Digital Skills Workbook

Welcome to the Digital Skills workbook. This guidance page is made of short videos, showing you all of the essential ‘tech’ skills you’ll need to succeed in your assignments.

Below you will find tips for both Microsoft packages (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), and how to make the most of Canvas and Teams. There are also tasks to help you practise your skills. We hope this workbook will help you with your computer skills – if you need more support, please contact us.

Where do I get Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel?

As a student, you have access to all of the software on this page – you can download the Microsoft package here.

Word is the essential for most students – it’s what you use to write up many of your assignments. Below we have collected guidance on all of the key features Word offers:

a. Formatting text (colour, size) 

b. Page numbers

c. Contents page 

d. Insert a table

e. Insert pictures

 Final task – Have a go at applying all of these to your own Word document. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Many people are scared of Excel – it’s often seen as very technical. However, when you break it down it can be really easy to understand. See below for our selection of guidance videos.

a. Inserting and deleting rows/columns

b. Moving and copying cells 

c. Creating and formatting tables

d. Creating charts

Final task – Use each of these features in your own Excel document. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Need to learn about formulas? Microsoft have created this helpful workbook to get you started.

PowerPoint is still seen by most as the key software for creating presentations. It has a lot of different features, but in our video below Jane has picked out some of the most useful ones.

a. Top tips for Powerpoint 

Final task – Create a slideshow, incorporating all of the features discussed in our video.

A number of students may need to use Publisher as part of their studies. Below we’ve shared a couple of videos which will help you get started.

a. Beginner’s tutorial for Publisher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySXJh10a6Fk

b. Creating a poster in Publisher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFFDn5zSS5A

Especially in recent months, we’ve all had to get used to working online. This has been a real challenge, especially when it comes to group study. Work through the tutorials below, and use our Canvas page to create your own study group.

a. Creating a group in Microsoft Teams 

b. Canvas – How to submit your assignment 

c. Canvas – Where to find feedback 

d. Canvas – Checking your grades 

e. Canvas – Using discussion boards

f. Canvas – Creating a study group  

Final task – Set up a group with some of your classmates – this can either be on Teams, or feel free to use the Skills for Learning Canvas page. If you have any questions, please contact us.

If you’re still looking for ways to boost your confidence in digital skills, we’d recommend you enrol on the new Digital Confidence course.

The course takes students through many aspects of using technology for study, from the ‘basics’ such as making a password right through to avoiding phishing scams. The course is not assessed, and students can use it as much or as little as they require.

To get started, just head to the following link: https://canvas.wlv.ac.uk/enroll/TFBEKN