What do you do?
There are many staff in professional services across campus working to support doctoral researchers. In this regular item we highlight a staff member and service supporting the doctoral community & tell you a bit more about their role, and how they can help you.
Name: Dr Anne Hole
Role: Learning Technologist
Department/Division: Technology Enhanced Learning
What do you do?
I work as a Learning Technologist for the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team at Sussex. We are a relatively new team, whose primary aim is to support University staff, including doctoral researchers who teach, in using technology effectively to support teaching and learning. We are involved in a number of University-wide projects such as e-submission and e-feedback, and we also provide support to individuals and groups on a cluster basis, with dedicated Learning Technologists for the Sciences; Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities. As well as offering tailored advice and guidance, we run a series of workshops and seminars, which University staff and doctoral researchers who teach are welcome to attend.
Whilst I provide Learning Technology advice and guidance to staff within the Arts & Humanities schools, it is also part of my role to provide support for doctoral researchers (regardless of their teaching status) from across the University, which I do via the Researcher Development Programme.
I also contribute to the TEL team’s social media presence using Twitter and through our , and I maintain a Flipboard magazine where I collect useful blog posts, websites and other resources that may be of interest to researchers.
What support do you offer to doctoral researchers?
I offer support to doctoral researchers through the workshops I run as part of the Researcher Development Programme.
These workshops are tailored to the needs of doctoral researchers, and include:
- Digital note-making and bookmarking
- Designing engaging and visual presentations
- Getting started with your iPad and apps for research
I also run a regular drop-in session Technology for doctoral research where researchers can come along and get some one-to-one advice around digital tools for productivity, using apps, social media and building their online web presence, or designing visual presentations.
Doctoral researchers who teach within the University are also entitled to the same support provided to other members of University staff in terms of using technology in their teaching, and can come along to any of the TEL workshops we offer for staff. Those seeking one-to-one advice around using technology for their teaching can also contact the Learning Technologist connected to the School they teach in.
If you would like to book a place to attend one of Anne's Researcher Development workshops, visit the Researcher Development webpages.
How can doctoral researchers get in touch?
The TEL team can be reached by e-mail to tel@sussex.ac.uk, and doctoral researchers with queries around using technology for their research can contact me at a.hole@sussex.ac.uk.
Researchers who also teach and have queries around using technology for their teaching can contact the Learning Technologist associated with their school. To find out who you should contact, visit the Our Service page of our website.
What's the most common question you are asked by doctoral researchers?
Doctoral researchers often ask me what the best way is to organise their work and back up their research data. There are some great digital tools to help with time management and organising research notes and online resources (Wunderlist, Evernote, Diigo, OneDrive etc.) and I can advise on those.
For guidance on backing up research data I suggest that researchers to look at the research data management pages of the Library website, which provides detailed information on creating, organising storing, and sharing research data.
Are there any useful online resources doctoral researchers need to know about?
The TEL webpages are a wealth of information on learning technologies, and doctoral researchers might be particularly interested in our A-Z of apps.
I would also suggest doctoral researchers subscribe to the , which contains lots of useful links and resources useful for both academics and students, and features app reviews.
Doctoral researchers can also follow the Flipboard magazine, and keep in touch with what’s going on in the world of Learning Technology by following us on Twitter and .