AberSkills Week 2024 🎉

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As part of Aberystwyth University’s extended induction, next week is AberSkills week! There are several events running, you can view all events being held on the AberSkills site but the Digital Skills team are a part of three sessions! These are: 

  • Everyday AI Tools: Presented by Jisc’s Senior AI Specialist Paddy Shepperd, this session will consider the practical use of AI in daily tasks, focusing on productivity-enhancing tools like Microsoft Copilot, Google Docs, and ChatGPT. We will look at AI’s role in education through applications such as Bodyswaps and Anywize and discuss how these can be integrated into learning strategies to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and overall productivity. 
  • Getting Started with LinkedIn Learning: During this session, we will demonstrate how to: 
    • Navigate the platform and search for relevant content 
    • Display certificates for completed courses and your personal LinkedIn profile 
    • Group content based on a particular topic, or content you want to watch at another time, as personal collections 
    • New features recently added to LinkedIn Learning 
  • Digital Skills Workshop: Hands-on experience for new international students here in Aber on the systems that you will use (e.g. Blackboard, Panopto, Turnitin, Student Record, Primo, etc) and some external systems also (e.g. Office 365 software like Word, PowerPoint, LinkedIn Learning etc). 

You can book all sessions through the AberSkills site, you can also view all recordings and resources from the 2023 Digital Skills Festival.  

DigiTip 40: Get More Connected to Nature with Seek by iNaturalist 🔎🌼

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While on a lunchtime walk or during a break between lectures, there’s nothing better than exploring the campus. On your walk, you may come across birds, plants, fungi, and amphibians that you can’t identify. Using image recognition technology, the Seek by iNaturalist app will help you take your knowledge of nature to the next level! 

📲 Download from Google Play 📲 Download from the Apple Store

Take a look at this pocket guide from National Geographic or watch the video below to learn how the app works. 

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!

Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 1 – Arad Goch

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Our first Employer Profile is with Arad Goch Theatre Company based in Aberystwyth. One of the essential digital skills that Arad Goch values most is the use of Microsoft software. You can view curated collections on LinkedIn Learning for Microsoft Software below: 

Text Version

Company: Arad Goch Theatre Company

Company Size: 8 permanent staff but up to 20 with temporary contracts

Founded: 1989

Where is the company based: Aberystwyth

Examples of typical graduate roles:

  • Technicians
  • Actors
  • Schools liaison Officer
  • Admin Assistant
  • Marketing Officer

Essential Digital Skills We Value:
Digital Proficiency – Use of Microsoft software, SAGE payroll software for finance, software programmes for running production lighting, sound etc.
Digital Creativity – Adobe photoshop for leaflets and poster, website design and updates, video editing software
Digital Communication – Emails and video calls

How important is social media in the business?:
“It comes into a lot of our roles. Everything is by email now but the marketing officers would need to promote our events in the medium of Welsh across all of our social media. Most of our marketing is done through social media now.”

What is your biggest advise to someone tying to get into your industry?:
“Experience! I know it is a bit of a catch-22 because you can not get a job without getting the experience but just getting that experience, even volunteering, really gets your foot in the door, then the world is your oyster!”

Do you think that people overlook the importance of digital skills in creative industries?:
“Yes, it’s a very important part of our industry. Showing what goes on behind the scene is a good way of getting the message out there and so for example, we make videos of the productions to get people interested. So skills in say digital marketing are critical for us.”

What are you not seeing enough of in terms of these digital skills?:
“Technicians are very few and far between so finding people for those roles is quite tricky. There doesn’t seem to be many people around wth lots of marketing experience either.”

Arad Goch Website

Produced by the Student Digital Champions

DigiTip 39: Practice makes Perfect: Rehearse Timings in PowerPoint 🥇

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If you need to deliver a presentation within a strict time limit, you may want to practice to get your timings perfect. With DigiTip 39, you can learn how to practice your presentation and receive the timings you used per slide. View the short clip below to learn how to rehearse: 

Please note that you will need to turn off slide timings before you present in order to change the slides manually, you can learn how to do this here: Rehearse and time the delivery of a presentation – Microsoft Support 

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!  

Introducing our new ‘Employer Digital Skills Profile Series’!

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This week our seven-week series of Employer Digital Skills Profiles will begin. Similar to the Graduate Profile Series that we released last year, the Employer Profile series is a set of profiles from a variety of employers to help see what digital skills are essential and valued across varying professions. A new profile will be released every Thursday at 11:30 starting this week with the theatre company Arad Goch! Make sure to tune in to read the new profiles and you can go back and read our Graduate Digital Skills Profiles Series here. 

DigiTip 38: Create mind maps with Ayoa 🌟

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Whether your brainstorming new ideas, revising for an exam, or taking notes, mind maps can be an effective tool for solving problems, memorising information, and much more!

Ayoa is a bilingual software that allows you to create as many mind maps as you want for free. You can read more about Ayoa in our previous blogpost.

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 37: Switch it up with Synonyms in Word 🔀

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Have you ever gotten stuck trying to think of a different word to take your sentence to the next level? There’s no need to struggle anymore! With DigiTip 37, learn how to use the synonyms function in Word. View step by step instructions below or watch the short video to learn more! 

Simply: 

  • Right click on the chosen word  
  • Hover over ‘synonyms’  
  • Select a new word! 
  • Still not seeing an appropriate word? Select thesaurus and view 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!  

DigiTip 36: Use Outlook reactions to respond to an email 👍🎉

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There may be times when someone has sent you an email, and you’d like to acknowledge its receipt without sending another reply. A great feature to use in this case is the reactions feature in Outlook, which works similarly to those in MS Teams or on various social media platforms.

To react to an email, click on the smiley face button on the top of your screen. You can then choose from six emojis, ranging from a thumbs up 👍 to a sad face! 😥

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 35: Secure your screen with Windows + Lock!  🔒

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Do you need to lock your screen faster than going through the Start menu? With DigiTip 35 you have your solution!  

Did you know that you quickly lock your screen by selecting the Window’s key and pressing ‘L’.  

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!

💻Reminder: ‘IS Digital Essentials for Teaching’ Blackboard site 

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In September 2023, we launched the new ‘IS Digital Essentials for teaching’ Blackboard site. The site is a culmination of resources from Information Services that any new academic staff member might need. This includes a checklist for everything you need to complete before you begin teaching as well as information and access to resources you could currently need, or you may want to digitally enhance your teaching.  

This is a reminder to all academic staff that the Blackboard site is still available to support any new or existing staff. View the Blackboard site to learn more.  

If you have any questions or if you’re having trouble accessing the course. Please contact us at: digi@aber.ac.uk