Blogpost by Joel Williams (Student Digital Champion)
Welcome to this year’s Winter Break Challenge, created by the Student Digital Champions. We’ve created nine challenges for you to complete while taking a study break over the Christmas holidays.
We’ve also created a LinkedIn Learning collection, which you’re welcome to use for days 3, 5 and 7 of the challenge. Or, please feel free to choose other courses from LinkedIn Learning.
Do you have particular skills that you want to develop, but not sure where to start? LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform which all students and staff at AU have free access to, have just released a new coaching chatbot which may help solve this issue!
What does the coaching chatbot do?
Their new AI-powered coaching chatbot provides personalised advice and resources, pulled directly from the expert-taught content within LinkedIn Learning.
You can ask for advice on challenges you’re facing, or recommendations on how to develop specific skills, and the chatbot will ask you follow-up questions to ensure that you receive the best recommendations.
Top Tip: To get an even better response, link your LinkedIn Learning account with your personal LinkedIn account (how do I do that?) and the chatbot will take your job title or level of study into consideration before providing you with recommendations.
How do I access the coaching chatbot?
You can access the chatbot in two places, either from the main menu (on the left-hand side), or from the homepage.
Further questions?
If you have any questions about this new feature, or about LinkedIn Learning in general, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).
We’re halfway through our Christmas Learning Challenge, but don’t worry it’s not too late to join us!
The challenge provides staff and students with an opportunity to develop a range of skills, from tips to boost productivity, keyboard shortcuts in Outlook to developing better sleep habits, by watching 12 short videos from LinkedIn Learning over 12 days.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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).
From Wednesday 27 September 2023, we will be enabling a new version of the tool which allows staff to embed LinkedIn Learning content within their modules on Blackboard Learn Ultra. There are many advantages to enabling this new version, however it will require staff who have already embedded LinkedIn Learning content within their current modules to follow a few steps before and after this date.
What do I need to do if I have LinkedIn Learning content embedded in my current Blackboard Learn Ultra modules?
Before Wednesday 27 September, you will need to make a note of which LinkedIn Learning courses you have already embedded within your modules.
You can then delete these courses from your module.
From Wednesday 27 September, you will need to re-add these courses using the new version of the tool (how do I do that?)
Please note: Any embedded LinkedIn Learning content that were added using the old version of the tool will appear as broken links to students from 27 September.
What are the advantages of this new version?
Embedding content will save staff time as it will automatically pull through the content title and description for you.
Staff can search for the LinkedIn Learning content they wish to include in their modules directly in Blackboard Learn Ultra.
Previously, staff could only embed LinkedIn Learning courses within their modules. The new version allows other types of content from LinkedIn Learning, including videos, audio files, and Learning Paths, to be embedded.
Students will be able to view the content directly in Blackboard Learn Ultra, without having to login to LinkedIn Learning separately.
From 27 September 2023 all staff can embed LinkedIn Learning content within their Blackboard Learn Ultra modules using the new version of the tool – further instruction is available from this FAQ.
The below video (no audio) demonstrates how easy it will be for students to access LinkedIn Learning content within Blackboard Learn Ultra if they have been embedded using the new tool.
For any queries relating to embedding LinkedIn Learning content in Blackboard Learn Ultra, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).
Are you interested in learning what resources are available to help you assess and develop your digital skills? Or, perhaps you’re interested in learning more about how you can support your students to develop their own digital skills?
We will be delivering several training sessions for staff throughout Semester 1. If you are unable to attend any of these sessions, please feel free to email digi@aber.ac.uk to arrange a conversation with a member of our team.
Blogpost by Laurie Stevenson (Student Digital Champion)
I published Part 1 of this blogpost earlier this week, where I introduced you to 5 tips and tricks to help you make the most of Excel, and this blogpost contains 5 further tips! If you want to learn more about Excel, please visit my new Excel LinkedIn Learning collection.
Tip 6: Adding in multiple rows or columns at once
If you want to add more than one row or column in one go, this tip will save you the time of having to do this one row at a time.
Highlight the number of rows or columns you want
Right-click on the highlighted rows or columns
Choose Insert from the drop-down menu that appears
Tip 7: Adding bullet points
Finding the button to add these is not as easy as on Microsoft Word but luckily there are a couple of different ways to do this.
As we near towards the start of the Semester 2 examinations, we’ve put together a range of resources to help you make the most of technology as you prepare and revise for your exams.
Exam season can be a challenging time for students, this collection gives you some strategies and advice for managing your stress levels around exams
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).
Blogpost by Jeffrey Clark (Student Digital Champion)
The Internet is a great place to connect with friends, work on projects, and even make money. However, there are some who will use the Internet to try and make money from YOU! Unfortunately, scams are becoming more and more advanced but thankfully I’ve got you covered! In this blogpost I’ll go over scam emails, what they are, how to identify them and what to do when you find them.
Make sure to read the Aberystwyth University page on spam emails before reading this blog post.
What is a phishing email?
A phishing email is an email that is designed to obtain sensitive personal data from you. This data may come in the form of your address, credit card information, or even your bank details! Phishing emails are usually disguised as legitimate business emails like the example below.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
It’s easy to see how one might fall for a phishing email like this. Firstly, the email notifies the victim that their bank account may have been compromised which prompts them to act urgently. Secondly, there is nothing suspicious about the link at first glance. So how can you tell the difference between a legitimate email and a phishing email?