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Help us make our Xmas tree appy!
On Friday the 29th of November in the University Library we’re going to have some fun decorating a Christmas tree. But we’re not going to be using just any decorations! We’d like you to tell us what your favourite apps are and we’ll turn your answers into our appy decorations.
We’d love you to participate, so come and find us in the foyer between 11am – 2pm. There will be lovely chocolates for everyone who participates!
So come and join the festive fun and make our tree, well…appy!
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Skype support for students identified with SpLD (Dyslexia/Dyspraxia)
There is an exciting development planned to improve our services in terms of support for students with SpLD.
The SpLD team attended Skype training on 14 November 2013 to consider how it could be used when supporting students with SpLD (Dyslexia/Dyspraxia). The day was very informative and we were able to talk with students who already access support this way. We have been aware for sometime that students who are living or working (or both) at a distance from Edge Hill find it difficult to access the specialist support.
The team think that Skype is a great idea for students on placement or distance learners who can’t get in to the main campus for their support. The plan is to run a pilot scheme in the New Year with a view of providing support via Skype in the future.
As a service development idea, we are keen to hear your feedback as it is very important that students are involved as we consider making changes to our service. We would love to hear from you if you do feel you could benefit from using Skype for your one to one SpLD support or if you have any reservations and would like to discuss it with us. Please get in touch by emailing [email protected]
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The Librarians Quick Response
Before you read on I must inform you that this blog is not about librarians answering queries faster that the speed of light or responding to SOS cries from students needing assistance with referencing (it’s a given we do both of these anyway!).
Instead, this post is about using technology to enhance and support the learning experiences and information retrieval processes of students and staff alike.
So what is Quick Response???
You are unlikely to hear the word quick response when people are referring to this technology, it is more commonly known as QR codes. When a smart device user sees a QR code and scans it, they are granted instant access to online information. Instead of having to pull up the browser on your device and type in a URL, all the user has to do is scan the QR code with their QR reader (how fantastic!)
You can install a QR code reader on any smart device by downloading one from your App store. There are lots of free ones out there to choose from including QR bar code scanner. Why not download one of these apps and scan this code:
One advantage of using QR codes is that they are the fastest and most effective method to access and potentially interact with information about your service. As librarians we are constantly needing to adapt and change to meet the requirements of our students. QR codes provide us with this opportunity, instead of asking our students to search through our Learning Services pages to find key information on IT support or assignment writing, for example, we can create QR codes which take them directly to the information. In essence we are reducing the grunt work and ensuring that our learners can find the information in the quickest and most effective way. Why not see for yourselves…..
These are only examples of how QR codes are being used to enhance Learning Services, why not think about using them within your own departments, maybe create some codes for students on Blackboard to advertise what you offer them. If you think QR codes might work for you go to qrstuff and try them out
Samantha Gillies
