As we prepare for online teaching to commence once again, we wanted to take the opportunity to remind you of the Student Guide to Digital Learning. This resource has been designed to help both new and returning students with the digital learning experience and answers the most pressing questions from 'how to engage in online lectures?' to 'what's the university's virtual desktop?'.

In February 2020 we asked you to complete the Digital Experience Insights survey to tell us what you thought about digital life at UoN. We used the feedback you provided us in that survey to help us inform the Student Guide to Digital Learning.

You can learn about key digital tools and applications through videos, online resources and weblinks to materials that will help you to communicate and collaborate online, increase your focus and motivation and look after your digital wellbeing. 

View the Student Guide to Digital Learning.

We have highlighted below a few resources from the guide that you told us would be useful.

The Digital Discovery Tool

Our Digital Experience Insights survey revealed that only 31.43% of respondents felt that the university provided them with the chance to assess their digital skills. The Digital Discovery Tool allows you to do precisely this. You can carry out a self-assessment of your digital skills and receive a personalised report indicating your level of proficiency across a wide range of digital activities. 

The Digital Discovery Tool also suggests next steps to develop your skills and offers links to a range of online resources. Areas cover digital learning, digital communication and collaboration, digital identity management, digital wellbeing, using digital tools, digital creativity and problem-solving, finding information and resources.

Access to file storage and backup

Only 54.28% of survey respondents felt that the university provided access to file storage and backup.

OneDrive can be used for file storage and back-up. By storing coursework in OneDrive you can edit the file, collaborate (where appropriate), work on various devices (computer, browser, and/or smartphone), and know that the data is safe. The University provides you with five terabytes of encrypted storage in OneDrive. The Student Guide to Digital Learning helps you to understand how you can store your data safely.

Digital identity and wellbeing

Providing education about digital identity and wellbeing was another area identified for improvement with only 30.01% of respondents reporting feeling informed about health and wellbeing as a technology user. Staying safe online, managing your digital identity, and getting support with your health and wellbeing as a technology user are all areas covered by the Student Guide to Digital Learning within the Digital Discovery Tool.

This tool includes questions on all these topics with suggested next steps to take and a curated set of online resources to support skills development.

Digital collaboration

Just 19.32% of survey respondents reported having worked with other students on a shared presentation or report.

You are most likely to be collaborating online with other students when you are undertaking some group work on a module.

There are many apps in Microsoft 365 you can use to help manage your group work effectively, including chat, calendar, files, planner and forms. These are covered within the Student Guide to Digital Learning.

Digital tools for note making

Only 12.74% of survey respondents said they had never used digital tools for note-making.

The guide includes tips on note-making strategies along with links to live training sessions. Current students have also shared their preferred note-making styles using OneNote and PowerPoint - just two of the many applications you can access in the University's Microsoft Office 365 Suite.

Accessibility tools

9.06% of survey respondents told us that they use speech to text assistive technologies while 10.89% use text to speech technologies. 

The guide includes content on MS Immersive Reader and an explanation about how to access captions on various media using audio.

Further information

The Digital Experience Insights survey will run again in March, so please feed back on your digital experiences and digital life at UoN to further inform this resource.