Planning and completing a research project can be an exciting yet daunting prospect.

For the usual range of tasks – collecting, analysing and presenting data, writing up and managing literature – there is an even larger range of software options to help you achieve your goals. With multiple options available, it can be difficult to decide which is best for your project and the task at hand.

If you haven’t thought about what tools you will use, or if you have thought about it but you’re just not sure what to do, the Software for Success series of digital skills training courses is for you. There will be demonstrations of different tools and approaches with guidance and discussion of what tool is best for the job.  If you think you know what software you are going to use, then we invite you to come along and be challenged: there may be tools on offer that could smooth the way to a successful research project.

Software for success sessions happening this term:

1. Data collection – discover which survey tool is the best one for your research project:

DSD: Software for Success: Survey tools | Wednesday 11^th October | 11:00-13:00 | Online

2. Analysing data – an overview of the tools available:

DSD: Software for success: Data analysis and statistical tools |Join the interest list to hear about future dates

3. Presenting data – different tools available for visually presenting your data:

DSD: Software for success: Data visualisation | Thursday 12th October | 10:00-12:00 | Online

4. Presenting data – which is the best chart type for your data?

DSD: Software for success: Winning with charts | Tuesday 24^th October | 10:00-11:00 | Online

5. Writing – is there life beyond Word? Is there any reason to go there? How do you cope with fussy formatting requirements?

DSD: Software for success: Writing tools | Wednesday 1^st November | 14:00-15:00 | Online

6. Managing literature – imagine a world where your library and database searches link seamlessly  with your citation system and a database of annotated PDFs.  That world can be yours:

DSD: Software for success: Working with Bibliography and Citation Apps | Thursday 2^nd November |10:00-11:00 | Online

Need help booking?

Further instructions on how to book courses can be found here: How to book a course on MyLearning

Discover more digital skills training

The Digital Skills Development team at UCL offer a range of training courses to meet your digital needs. Find out more here: Digital Skills Development UCL

For any questions on Digital Skills Development at UCL, email isd-digiskills@ucl.ac.uk

From training and support to helping you improve your digital capabilities, read below to find out what exciting opportunities Digital Skills Development can offer UCL staff and students this autumn term.

Term 1 training courses

Is there a programme or piece of software that you use regularly but feel you could know more about? Could your Excel skills use a refresh? Or do you want to learn new skills like image editing or how to create a podcast? Our online and in-person training provides the opportunity to develop your skills with the help of an expert trainer.

To book, follow the links below or find more information here: How to book a course on MyLearning.

Data analysis and visualisation

Interaction and collaboration

Accessibility and assistive technology

Mastering Excel

Multimedia content: Creating and editing

Writing, presenting and referencing

Office hours

To make them more widely accessible, our drop-ins have been changed to an office hours format, with slots available each day. If you have a question or would like individual support on a specific issue, book an appointment with one of our team: Digital Skills Development Office Hours

Upgrade your skills with the Discovery Tool

In partnership with Jisc, the Digital Skills Development team have put together a Discovery Tool to help UCL staff and students identify gaps in their knowledge and improve their skills. Use the self-assessment questions to start your journey towards better digital skills today: Discover your digital

LinkedIn Learning

UCL staff and enrolled students can access over 16,000 courses for free on LinkedIn Learning.

Contact us

For any questions on Digital Skills Development at UCL, email isd-digiskills@ucl.ac.uk

Picture by Oliver Vas

On the 10^th and 11^th July, Tim Otway and I attended in-person The University of Leeds’ first ever Online Learning Summit, where we met a number of other colleagues from other institutions and went to a series of presentations throughout both days. The agenda was broad ranging, though it could roughly be categorised into three themes: creating design ecosystems, extending accessibility and enabling lifelong learning.

Firstly, we received an overview of the current outlook within HE online learning from Neil Mosley, and later from Sam Brenton, Melissa Highton and others. They spoke about witnessing steady growth in demand for online learning in the UK, as well as more rapid growth abroad. Sam Brenton mentioned that UK institutions are in a good place to take advantage of increased demand but must capitalise quickly. Neil Mosley foresaw the slow decline of MOOCs as interest intensifies in more flexible, stackable programs such as micro credentials – a topic that featured prominently in the summit. During the event participants grappled with formulating a ‘manifesto’ to standardise the regulation and awarding of micro credentials. Melissa Highton mentioned that while micro credentials still remain relatively unknown, CPD courses are the most highly searched for online. Data shows that learners typically want CPD that is badged, accredited and associated with a known brand or institution.

We also heard from educators who have enjoyed great success as online-only institutions, such as Joann Kozyrev, VP at Western Governors University, who spoke about moving away from the ‘time served’ model to great effect: allowing learners to progress once they meet the completion requirements rather than inflexible time markers. In their case, students pay a fixed fee for 6 months of learning, within which time they can take as many or as few credits as they wish.

Given the novel nature of a lot of challenges faced in the sector, the summit focused on a number of original and effective problem-solving techniques. One notable technique was Aaron Kessler’s learning engineering process which emphasised the continual need to “close the loop” between the stages of challenge, creation, implementation and investigation.  We also learnt about the differences between systems thinking, design thinking and futures thinking, and participated in Leah Henrickson’s “What-if” experiment, brainstorming possible future scenarios in 5-year increments.

The summit then attempted to apply these problem-solving techniques directly to a few of the challenges, specifically: AI and ethics, the nature of assessment, and accessibility integration. Donald Clark asked whether considerations over ethics in AI are doing more harm than good. He pointed out that the more cautious countries risk falling behind unnecessarily, since regulatory efforts are unlikely to be successful. Later, a panel debated the role of assessment and whether online learning had any chance of moving away from the grade-centred approach that dominates most of the education sector. Ultimately, they concluded that assessment remains a necessary tool to show that learning has taken place. Lasty, we heard from course alumni on how accessibility had improved their course experience. They emphasised that accessibility should be embedded from the start of programme development, rather than treated as an afterthought.

Overall, the conference was well organised and successful at balancing its in-person and online audiences. The experience was greatly enhanced by the attendance of a digital artist who drew live tableaus during each talk, helping to illustrate and reinforce key concepts.

What’s on offer ISD Digital Skills Development Team has released new dates for Term 2. Most of our sessions will be offered remotely using Microsoft Teams with some also face-to-face. See our latest schedule below. We are offering a wide range of courses covering Stata, Unix, Microsoft apps (including Teams, OneNote, and Sway), and much more. New highlights include the following: DSD: Enhancing the Accessibility of your Moodle Courses DSD: User access and multiple instruments in REDCap DSD: Managing participants in REDCap DSD: Qualtrics tips and tricks DSD: Scripting Stata’s new Tables and Collections.

How to book

Please ensure you are using Desktop@UCL or the UCL VPN when booking.

Prizes to be won!

We have new monthly term-time prizes to be won by staff and students who attend and evaluate our courses.  All you have to do to be in the running to win £20 ‘Love to Shop’ Gift Voucher is complete one of our training sessions, and submit our course evaluation form. The evaluation form should take no more than 1 minute to complete. Good luck!

Find out more

For more information on how to book and join a session on the day, please visit our Practical Course Information page.

Drop-ins

We are also hosting our usual weekly drop-in sessions remotely and face-to-face for those who would like individual support on a specific issue. The dates and times of the sessions, along with the joining link, are available in our ISD Digital Skills Development Moodle course.

More digital skills development opportunities…

Learn online with a vast range of high-quality video-based courses from LinkedIn Learning.  These cover technical skills but also business, personal and creative skills as well.  Visit the UCL LinkedIn Learning page to find out more.

DigiLearn Online is a library of online videos which covers UCL IT essentials. Topics include remote connectivity, data storage essentials, Microsoft Office 365 applications, and much more. Visit the DigiLearn Online webpage to access the video guides.

Latest schedule

What’s on offer ISD Digital Skills Development Team has released new dates for Term 1. Most of our sessions will be offered remotely using Microsoft Teams.  See our latest schedule below. We are offering a wide range of courses covering Stata, Unix, Microsoft apps (including Teams, OneNote, and Sway), and much more. Highlights include the following brand new additions: DSD: PowerPoint for researchers (Windows) DSD: Software for success: Survey tools  DSD: Design an impactful research poster using UCL templates   DSD: An introduction to free graphic design tools  DSD: In a nutshell: Git version control DSD: How to look after your health at the computer

How to book

Please ensure you are using Desktop@UCL or the UCL VPN when booking.

Prizes to be won!

We have new monthly term-time prizes to be won by staff and students who attend and evaluate our courses.  All you have to do to be in the running to win £20 ‘Love to Shop’ Gift Voucher is complete one of our training sessions, and submit our course evaluation form. The evaluation form should take no more than 1 minute to complete. Good luck!

Find out more

For more information on how to book and join a session on the day, please visit our Practical Course Information page.

Drop-ins

We are also hosting our usual weekly drop-in sessions remotely and face-to-face for those who would like individual support on a specific issue. The dates and times of the sessions, along with the joining link, are available in our ISD Digital Skills Development Moodle course.

More digital skills development opportunities…

Learn online with a vast range of high-quality video-based courses from LinkedIn Learning.  These cover technical skills but also business, personal and creative skills as well.  Visit the UCL LinkedIn Learning page to find out more.

DigiLearn Online is a library of online videos which covers UCL IT essentials. Topics include remote connectivity, data storage essentials, Microsoft Office 365 applications, and much more. Visit the DigiLearn Online webpage to access the video guides.

Latest schedule

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/blended-learning-getting-started

Managing the ambitious Ufi-funded MOOC project that is Blended Learning Essentials has required a leap of imagination. Back in May, we had no video, no scripts, no quizzes, no Padlets, no glossary, no crib sheets, no Digital Champions, no flyers, no tweets, no conference keynotes, nothing built on the FutureLearn platform. Diana Laurillard and Neil Morris had expressed a desire for video of actual teaching with actual learners using actual blended learning techniques in actual colleges and actual private training providers. Where were we going to get that from? And to add some extra spice, by the time Suzanne Scott from Borders College had consulted teachers in the Vocational Education and Training sector to establish what we needed, it was the height of summer, and all the colleges were having a break.

Thankfully, we had a supremely talented team combining Evans Woolfe Media, who travelled the country interviewing, shooting and editing video, and University of Leeds Digital Learning Team who put it all together, and as if by magic we started to see a MOOC emerge. Meanwhile, Maren Deepwell from ALT was working tirelessly on planning a marketing campaign to beat all others, and plotting accreditation pathways for our learners to progress from the MOOC. In the background, Richard Nelson from Bradford College was assembling a force of Digital Champions to support the MOOC, and creating a plan for how they could do it.

I was working with further education teachers to make the crib sheets – including the brilliant Wendy Rogers, just retired from a glorious career at Croydon College, Phil Durrant, and my colleagues at UCL Institute of Education – Rebecca Wilson, Tim Neumann and Kit Logan, who also helped to bring them to life in our UCLeXtend Moodle course. Rachel Challen from Loughborough College was thinking about the best way to evaluate the course, and all our other partners in colleges and organisations (AELT, ETF, AOC, Tinder Foundation, NIACE, Sheffield College and Northern College) were contributing to videos and promoting the course to their members. So many people, so much enthusiasm, so much talent! Even so, it was an incredible challenge – six months to launch the first of our two MOOCs to transform the landscape of vocational education and training.

But finally it is a reality, and we have reached the end of week 1. It was a major feat from our end to be sure, but that was only ever half the story. The participants themselves are the main part of the picture. I am seriously impressed by the energy and insight of the contributions that everyone is making on and off the FutureLearn platform. I have never enjoyed a MOOC so much – the discussion is great. Obviously, it is my favourite subject, but even so – I have to stop myself spending all my time reading the comments, and following the links that people have posted. It is making me think that this project could really change things and it is great to have been a part of it.