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?
LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform which all students and staff at AU have free access to, have recently released three new and exciting features. Take a look at the information and guides below to learn how to make the most of these new features.
New feature 1: Role Guides
LinkedIn Learning have recently released Role Guides. These will enable you to explore and find content related to a wide variety of career paths. For example, if you aspire to become a Data Scientist, you can follow the Data Scientist role guide to find courses, learning paths, skills insights, and community group spaces related to this specific role.
Take a look at the below video (no audio) to learn how to access Role Guides, and you can also find out more about them through this LinkedIn Learning Role Guides help guide.
New feature 2: GitHub Codespaces
LinkedIn Learning have also released GitHub Codespaces, allowing you hands-on practice to master today’s top computer programming languages and other related topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
LinkedIn Learning have developed over 50 courses which include hands-on practice through integration with GitHub Codespaces, which is a cloud-based development environment. You can access all 50+ courses here, or start by looking at the selection of courses below:
New feature 3: Setting Career Goals
You can personalise the content that LinkedIn Learning recommends to you even further by setting Career Goals for yourself. The two main benefits of setting career goals are to:
Connect you to career development opportunities based on the goals that you have set yourself
Help you to build a variety of skills that will help you to achieve your goals
Set your Career Goals by clicking on My Learning and then My Goals, and take a look at this useful guide to help you make the most of this new feature.
For any support or queries about these new features, or for any general questions about LinkedIn Learning, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).
Do you want to develop your digital skills further? Are you struggling to find courses and videos from LinkedIn Learning related to those specific skills you want to develop? If so, our new digital skills collections may be just what you need!
All students and staff at AU have free access to LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform. Read our previous blogpost to find out more about the platform.
We have developed 30 new collections (15 for students and 15 for staff) to support you to find the most appropriate content from LinkedIn Learning so you can develop a range of digital skills. Each collection contains 9 resources and these can range from short 3-minute videos to more in-depth courses.
Here’s an example of 6 resources you’ll find and which collection they come from:
If you want to find additional resources to help you develop your digital skills, take a look at our student Digital Skills Librarywhich we launched last week (please note that the staff library will be available in June 2023).
If you have any questions about these LinkedIn Learning collections, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).
Today we are celebrating International Women’s Day! The theme this year is #EmbraceEquity and it provides an important moment to celebrate the cultural, political and socio-economic achievements of women, and is a call to action for us all to fully embrace equity.
Here is a selection of short LinkedIn Learning videos, all under 5 minutes, inspired by International Women’s Day. You can access these videos with your free Aberystwyth University LinkedIn Learning account.
The Student Digital Champions within Information Services are running 1-hour focus groups in March to gather feedback from students on their experiences of using LinkedIn Learning.You will receive a £10 voucher for an hour of your time.
These focus groups will take place online on the following dates:
Blogpost by Jeffrey Clark (Student Digital Champion)
Making things easier
Microsoft Word is perhaps the most used and widely recognized computer program in all of academia. Virtually every course you can take at Aberystwyth University uses Microsoft Word to some degree, with some courses requiring you to do more with it than just type out an essay. In this blog post, I’ll tell you about some shortcuts in Microsoft Word that have helped me during my studies.
Tip 1: Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are a combination of keys that you press to perform a function. For example, press control (ctrl) and C at the same time while highlighting text copies that text onto your clipboard. Instead of right-clicking and scrolling down the drop-down menu to ‘Paste’, you can press ctrl + V to paste the text instead.
The ALT key can also be used for shortcuts. Specifically, the ALT key is used for shortcuts as they relate to the top task bar. By holding down the ALT key for a few seconds, the keys for each shortcut will pop up. For instance, on my keyboard, pressing ALT and 2 will save my document.
But if we press ALT + S to go to the References tab…
We get an entirely new set of ALT keyboard commands to use!
By holding down the ALT with a different tab open we can see what shortcuts are available for each tab on the taskbar. If you forget what ALT key shortcuts do, holding the ALT key down will give you a helpful reminder of your keyboard shortcuts!
As exam season approaches we have put together a couple of collections on LinkedIn Learning to help you banish the stress of exams and to help you revise more effectively.
Are you interested in learning what resources are available to help you assess and develop your digital capabilities? Or, perhaps you’re interested in learning more about how you can support your students to develop their own digital capabilities?
We will be delivering several training sessions for staff throughout January. 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.
In this blogpost, Jeffrey Clark, a Student Digital Champion within our team, provides his review of LinkedIn Learning.
LinkedIn Learning: An Introduction
At Aberystwyth University there are plenty of books and learning materials to sink your teeth into. But what about when you’re on the go? Or you want to explore other topics that pique your interest but don’t know where to start? Founded in 1995 as Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learningis an online learning platform with thousands of courses to choose from. The courses are designed by industry professionals and credible experts in fields ranging from business studies to personal wellbeing. While this service would normally require a paid subscription, students and staff at Aberystwyth University can enjoy access to LinkedIn Learning for free across any device!
