In September 2023, we launched the IS Digital Essentials for teaching, a new Blackboard Learn Ultra site designed to support new teaching staff at Aberystwyth University. Please read our previous blogpost for further information.
As part of the launch of this new site, we have arranged an opportunity on Wednesday 14 February ’24 (2-3pm) for new teaching staff to join us for a cup of tea or coffee in E3, Hugh Owen. This will be an opportunity for new teaching staff to meet each other and to meet colleagues from Information Services.**Please register for the event here**
If you have any questions about the event or the Blackboard site, please contact the Digital Skills Team (digi@aber.ac.uk).
A member of the team will be available each week to support both students and staff at one of our weekly Digital Skills drop-ins.
We can help you with:
Finding resources that you can use to develop your digital skills
Providing basic support for using Microsoft software (e.g. PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Teams and Outlook)
Giving general advice about developing your digital skills
Discussing your Digital Discovery Tool report
📍 We’ll be at the Skills Hub (indicated by the star on the image below) on Level D of the Hugh Owen library on the below Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11:00-12:00 throughout Semester 2. If you have any questions, please email digi@aber.ac.uk.
Welcome to the start of 2024 and we hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holiday break!
From September 2023, the Digital Skills Team have been publishing short and sweet DigiTips that we think will help you make the most of technology – ranging from taking care of your mental wellbeing with the self-care Finch App to being able to brainstorm new ideas with the whiteboard in MS Teams!
Starting from Tuesday 9th January, we will continue to be posting weekly tips about all things digital and if you want to explore any of our previous DigiTips, you can access them from this webpage.
👨🏽💻 Digital skills collections in LinkedIn Learning for students and staff
We hope that some of the resources above have been useful in supporting you to develop your own digital skills, and we’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to continuing to support you in the new year!
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.
Blogpost by Noel Czempik (Student Digital Champion)
In my journey to digital wellbeing, I found myself at a crossroads, dissatisfied with the evolving relationship between technology and me. Once a source of joy for facilitating connections and enriching experiences, it gradually became a frustrating and anxiety-inducing presence. Attempting various strategies, from greyscale displays to setting reminders, proved futile; my devices continued to dominate my time, now laced with guilt and a sense of personal failure, far from the fascination of my early experiences with technology. What had changed?
Swipe Wars: The Smartphone Menace
In the early days of social media, logging in required a ritual—turning on the family PC, navigating through desktop layers, and patiently awaiting the slow progression of the digital world. That world could disappear at the press of a button at dinnertime or the first signs of an oncoming thunderstorm. Fast forward to today, and our devices are ever-present, always in our pockets, ready for instant engagement. The ease with which we unlock our phones without a clear purpose has turned habitual, a craving for the dopamine reward that digital interaction brings.
Initially confined to finite feeds, social media has evolved into expansive content platforms crafted to hold our attention endlessly. In today’s consumer-centric landscape, our devices are not neutral tools but deliberately designed to encourage frequent and prolonged use. While we seek engaging technology, the allure that captures our interest can sometimes work against our best intentions.
From Whoville to Screensville: How the Smartphone Stole Christmas
While invaluable in connecting us during lockdowns and holidays spent at a distance, our devices have also altered the nature of our in-person interactions. I vividly recall the post-pandemic Christmas spent with family, surrounded by screens, each of us engrossed in our digital worlds. It was a far cry from the planned festivities but a reality shaped by the omnipresence of technology.
My once-positive relationship with technology has now turned toxic, and breaking free from my phone’s grasp requires more than just free will.
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!
Blogpost by Joel Williams (Student Digital Champion)
Whilst computers can be excellent tools to increase and streamline a student’s productivity, staring at a screen all day can have several adverse effects. Through this post, and accompanying infographic, I hope to impart several tips which I’ve used to help make using computers a more enjoyable experience throughout my degree. In this post, I will discuss one common computer-related ailment, Eyestrain. Eyestrain can occur after extended periods of looking at the same monitor or by using a computer in a poorly lit environment.
20-20-20 Rule
One of the approaches I’ve found easiest to implement into my studies is the 20-20-20 rule; this approach involves taking a break every 20 minutes, looking at an object 20 feet away (don’t worry, this doesn’t need to be precise), for 20 seconds. Blinking often during this is also suggested, as this can help relax the eye muscles and further reduce the likelihood of strain.
Another method to reduce eye strain is to limit your exposure to blue light; this is because the blue light produced by screens can limit the production of melatonin (the sleep hormone), which can disturb our natural sleep cycles and result in our eyes feeling strained at the end of the day. This topic is still up for scientific debate, and you can read more about it here. This is easier to setup on personal machines but with some tweaking can be used on almost any computer at the University.
There are two main approaches to managing this:
Firstly, you can use software to reduce blue light exposure; MacOS and Windows have built-in settings, Night Shift and Nightlight respectively; you can even enable Nightlight on university computers.
Secondly, most monitors and laptop screens have options which enable you to control brightness and contrast, enabling you to achieve a similar result. However, if you are looking for more customisation, you can use free programs like f.lux which works on MacOS, Windows & Linux, and can provide far greater control over the tone of the screen (shown below).
Finally, blue light glasses can also be used to filter light not only from your screen but also from the surrounding environment and can be purchased cheaply from several retailers.
Enabling Dark Mode
Finally, another strategy which works well on many of the programs I’ve used during my course to reduce eye strain is to enable dark mode; this can be done within both MacOS and Windows and both are designed to aid working in environments with poor ambient lighting.
However, programs like the office suite and some internet browsers will require additional steps to change. Steps to switch Office to dark mode can be found here, and you can convert any Chromium-based browser to dark mode using extensions found in the Chrome Web Store.
More information can be found within the Digital Ergonomics LinkedIn Learning collection, click on the image above or use the link here.