Category: Digital learning and development

Master your tech skills with LinkedIn Learning’s new Complete Guide Courses 👨‍💻

Sioned Llywelyn [sil12] Digital learning and development, LinkedIn Learning, Training Leave a comment

Blogpost by Sioned Llywelyn (Digital Skills Lead)

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:

Screenshot from the Complete Guide to Power BI course

What are the advantages of Complete Guide Courses?

  1. They are 5 or more hours in length, ensuring that you’ll gain a depth of knowledge in that chosen topic
  2. They are organised into manageable short videos and chapters meaning that you can look at only a specific piece of the course if needed
  3. Many of these courses include hands-on practice features, providing you with the opportunity to practice what you’ve learnt

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

Nature at your fingertips: My favourite apps for exploring the outdoors 🍃🌻

WordPress User [mnc7] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, Digital learning and development, Digital Wellbeing Series, Student Digital Champions Leave a comment

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.

📲 Download from Google Play 📲 Download from the Apple Store

Seek by iNaturalist

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.

📲 Download from Google Play 📲 Download from the Apple Store

SkyView Lite

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.

📲 Download from Google Play 📲 Download from the Apple Store

Stand out from the crowd with LinkedIn Learning Certificates 🏆

Sioned Llywelyn [sil12] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, Digital learning and development, LinkedIn Learning, Students Leave a comment

In today’s competitive job market, it’s important for university students to stand out. One way to do this is by earning certificates for completed courses on your Aberystwyth University LinkedIn Learning account and adding them to your personal LinkedIn profile.

But why does this matter? Adding certificates increases your chances of being found by recruiters looking for specific skills, showing them your commitment to ongoing learning and career development, making you a more appealing candidate.

Watch the video below to learn how to add LinkedIn Learning certificates to your personal LinkedIn profile ⬇

Learn more about LinkedIn Learning from this session at the Digital Skills Festival ’23 (Welsh session; English session)

If you have any questions about adding LinkedIn Learning certificates to your personal LinkedIn profile, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk) or view the official LinkedIn Learning Certificate FAQ page.

My experience with Code First Girls 💻

Jia Ping Lee Code First Girls, Digital learning and development, Training Leave a comment

Blogpost by Jia Ping Lee (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)

I remember first stumbling across Code First Girls through their social media during the summer of 2023, and then I learnt of Aberystwyth University’s new partnership with them. Having had no prior experience of coding and not having much knowledge about the tech world, I was surprised at how easy it was to look through the courses that Code First Girls were offering and regardless of what level of coding you had – there would be an appropriate course for you.

Being a complete beginner with coding languages, I had a look through their introductory courses titled MOOCs (Code First Girls’ massive open online courses). These courses were designed to introduce and provide beginner level tech skills and help build up confidence in an area of your choice. What I thought was fantastic about these courses was how it was organised and rolled out. With MOOC Sprints, they were running over 4 weeks with 1 one-hour live session per week and after the Sprint ended, you had the opportunity to test your knowledge and experience real world problem solving with MOOC Challenges and receive a certificate of completion after passing the session quizzes. I experienced a variety of the introduction courses offered including coding, web development and solving problems with Python. As I was able to review what I learned at my own pace after classes, it wasn’t as overwhelming as I initially thought, and the course tutors were always available to contact if you needed extra help or guidance.

Having thoroughly enjoyed taking the first steps towards gaining some tech confidence, I am looking forward to developing the skills I’ve learnt from the introductory courses and progressing onto the next level. I think that the most important lesson I have taken away from this experience is to never be afraid of trying something new that is outside of your comfort zone. The coding world may initially seem scary and difficult to get into, especially if you hadn’t learned about it before. But with Code First Girls, they really are here to help guide and support us to achieve the best skillset we need for future exciting opportunities!

Take a look at this blogpost where you’ll find 5 reasons why you should take advantage of Aberystwyth University’s partnership with Code First Girls. To find out more information about all the opportunities available with Code First Girls, please visit their website.

Please note that Code First Girls is open to women and non-binary people. If you are not eligible to undertake the courses offered through Code First Girls, there are many other free opportunities available, including coding challenges and courses with CoderPad and GitHub in LinkedIn Learning.

Develop your AI Skills with hands-on practice in LinkedIn Learning 👩‍💻

Sioned Llywelyn [sil12] Artificial Intelligence, Digital creation, problem-solving and innovation, Digital learning and development, LinkedIn Learning Leave a comment

Back in October 2023, we wrote about an exciting new partnership between LinkedIn Learning and CoderPad, which brought forth the addition of Code Challenges to LinkedIn Learning. These challenges are tailored to assist learners, from beginners to advanced, in developing their coding skills through interactive exercises and real-time feedback. You can revisit our previous blogpost on this collaboration here.

AI and Generative AI are swiftly becoming the cornerstones of innovation. To support your development in these skills, LinkedIn Learning has expanded its collection to include 73 courses with hands-on practice for AI and Generative AI skills. You can find all of these courses on this webpage or explore a selection of them below.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

All students and staff have access to all courses on LinkedIn Learning, including those with hands-on practice, through your free Aberystwyth University LinkedIn Learning account. If you have any queries about LinkedIn Learning or accessing any of the content mentioned in this blogpost, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk), or come along with your questions to one of our weekly drop-in sessions!

Learn to code FOR FREE with Code First Girls! ⚡

Sioned Llywelyn [sil12] Code First Girls, Digital learning and development, Training Leave a comment

Have you ever wanted to learn how to code? Well now you can do so, for free, by taking full advantage of our partnership with Code First Girls! We’ve listed 5 reasons below why you should make the most of this wonderful opportunity.

Please note that Code First Girls is open to women and non-binary people. If you are not eligible to undertake the courses offered through Code First Girls, there are many other free opportunities available, including coding challenges and courses with CoderPad and GitHub in LinkedIn Learning.

Questions❓

If you have any questions about the courses available with Code First Girls, please contact them directly.

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Join our Christmas Learning Challenge! 🎄

Sioned Llywelyn [sil12] Digital learning and development, LinkedIn Learning, LinkedIn Learning Challenge Leave a comment

Our Christmas Learning Challenge begins tomorrow, Wednesday 6 December! We have put together 12 short videos from LinkedIn Learning for you to watch and learn from over the next 12 work days. This content ranges from 1-8 minutes and will help you to develop a range of skills – from tips to boost productivity, keyboard shortcuts in Outlook to developing better sleep habits.

How do I join the challenge?

The first step will be to activate your LinkedIn Learning account. After doing so, there are two ways for you to join the challenge:

  • You can either follow the links on each day of the challenge from the calendar below
  • Or you can follow our Christmas Learning Challenge Learning Path (which will also display at the top of the LinkedIn Learning homepage when you login).

Calendar-Her-Dysgur-Nadolig_Christmas-Learning-Challenge-Calendar1-1Download

If you have any questions about the challenge, or about LinkedIn Learning in general, please email the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk), and we hope you enjoy your 12 days of learning!

Top tips for Mastering your Schedule 📅

Joel Williams [jow136] Digital learning and development, Digital proficiency and productivity, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

Blogpost by Joel Williams (Student Digital Champion)

Banner with Student Digital Champion

To accompany a blogpost that I published last week on how you can use time management tools to help you master your schedule, I’ve created an infographic (text version below) which summarises some of the key strategies and tools that have worked for me.

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Learn to code for free with CoderPad in LinkedIn Learning

Sioned Llywelyn [sil12] Digital learning and development, LinkedIn Learning Leave a comment

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).

Busting exam stress with technology 💻

WordPress User [jec68] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, Digital learning and development, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

This blogpost has been written by Jeffrey Clark, Student Digital Champion

Banner with Student Digital Champion

That sinking feeling…

With exams around the corner, there’s no doubt that you’re all feeling the pressure. Sometimes that pressure can be overwhelming and lead to periods of high stress and anxiety. No student should have to feel like that! In this blogpost, I’ll go over some tips and useful apps that can help you and other students tackle stress during this difficult period.

Striking a balance ⚖

Here is an example of how I would organize a typical revision weekday using Microsoft Teams

It is perfectly normal to feel mild to moderate levels of stress during your time at university. There is a lot going on! From reading and writing essays to hanging out with friends, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times. Even if you really enjoy your degree, it can still be stressful trying to find the time to manage all your modules. That is why I recommend managing your time and controlling your routine rather than letting it control you. Apps like Microsoft To-Do have been incredibly helpful to me since I’m always on-the-go. Microsoft-To-Do is a free cloud-based task management app available for desktops, Androids and Apple devices. The app contains some useful features for keeping you on track such as a customizable calendar and reminders that can be arranged in any order you desire.

Microsoft Teams also features an incredibly customizable calendar that is useful for scheduling meetings as well as keeping you up to date with your university task. Managing your time reduces stress by minimizing unpredictability and giving you the ability to work WITH deadlines as opposed to AGAINST them. Another good tip to reduce exam stress is to focus on one thing at a time. Whilst revising, focus your attention on just one of your modules a day, if you can. This makes it easier to retain information on the module that you’re studying which will make taking an exam all that easier. If you must study multiple modules, make sure you give yourself a meaningful break during your studies. Taking a break is important while studying for any amount of time. Incorporating breaks into your schedule is key to reducing stress and avoiding ‘burnout’, which we will discuss in greater detail later in this post.

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