If you’re aiming to improve your study skills or want to get better marks this semester, the Skills Hub webinars are designed for you. These free webinars, delivered by experienced librarians and effective learning advisers, are packed with useful tips and techniques to help with your degrees.
The webinars on the Harvard and IEEE styles will help you understand citing and referencing, and you can learn how to use EndNote X9, powerful software that makes citing and referencing much easier.
Learning Teaching and Enhancement Services (LTES) staff will be running more training sessions on Vision, Turnitin and Collaborate Ultra to help staff prepare for teaching in Semester 2. These will be appropriate for all staff whether you are new to using these tools or require a refresher session. to book please go to the following link:
Information Services will provide online support globally for urgent Helpdesk tickets from 23rd December to 4th January throughout the Christmas break apart from 24th and 25th December and 1st January. Please submit issues to ISHelp@hw.ac.uk in the usual way.
Library Opening times
Edinburgh Campus Library and Helpdesk will close on 22nd December and re-open 5th January
Scottish Borders Campus Library will close on 18th December and re-open 5th January
Malaysia Campus Library and Helpdesk – open throughout except closed 24th and 25th December 2020 and 1st January
Dubai Campus Library and Helpdesk – open throughout except closed 24th 25th 26th December and 1st 2nd January
On-site library services are compliant with local Government regulations and as such opening times may be subject to change – please check the website for details and HWU_IS
Information Services are delighted to have been allocated additional budget to purchase more access to eBooks.
Responsive Blended Learning means more emphasis on access to electronic resources and in particular electronic copies of textbooks. In our libraries we are conscious that we cannot provide you with access to print textbooks as we have in the past. This welcome investment in our library collections allows us to buy more titles, and more copies, for more access to the eBooks which you need for your studies and take home exams.
We are working from semester one reading lists to buy the titles you will need for your exam revision and take-home exams right now. These will all be accessible through Discovery. We know that there are different platforms and permissions around using these eBooks, so will make as much information as we can available here to help you.
Please get in touch if you have any problems through ISHelp@hw.ac.uk
We are also looking ahead to semester two, working through all the reading lists we have received so far, to ensure the textbooks you need for your studies are available for you.
There have been some changes to the print, copy and download permissions for Pearson eBooks on the Ebook Central platform. For existing licences the permissions are 5% but unfortunately for new licences the permissions are 0%. This means that there are two records for each eBook effected by this so it is important to check Discovery for more than one link. Some eBooks may also be available on the VLeBooks platform.
If you have any enquiries or problems, please contact IShelp@hw.ac.uk
This blog was originally published on the Learning and Teaching Academy blog https://lta.hw.ac.uk/blog/ on 5th December 2020.
In this blog, Rosemarie McIlwhan, Assistant Professor in the Learning and Teaching Academy, reflects on the challenges and successes of the Supporting Student Learning Online team in supporting staff and students across the University to respond to the pandemic.
When we first started supporting colleagues teaching in China to move their learning online, little did we know that soon the whole University would have to follow. Nor could we have forecast that much of the 5-year plan for active learning and digital education would end up being implemented in a little over 5 months. There have been many challenges since the pandemic caused us to move to blended learning, but we have each risen to the occasion.
The Supporting Student Learning Online (SSLO) team was one way in which we rose to the challenge. It was led by the Heriot-Watt Learning and Teaching Academy, drawing Learning Technologists from across the University, staff from the VLE project, Learning and Teaching Enhancement Services and media services together into one team providing global support for staff and students. In the video below members of the SSLO team explain the project, and colleagues from across the University explain the impact of the work.
The calm delivery in the video belies the frantic nature of the first few weeks, where we could foresee campuses being closed and the team went all-out to produce support resources before that happened so that staff would have hard copies to take home, and to rapidly provide the training and support that would be needed to enable staff and students to continue to stay in touch and finish the semester. That pace has hardly changed as we have moved into Responsive Blended Learning for AY20/21 and beyond, yet the team have continued to successfully support staff and students through live sessions, 1:1 support and provision of resources. What is less visible is the support that isn’t about learning technology – the taking time just to listen, to hear people’s frustrations (whether with the pandemic or the technology), to try to understand others’ fears even where you can’t do anything to help, essentially the humanity with which the SSLO team have provided support across the University.
Recognising the work of the SSLO team
In recognition of their work, the SSLO team have been put forward for the ALT ‘Learning Technologist of the Year’ Awards in the category Team of the Year. The awards are presented annually by the Association for Learning Technology (the UK’s leading professional body for Learning Technology). The Awards celebrate and reward excellent practice and outstanding achievement in Learning Technology. They have established a benchmark for outstanding achievement in Learning Technology on a national scale.
The awards are based on a competitive application process decided by a panel of expert judges, drawn from different sectors and countries, bringing together a wealth of experience in Learning Technology. The judging panel reviews all entries and the highest scoring entries in each category are short-listed. Judging criteria:
Excellence in the work (as defined in the CMALT principles).
Strong evidence that your work has made a significant impact on practices within the your or your team’s organisation, community, or sphere of influence.
Clear explanation of how others may learn from your work and what have you done to enable others to do so.
SSLO team shortlisted for Learning Technologist of the Year
We are delighted to report that the team have been shortlisted for the Learning Technologist Team of the Year Award.
You can find out more about the awards, alongside descriptions of the other shortlisted entries on the ALT awards showcase website.
The awards will be formally announced and presented at the ALT winter conferenceon 16th December at 4.30pm GMT. Good luck to everyone who has been shortlisted – there are some fabulous projects, and this year every when learning technology has really come to the fore, every single person working in this area deserves recognition whether they’ve been nominated or not.
ALT membership – Associate membership of the Association for Learning Technology is available to all Heriot-Watt staff. If you have an interest in learning technology it is well worth joining. Apply for Associate Membership of ALT via their website.
Skills Hub webinars will help you improve the skills you need to succeed in your courses and assignments at Heriot-Watt.
Topics for this semester include:
Finding Research – an introductory webinar on how to find academic research, suitable for students who are new to university research, or who would like a refresher.
Literature Searching – more advanced webinars aimed at students who are familiar with the basics of how to search, but want to learn more. These are aimed at students in the final years of their undergraduate degree or taught postgraduates.
EndNote X9 reference management software. EndNote X9 is very useful if you are working on a literature review or a project with a lot of references.
Citing and Referencing, with sessions on Harvard and IEEE (check your assignment guidelines to find out which style you should use)
Key Server remote access connects you to an on-campus PC via your own device. When you are connected, you can access software that is usually only available when you are on campus. Details of how to connect to Key Server can be found on the Information Services webpages including video guides Log in using your Heriot-Watt username and password at https://keyserver.hw.ac.uk/login
Information Services will be carrying out essential system maintenance at 6.00pm (UK time) on Wednesday 26th August. This relates to Single Sign-On services such as Office 365, Teams, the Portal, Banner and CRM Recruitment.
We do not anticipate any disruption to services due to this work but signing in to these services should be considered “at risk” between 6.00pm and 9.00pm (UK time).
If you require any further information please contact ISHelp@hw.ac.uk.
