Category: DigiTips

DigiTip 53: Using Morph in PowerPoint 🧑🏻‍💻

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Do you want to make your PowerPoints more Dynamic? DigiTip 53 Will help you to do that by using a transition in PowerPoint called Morph which can give more flow to a PowerPoint by giving smooth transitions to shapes and text changing in the slides. 

  • First Open up PowerPoint 
  • Then create two slides, one with normal text and in the following slide split up the letters of the word across the slide. I did this by using multiple text boxes. 
  • On the second slide go to the transitions tab and choose morph 
  • Then still on the transitions tab go to effect options and choose characters 
  • From there press F5 or go to the slide show tab and click on from beginning where you should now by pressing space see the morph transition take place. 

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 52: Strikeout Star! ➖

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Have you ever wanted to cross something out in Excel? Sometimes you don’t want to delete or hide the cells. DigiTip 52 has a quick shortcut to help you out! 

Simply select the relevant cell(s) and use the shortcut: Ctrl + 5 

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 51: Become more effective with MS Teams by using commands ⚡ 

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Teams Leave a comment

Do you want a faster and more efficient way to navigate MS Teams, for example to let your colleagues know your status on Teams or send a message? DigiTip 51 can show you quick commands to do just this. For this DigiTip we will be using the forward slash commands in the search bar on Teams.  

  • First open MS Teams. 
  • Next, we will need to access the search bar at the top, this can either be done by pressing ctrl + e or by just clicking in the search area at the top. 
  • Then if you press / you will receive all commands available to you to use. 
  • After you have chosen the command you want to use you just have to press enter. 
  • An example of one of these would be /busy which is a faster way of setting your status to busy. 
  • Another example, /chat will give you a follow up option of selecting who you want to send the message to and what you want the message to be, all in the search bar. 

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 50: Become Number One at Notetaking! 📝

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Would you like to advance your note taking but you’re stuck on a format? With DigiTip 50 and page templates in OneNote you can do just that! 

Microsoft OneNote has the option to insert page templates to help you format your notes. There are templates from simple lecture notes to project overview to prioritised to do lists. Watch the video below to find out more! 

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!

International Day of Education 🏫

Shân Saunders Digital learning and development, Digital Skills Festival, DigiTips, LinkedIn Learning, Students Leave a comment

24th January 2025 marks International Day of Education and we’re celebrating by recapping resources available to develop your digital skills.  

LinkedIn Learning [available until March 2025] 

Free to all AU staff and students until March 2025, an online platform offering thousands of expert-led courses suitable for all levels, from beginner to advanced. With LinkedIn Learning, you can develop a wide range of skills, from utilising AI tools and presenting with confidence to mastering new software, including various programming languages and Microsoft applications. You can view our webpages for more information including getting started with LinkedIn Learning. 

Digital Skills Festival  

In 2023, we arranged the Digital Skills Festival and had a variety of internal and external speakers present on a variety of topics such as AI, Excel, Digital Wellbeing and Cyber security. You can view all the resources and recordings from every session here.  

Jisc: Everyday AI Tools 

As part of Aber Skills Week 2024, we invited Jisc’s Senior AI specialist Paddy Shepperd to talk about ‘Everyday AI Tools’, what tools can be used, how they’re advancing and the dangers. You can view the recording of the entire session here. 

AberSkills 

AberSkills is the central hub for all skills development on is available on the university webpages. AberSkills includes access to skills workshops, alongside help with library and information skills, wellbeing, and maths, stats and numerical skills.  

DigiTips 

Every Tuesday since September 2023, the Digital Skills Team have posted a small tip or trick to help develop your digital skills. You can view all DigiTips here.  

DigiTip 49: Interesting Graphs in MS Excel 📈

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Do you want to add interesting ways of presenting your data in MS Excel? DigiTip 49 can help with that by introducing Sparklines. Sparklines are small graphs that only take up one cell in an excel sheet and are an effective way of presenting data without having a graph that takes up a whole sheet. This could be useful for presenting data that is important but not vital to a presentation.

  • First you need an appropriate amount of data as shown.
  • Then select the Cells which you want to use to present the data and go to insert in the tabs and choose the type of graph you want from sparklines.
  • Select the data range you want to use, in the example that would be B2:F4.
  • And there you go; you should have a graph that presents the data all in a single cell.

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!

Study Buddy! A collection of resources to help you prepare for exams 📚

Shân Saunders Digital Skills Library, Digital Wellbeing Series, DigiTips, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

As we approach exam season, please see below a collection of resources to help you prepare for exams. The resources include organisational tips, study skills as well as suggestions to support your digital wellbeing during stressful times.

Digital Wellbeing Series by Student Digital Champions

AberSkills: Revision and Exams

Yellow and Blue banner with laptop, AU logo, and the text Digital Skills Library

Student Digital Skills Library

DigiTip 4: Increase your productivity whilst helping the planet with the Forest App 🌲

DigiTip 5: Split your screen and multitask 💻

DigiTip 14: Use Microsoft OneNote to organise your work 🗄️

DigiTip 38: Create mind maps with Ayoa 🌟

Top tips for Mastering your Schedule 📅

Strategies for Creating the Best Workspace 📌

Effective exam prep and revision

Please login with your AU email and password

Tackling exam stress

Please login with your AU email and password

Please also take a look at the general FAQ’s for exams, and if you have any questions about any of the resources listed above, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).  

Return to the World of DigiTips! 💡

Shân Saunders DigiTips Leave a comment

Welcoming in the New Year and Semester 2 also means welcoming our next batch of DigiTips. DigiTips began in September 2023 where the Digital Skills Team post a short quick tip to help with your digital lives. You can view all our previous DigiTips here and starting from 14th January 2024 you can view our new DigiTips being posted every week. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out! 

Resources Wrap up: Merry Christmas from the Digital Skills Team! 🎅🏻🎄

Shân Saunders Digital learning and development, Digital Wellbeing Series, DigiTips, Employer Digital Skills Profile Series, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

2024 has been a productive year for the Digital Skills team! Below is a list of the favourite things we’ve created in the last year including new formats, events, and resources:  

We hope that you’ve enjoyed using these resources as much as we’ve enjoyed making them. We’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to supporting your skills in 2025!