Work smarter – study skills for students in BlackBoard

Undergraduates looking to refresh their study skills can now enrol on a non-credit bearing BlackBoard module and choose classes from the Undergraduate Study Practices programme.

Library induction and learner transition

I joined Aberystwyth University in September this year. In my previous job at the University of Leicester, I was involved in a project which investigated student transition into higher education. One major finding of the project was students' characterisation of various types of information presented to them before and during their first few days in University:

• Objective, highly structured formal information = Cold Knowledge
• Less structured, semi-formal information = Warm knowledge
• Informal, less structured and subjective information = Hot knowledge (1)

From PLACES to SPACES: Learning environments that inspire.

The imaginative design of spaces to shape learning behaviour is a topic that has always fascinated me. I grew up in an era where the idea was promoted that learning occurred only in a PLACE (Pupil, Lessons, Authority of the teacher, Classroom and Examination). Over the past decades there has been a paradigm shift which now promotes the idea of learning environments as SPACES (Social, Participatory, Adaptable, Collaborative, Enhanced-technologically and Sharing).

Information literacy best practice

Some new case studies showcasing information literacy best practice across all library and educational sectors in Wales have just been published by the Welsh Information Literacy Project.

They help to underline the importance of information literacy - to find out more have a look at the project website.

Internet Searching Talk

How do search engines work? How can you improve your searches and assess the relevance of the results? Do you want to pick up some basic tips on using search engines?

There is an open talk covering these topics on Wednesday 8th December, 2-3pm, in room 0.01 of the Edward Llwyd Building.

E-book readers display

Information Services have a number of e-book readers in loan stock which can be borrowed (free!) for 14 days at a time. As a trial we are putting one of them on open access in the Hugh Owen Library's Contemporary Fiction Collection - on your left as you come into the library.

We've loaded it with a wide selection of novels, plays, poems and short stories for you to browse at your leisure.

If you like what you see and would like to borrow an e-reader, please contact a member of staff at the Media and Sales desk on Level D for details.