Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Here are some academic and professional resources, which you may find useful over the winter break.
Most of you will probably be planning to take a richly deserved break from your studies over the winter holidays and that’s perfectly sensible. However, we are aware that some of you might want to take this opportunity to do some revision or start thinking about the next steps once you have finished your studies.
We hope the following resources are useful and we wish you all a restive holiday period.
Virtual desktop
With our Virtual Desktop you can access a range of specialist software applications without needing to install them on your personal device. However, you do not need to use this service for general Microsoft Office applications, which can be accessed from any web browser or by downloading the apps.
Virtual Desktop also offers access to some web resources that may not be available from off campus, and is a similar experience to using a PC in one of our campus computer rooms or libraries.
When you’ve finished using the Virtual Desktop, please help us to ensure the University bandwidth is not overloaded by disconnecting from the Virtual Desktop for all non-study related activity – especially things like streaming video.
Visit the IT Services website for guidelines on how to install and set up Virtual Desktop. If you experience any issues, please check the FAQs.
Academic skills
If you feel like you want to refresh your study habits for the new term, the Student Academic Skills team have created Moodle pages which you can dip into for inspiration, examples, and downloads to help you find study strategies that work for you. Just select your Faculty and enrol to explore our resources:
We've also put together a few short videos to help you consider note-making shortcuts, breaking down an essay or exam questions, and using the Pomodoro technique (timed working) to help you study:
How digital am I?
The Digital Discovery Tool allows you to self-assess your digital skills. Once you’ve answered the questions you’ll receive a personalised report indicating your level of proficiency across a wide range of digital activities. This report can only be seen by you and you can retake the self-assessment as often as you like.
The reports can be downloaded so that you can keep track of your progress over time. The tool also suggests some next steps to take to develop your skills and it offers links to a range of online resources.
Access the Digital Discovery Tool
Develop key competencies sought after by employers
There currently isn’t anything else like this for university students. Magpie will match you to a range of recommended resources to help develop key competencies sought after by employers in the workplace. From communication and problem solving, to leadership and presentation skills, you can access relevant content to enhance your development and skills for the future.
Find out more