Sharing Good Practice – LRC Team Pilot Digital Skills Kit

This past year has been a bit of a learning curve for many staff at SERC, whether your role is academic, corporate or management. David Greer, Learning Resource Centre Manager, shares the background to some of the training the LRC staff have availed of through the Learning Academy. 

David said, “The LRC staff were part of a pilot for the new Digital Skills Kit in September 2020. Nine LRC staff completed modules on: Accessibility, Excel Essentials, Moodle Essentials, Microsoft Teams Essentials, Microsoft Teams Advanced and Microsoft Word. 

“Staff were able to work on the bite sized modules at their own pace and generally found the process enjoyable. The team are currently working on content for Moodle, so we picked Moodle essentials, Accessibility for our LRC promotional material including our LRC e magazine, refreshers on Word and Excel. Microsoft Teams has been new to us, with many in the unit having no knowledge prior to March 2020, so we also picked Microsoft Teams Essentials and Advanced. I felt the course content was manageable with staff able to fit learning around their existing duties. Overall we felt the content of the courses was valuable and I think everyone learned something new.”   

A couple of the LRC staff also gave their opinions: 

Phyllis McFarlane, Mobile Library Assistant, said, “I liked the relevance of the training, how it was broken down into 'manageable' chunks of learning.  I particularly liked the 'flexible' learning approach - you could train at your own pace and fit the training round other work commitments.  The ability to go back over and review a training module was also useful and helped to consolidate learning. 

“A range of modules were covered, the ones that stood out the most for me were: 

• Accessibility - Helped me think about future proofing of documents to make them accessible to all
• Excel Essentials - A timely refresher that aided the creation of a series of LRC excel documents to help record statistical information for the Unit
• Moodle Essentials - As I had no previous training on Moodle, this was very helpful to give me an overview of the site.  It highlighted potential of how the LRC could support students with their assignment research by 'signposting' them via Moodle to LRC resources such as our eDatabases and eBooks, that we would target, and align to course content.  "

Dawson Simpson, Downpatrick LRC said, “In September 2020 I took part in the 'Digital Skills Kit on Moodle' trial and found the sections that I accessed to be very useful. I enjoyed the variety of items available for each topic eg videos, quizzes, and further reading, and that I could use them at any time. I especially appreciated that they had a variety of presenters from 'SERC Superstars' to Microsoft employees. I found the 'Kit' to be very useful in helping to explain things and develop my skills. Each video was succinct and to the point with access to more advanced /specialised skills if required. 

“I viewed the modules on Microsoft Teams Essentials, Microsoft Teams Advanced, Word Essentials, Excel Essentials, and Accessibility. The Microsoft Essentials was particularly good with it's printable documents, quick start guide and learning checklist.  I am looking forward to trying out other modules such as Powerpoint and Excel Advanced.  Overall it is an extremely useful resource.”  

For further information contact the Learning Academy or visit the Online Learning Portal (sharepoint.com)