Thoughts from this weeks workshop programme

Lots of fun with Mind Mapping

I've run two session from this weeks programme (Enhancing Employability, and Effective Presentation) and really enjoyed the use of MindMup (http://mindmup.com) as a means of collective ideas from those attending. I was particularly pleased when I asking what they wanted from the session, when one attendees said, learn how to use the tool you are using to collect and manage our ideas.

If you'd like to know more about MindMup, it's referenced within the following slides.


Getting organised with RefWorks

Halfway through the Learning Services workshop week and it’s time to get organised with RefWorks.

Finding a way to keep track of and organise your sources of information can seem daunting at first but RefWorks can help, and anything that helps must be good. RefWorks seamlessly integrates with our online resources, converts your references into UCS Harvard, UCS APA or Footnotes and can generate a bibliography for you.

Wednesday’s workshop covered setting up and customising your account, creating folders and organising your references, where to find referencing help, importing from Summon and a database, 360 linking and creating your bibliography.

The group included a mix of levels and subject areas, some students had knowledge of resources beyond Summon and some were just at the start of their studies, for this reason I selected Proquest Central as the database to use for importing references into RefWorks. I also felt confident that I wouldn’t have any technical difficulties as the products come from the same company. For the majority of students the export worked, but for a handful there were technical issues where we waited for RefWorks to respond.

As is the way with mixed groups some students forge ahead with confidence while others take a little more time and while most databases are straight forward to use Pubmed is one of the exceptions - so it was good to see that the students who queried how to use Pubmed with RefWorks managed to work out how to do it from the hand-out, this gave me the opportunity to help those who needed it.
Everyone managed to get the basics covered, but there were a number of additional tools and topics that we could have covered if there had been time, creating an entry from scratch, installing Write-n-Cite (a tool to integrate RefWorks with Word to manage in-text citations) and RefGrab-it are just a few - maybe a second session on more advanced techniques is the answer?

Finally, how might you start thinking about enhancing your employability through a more effective online presence? The following, might help, and arrange to see a member of the Careers Team.

If you have any questions concerning the workshop programme or other development and suport opportunities, please email learningservices@ucs.ac.uk

Library induction for Graphic Design - First teaching session

First attempt at blogging after my first attempt at delivering a workshop for 10 students on the wisdom and benefits of knowing about and using Learning Services at UCS… Nervous was an understatement, I think the fact that I was being observed by a senior and way more experienced colleague probably didn't help, but feedback and anything that aids professional development has got to be good, right…
I should at this point note that I am a graduate trainee at UCS. I have just completed a History degree and am aiming for a career in librarianship. This is after 15 years working within the field of substance misuse and supporting sex workers to exit the sex industry. Radical career change to say the very least…
So back to my first session and the question are students more scary than drug-users and sex workers and the answer would be kind of, sort of, maybe. Actually, it was ok, once I got into my stride I surprised myself with how confident I sounded and how much I enjoyed facilitating the group. As part of the session the students were given iPads and sent off round the library to make a short film or photo montage of the services and support offered by learning services. They were then asked to talk their way through the films and explain their discoveries. For me the best part was sitting back and watching the students present the short films they had made. What started out as a group of people who were all a bit unsure of what was going to happen (me included) turned into a fun, stimulating and informative session. Roll on the next opportunity to do it again!!
Feedback from students; “Very informative yet informal session” “Workshop was very detailed and helpful” “It was good to see how the library really works” “Good activity and found out lots of info”

Getting prepared for "Social Media for Researchers"

Thanks to those researchers who have registered for the Social Media for Researchers workshop on Wednesday.

The following outlines how we'd like you to prepare for the sessions. you should only spend 30 minutes on this pre-session task.

Visit: Social Media for Researchers (http://libguides.ncl.ac.uk/socialmedia). Read and watch the videos for:

• Blogging
• Twitter
• Sound & Vision

We'll work through some of the potential ideas for you and your research during the session.

Get Ahead Programme: As the dust settles, lets reflect ...

Learning Services ran the Get Ahead programme for new students coming to UCS during August and September.

The Get Ahead series aims to help students in the transition into Higher Education. Successful studying at university is about developing a higher level of study, thinking and writing skills. You will naturally develop these skills as you progress through your course, but it's a great idea to get ahead. The "Get ahead: preparing to study at UCS" course helps you do just that.

In total, 94 students attended across the 6 events. With the registered numbers ranging from 8 in the Arts and Humanities session to 40 in Social Science and ECS.

What did those attending the sessions think?

"It helped me massively with what is expected of me for my uni assignments and also boosted my confidence"

 "Having been away from education for an extended period of time, the idea of enrolling at UCS was very daunting. The Get Ahead course has empowered me to joining on the 29th with confidence. We are inundated with information to assist our learning whilst gaining knowledge of the setting and the opportunity to meet both fellow students and the staff"

After each course we have made the resources available after the session, and included the flip chart activity around how to effectiveness for them. These are available from: http://ucslssessions.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/getahead_sep14 

How did those attending think we might improve it for the next time?

The feedback can be divided into four sections:

1. Expectation Management: "by providing sufficient information in advance about the content of the course, particularly the academic level at which it is aimed and the level of detail / information which will be discussed and therefore how this will be of use"
2. Ensure it is relevant: "use specific questions regarding your course ... I felt at times the staff trying to do examples for criminology and for early childhood studies students this was quite different"
3. Socialisation: "if practical ... group individuals attending the same course to encourage early interaction with their peers"
4. Post session support: "Have demos online of how to find or do certain things within the online library, like searching for a journal"

What did the session facilitators think, how might we improve the course for next time?

The feedback can be divided into:

1. Administration: Lots of opportunities to make the process easier for people to register on the day and access the buildings.
2. Programme design: Lots of thoughts around one or two day course, length of sessions and connecting sessions together.

So, overall I'd suggest the Get Ahead was a success, glad lots of students appreciated, and a big thanks to all the Learning Services Staff who made it happen.