

  1. App Limits 

You can limit usage of not only specific apps but app categories. For example, you can enable that all social apps – including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc – have a specific limit of usage on specific days. This is a customisable feature, and you can remove some apps from the category if you don’t want a limit on that specific app, such as if you want to limit social media apps but not WhatsApp.   

  1. Always Allowed 

Through this feature you can customise which apps are always allowed usage even if your phone is in downtime. This includes having the ability to personalise which contacts can communicate with you through phone, facetime and messages.  

  1. Screen Distance 

A feature that you can choose to enable, screen distance helps measure the distance your phone is away from your face and will send you an alert if your phone is too close. This is to help reduce eye strain.

If you’re looking for more tips and tricks in reducing your digital usage, view our student digital champions digital detox results! Please note, these instructions are for Apple only and unfortunately, this function is not available for Android users. If you are an Android user, view our Student Digital Champion’s recommendation of ScreenZen.  

DigiTip 26: Quick and Easy Screenshot Shortcut 📸

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Do you find yourself needing to take a screenshot of your computer screen? Maybe you need to add a page to your revision notes. There are multiple tools available but with DigiTip 26 we’re showing you a shortcut to quickly take a screenshot.  

You can take a screenshot of your screen by using the shortcut “Windows key + Shift + S”. Then you can either open the screenshot in an editor or copy the image into a document, PowerPoint, OneNote and more! 

Watch the video below for a quick demonstration.  

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 23: Recover your tabs 📂

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Have you ever prematurely closed a tab you were using? Frantically searching your history to find your page again or even searching through webpages?  

With DigiTip 23, you no longer have to worry.  

Did you know you can open any tabs you have closed by simply selecting “Ctrl +Shift + T”. This will even work if you have closed down an entire window! 

View the video below for a quick demonstration.  

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!

Get mobile with the LinkedIn Learning app! 📲

WordPress User [shs63] LinkedIn Learning Leave a comment

Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

You may use LinkedIn Learning for a variety of skills development, it could be learning to code, improving your Microsoft skills or even to learn something completely new. You can now learn on the go with the LinkedIn Learning mobile app. This means that you can learn wherever and whenever you want on your phone. Maybe you have hour breaks and want to use that time to learn a new skill without loading your computer. The LinkedIn Learning app means that you can continue your courses on your phone for easy and accessible content.  

LinkedIn Learning on your phone also gives you the option to switch your courses into audio-only meaning if you’re a fan of podcasts you can now listen to your LinkedIn Learning courses during walks or while exercising. With the app, you can also download your course content for offline usage. Now, if you’re travelling on a long train journey you can download your course and watch as you travel. If you’re driving, you can download your content and turn on the audio-only feature to listen and learn while you drive! 

How do I access LinkedIn Learning on my phone? 

  1. Go to your mobile app store and search for ‘LinkedIn Learning’ 
  1. Download the LinkedIn Learning app 
  1. Sign in with your AU details 
  1. Start learning! 

Further Questions? 

For more information read our other blogposts about LinkedIn Learning. If you have any questions or problems accessing the LinkedIn Learning app, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).