Category: Digital Capabilities Framework

Top Tips and Technology to Support Students Living Independently

WordPress User [urv1] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions Leave a comment

Blog post by Urvashi Verma (Student Digital Champion)

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As Welcome Week came to an end recently, I hope that you have all settled in comfortably and are getting to grips with your new schedules. This means changing some of your habits and lifestyle to accommodate your university schedule. For a student living independently for the first time, these changes can be even more difficult. From managing money to living with new people, it isn’t always plain sailing. For example, when I started living independently for the first time, I managed to turn all my white clothes into a bright shade of pink!

Through this blog post, I’m going to share with you some useful tips from my own experiences, and especially different apps and technologies that have helped me to feel more comfortable living independently.

Get enough Sleep

Trying to get enough sleep whilst also juggling your life between lectures, assignments and work can be very stressful, and it can take a long time to get used to it. Try maintaining a proper sleep cycle by going to sleep at the same time every night.

Technology: I would recommend a free app called Sleep Cycle: Sleep Recorded.This app will help you record your sleeping pattern, and you can use it to wake you up at just the right time by using an intelligent alarm clock.

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Staying Safe Online: The Basics

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

Blog post by Jeffrey Clark (Student Digital Champion)

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The perils of the Internet 

 It’s no secret that the Internet is a part of our everyday lives. From work to social media, many of us find ourselves connected to the Internet in some form or another. Because it’s so commonplace, it’s all too easy to forget that our interactions with the Internet can damage our safety both online and offline. This blog post will go over some ways that you can stay safe while you are online at home or at Aberystwyth University.

Your Digital Footprint

Using social media is a terrific way of connecting with your friends and family. However, it is also important to remember that social media plays a key role in shaping your digital footprint. Your digital footprint refers to activities on the internet that can identify you. There are two main forms of digital footprint, the first being your active footprint, which is identifying data that you deliberately leave online. Actions like uploading a selfie are posting something using your real name all contribute to your active digital footprint. It is important to remember that even if you delete a post you’ve made to social media, it’s never truly gone. One of the best ways to stay safe online is to avoid ‘oversharing.’ Think of it this way, would you tell a stranger your debit card number? Your address? Definitely not! An effective way to remember not to overshare is to ask yourself ‘would I be comfortable giving this information to a stranger?’

On the other hand, you have your active digital footprint, which is data that you unintentionally leave behind. The most common form of this data are cookies, which are small blocks of data that identify your browsing habits. These blocks of data allow for companies to place tailor-made ads on the websites that you visit. While this data is normally harmless, they can reveal private information about you if you share your computer with anyone. Many websites now ask if you want to enable cookies, it is recommended that you disable them if you are using a shared computer or broadcasting your browser contents to an audience (such as in a Microsoft Teams meeting or a livestream.)

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What is Digital Wellbeing?

WordPress User [urv1] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions Leave a comment

Blog post by Urvashi Verma (Student Digital Champion)

Digital wellbeing, in layman’s terms is the impact of technology on the overall human wellbeing. In more sophisticated terms, it is the capacity to look after personal safety, relationships, health and work-life balance in digital settings. In today’s world, we have become dependant on technology for our every need. While it is a good thing to utilise technology and its efficient utilisation does solve many problems, any kind of misuse or overuse will have consequences. According to some research, our overall wellbeing is impacted with issues of stress, comparison with others and time management. It leads to worsening of mental wellbeing, mainly in the youth aged 15-24. There are higher chances of mental health issues surfacing in the form of, ranging from but not limited to, loneliness, anxiety and depression.

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Develop your Digital Communication Skills

WordPress User [sil12] Digital communication, collaboration and participation, Training Leave a comment

Want to learn how to improve your digital communication skills and especially how to use Instagram to promote your Business or Social Enterprise?

AberPreneurs, part of the University’s Careers Service, are running an exciting online event, Use Instagram for your Business/Social Enterprise – with Kacie Morgan, on 5 September (18:00-19:00). This session will be delivered online on MS Teams.

To book or your place or for any queries, please contact aberpreneurs@aber.ac.uk.

FREE Microsoft Cloud Computing Certification for Students

WordPress User [sil12] Digital proficiency and productivity, Students Leave a comment

Cloud computing is often rated as one of the most sought-after tech skills, and with the recent shift towards remote working and learning, there’s no surprise that employers are searching for graduates with these skills.

Students, don’t miss out on an exciting opportunity by Microsoft to access their live training webinars, exam practice tests and Microsoft Fundamentals certification exams for FREE!

The three courses available for free are:

  • 5th April 2022 – AI Fundamentals
  • 7th April 2022 – Azure Fundamentals
  • 8th April 2022 – Security Fundamentals

For more information about these free courses, download this information flyer by Microsoft:

Microsoft-Cloud-Skills-for-Students-1Download

You can also register your place for these courses through Cloud Ready Skills.

Popular LinkedIn Learning courses at Aberystwyth University

WordPress User [ujh] Digital proficiency and productivity, LinkedIn Learning Leave a comment

Productivity seems to be the order of the day, with LinkedIn Learning courses related to Microsoft 365 being the most viewed by staff and students recently. We’re all familiar with Microsoft 365 but how many of us take full advantage of the tools and functionality it offers?   

The use of MS Teams really came into its own during the pandemic across education sectors and the world of work with 91% of Fortune 100 companies using it in 2019. Beyond meeting virtually, MS Teams aids collaboration via chats, file sharing, task management, project planning, to-do lists and more. I recently attended an MS Teams meeting which made excellent use of virtual whiteboards, a tool I wasn’t aware of until then. Deciding which productively tool to use and when can be tricky, so learning more about each will help you in that decision. 

If you want to learn more about Microsoft 365 tools here are the top five LinkedIn Learning courses viewed at Aberystwyth in the past 30 days. To activate your LinkedIn Learning account, which is free to all AU staff and students, check out our ‘getting started with LinkedIn Learning’ pages.

  1. Microsoft Teams Essential Training (2h 21m)
  2. Learning Office 365 (57m)
  3. Microsoft Planner Essential Training (1h 27m) 
  4. Outlook Essential Training (2h 13m)
  5. Modern Project Management in Microsoft 365 (1h 39m)

University Mental Health Day: Digital Wellbeing Resources

WordPress User [sil12] Digital Identity and Wellbeing, LinkedIn Learning Leave a comment

It’s #UniMentalHealthDay today! A day to bring together the University community to make mental health a University-wide priority.

An important element of the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework is Digital Wellbeing, a term used to describe the impact that technologies and digital services can have on people’s mental, physical, social and emotional health.

Here are some short videos and courses that we’ve pulled together from LinkedIn Learning that could be of benefit to both staff and students on digital wellbeing, mental health and wellbeing in general.

  1. Supporting your mental health while working from home (17 minutes)
  2. Wellbeing in the workplace (23 minutes)
  3. What is mindfulness? (7 minutes 8 seconds)
  4. Sleep is your Superpower (34 minutes)
  5. Balancing Work and Life (28 minutes)
  6. De-stress meditation and movement for stress management (36 minutes)
  7. How to set goals when everything feels like a priority (15 minutes)
  8. How to manage feeling overwhelmed (43 minutes)
  9. How to support your employees’ wellbeing (34 minutes)
  10. Mindful Stress Management (36 minutes)

If you need support remember there are a range of services able to help.