All UWE staff and students have access to LinkedIn Learning, which offers links to thousands of online training courses including software, design and business skills.
Links to videos can be included in readinglists.ac.uk, or you can set up a Collection (playlist) for your module and share the URL on Blackboard.
Each course consists of a series of short videos (max. 10 mins each) with transcripts, and many include short quizzes to help focus students’ minds on key skills and concepts. Courses are simple to navigate via the contents pane making it easy see what’s in each video, how long the videos are, which ones you’ve already watched, and to resume where you left off.
Handy features for learners
- click a phrase in the transcript and the video jumps to the corresponding place.
- search for keywords and phrases – then click the search results to jump to that place in the video/transcript.
- make notes in the online notebook provided while watching, then click onto your notes to jump to that place in the video – great for revision.
- learners’ own notes can be exported as plain text.
Suggested ways to use LinkedIn Learning materials
Flipped Learning
Ask students to engage with LinkedIn Learning materials at home to learn new skills and concepts, then in class put that new knowledge into practice by solving problems, creating artefacts, applying techniques and working collaboratively with peers. Face to face sessions are also the opportunity for students to ask for expert advice from the lecturer and to clear up any misunderstandings or omissions from the LinkedIn Learning materials.
Peer Assessment
Ask students working in pairs/groups to look through a LinkedIn Learning course and make ten questions for their peers to answer. Get them to rate their own questions for difficulty and significance (e.g. from 1 to 5) and to note where the answers (what point in which video) can be found. Then ask them to swap their questions, along with the difficulty/significance ratings, with another group for them to answer.
Including the difficulty and significance ratings when creating questions helps ensure they are relevant and suitable questions. Answering the questions requires learners to scour the LinkedIn Learning course for answers they don’t already know, exposing them further to the learning materials. And working in groups encourages collaboration, discussion and knowledge sharing. You could even make this activity competitive by awarding points for correct answers (e.g. difficulty rating + significance rating = points awarded) and setting a time limit for groups to finish.
At the end of the activity lecturers could look through all the questions created and pick out the most pertinent ones to examine as a class.
Comparing notes
Ask students to use the LinkedIn Learning materials individually and make notes as they do so. Then ask students to work in groups to compare their notes. This is a good way to get learners talking about the subject matter, using the appropriate terms and ideas. It also helps them to focus on what they found most important, relevant and challenging and to see gaps in their understanding. Lecturers can share their notes too.
Reflective Learning
After students have used the LinkedIn materials, have them reflect on what they’ve learnt. Ask learners to write down what they found most challenging, what they found most useful and what they will now do differently. You could create a simple online survey (in Blackboard or Microsoft Forms) with these questions and then compare the results as a class. Alternatively, ask students to do a SWOT analysis or write a short blog post reflecting on their learning.
Other useful information
To set up a Collection (playlist), watch this LinkedIn tutorial.
For comprehensive guidance on using LinkedIn Learning at UWE, visit the Library’s LinkedIn Learning page. If you need further support using the LinkedIn Learning site, please contact the Library.
Mobile apps can be downloaded through Apple iOS or Android.
Photo by cottonbro studio