Digital Basics

Julia — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 13:20:30 +0000

The Digital Basics Podcasts channel is designed to help you navigate through the maze of information that is stored on the internet and provide links to a number of useful videos containing numerous hints and tips on how to search effectively and efficiently.

The primary focus is on using Google as the search engine of choice here as it is the most well-known – but other search engines are available of course – (Yahoo, Bing etc.) and if you would prefer to use a different search engine, they will often (though not always) provide similar features.

See How Search Works for a broad (and very interesting) overview from Google.

Academic Skills

Julia — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:32:45 +0000

Over the years, I have produced a number of in-depth student guides, starting with absolute basics and moving gently forward to more detailed academic concepts.
I am now updating the information and turning these written guides into podcasts for Ffynnonweb, so that all my subscribers will be able to watch and listen to me discussing these topics anywhere they choose.
I hope that my podcasts will enable you to produce professional academic and business reports/assignments/essays (depending on what you need) that have a consistent structure and flow, right from the start.
The guides will cover the following topics:
Correct Grammar
Punctuation
Formatting Text
Using Paragraphs
Using Appropriate Verbs
Table of Contents
Writing Style
Signposting
Paraphrasing
Stay tuned to find out when the first few have been uploaded to my YouTube channel…..

Introduction

Julia — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:16:50 +0000

Hello – my name is Julia and I have just started my own online business at ffynnonweb.com.
You can read all about my teaching background on the About page, but in my first post, I want to explain a little about why I am doing this, before telling you what I can offer and what to expect if you decide to book tutoring with me.

I have been tutoring university students online for a number of years now. It began in 2012 as an addition to face to face classes and then all classes went online at the start of the Pandemic in March 2020. I know online classes are not for everyone, but the majority of my students and I loved it!
We enjoyed a number of aspects, including:
The freedom to login from the warmth and comfort of home with no dress code and no travelling
The ability to login from anywhere in the world with connectivity (car, bus, train, coffee shop, beach!)
The opportunity to pick session times that are suitable and convenient for the student, enabling them to fit study around their work, home and family responsibilities.
Some students felt less anxious in an online environment, especially when giving a presentation or contributing to a discussion.
We were able to make use of online applications to enhance the learning experience in a live situation with students being supported and guided by me as we went along.
Collaborating on projects with other students became real and exciting as we could witness it happening in real time and discuss issues or features with each other as if we were in the room together.

As we were doing all this, one of the aspects that stood out for me personally was how unprepared for study both digitally and/or academically many students seemed to be when the academic year began.
I should point out here in all fairness, that I was teaching mature students who were returning to study after a period of time, ranging from a few years post high school to many years in the workplace.
I also taught groups of students for whom English was not their native language. These students were very keen to gain an academic qualification through the medium of English to help them advance in their careers, either in their home country or in the UK.
Some of the classes I taught were indeed focused on improving academic and digital skills, but it was assumed that all students would have a base level of ability in these areas before beginning the course.
In practice, this turned out to be very rarely the case and a great deal of valuable class time was spent teaching basic skills before moving onto the more advanced skills needed for university and the professional workplace.

These experiences led me to believe that there could well be a need (a gap in the market if you will) for someone to teach such skills online to prospective students before they enter Higher Education – or during their first year if they find themselves at a disadvantage due to their lack of experience in these crucial areas.

Hence me being here today writing this post!
I have now retired from the day job and I am able to focus exclusively on my online work as it suits me perfectly, given the fact that not only can one study from anywhere, one can also do the same when teaching/tutoring!

I am beginning with creating sets of free podcasts on each of the 3 topics i will be providing (academic, digital and Leadership & Management) which will serve as an introduction for you.

I am also offering affordable one to one or small group online sessions tailored to YOUR needs and level of starting ability, so that you gain the most from your sessions and feel that they are worthwhile and value for money.

Thanks for reading and more details will follow shortly…

Tags about-ffynnonweb, academic, digital, learning, podcasts