Accessing and using student IT Services
The University offers its students access to -
- various online course and learning tools
- software, library and wellbeing resources
- printing and scanning
- computers in studio and library spaces
- wifi access for your own mobile devices
to help ensure your online studies are effective. For more information about these services and lots more see - Introduction to Student IT Services.
Technology Bursary
The University recognises that some students have limited access to IT resources and may have had difficulties in engaging with online learning. In response to this need, UCA will be making a Technology Bursary of up to £500 available for eligible students to help meet the cost of hardware such as a laptop. The bursaries will be means-tested and available to eligible students studying at undergraduate level in years 0 and 1. For more information see - Financial Support.
All online learning activities provided or arranged by your tutors will be in a safe and secure environment, with the use of secure platforms and tools including Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Panopto, which UCA has subscriptions or licenses to. All the recordings during a session will only be used internally and for educational purposes.
Regardless of what tools your tutors use in online teaching, you can always express your ideas, make comments, or ask questions through ‘speaking’ and the ‘chat’ function. During a live session, you could unmute yourself to speak. Similarly, the chat box is an ideal space for you to actively engage in discussions, especially if you are relatively shy, less confident in speaking English or uneasy with live communication online.
Whether you see email as old-fashioned or not, it remains an important and official channel of communication at UCA. It is especially useful for you to communicate with subject tutors and academic services staff, who might not link to you in social media but would definitely read and respond to your emails.
In a live lesson, you would be asked to switch off your microphone if you are not talking in order to minimise interference to the teaching; you may be asked by your tutors to turn on your camera (when possible) in some classes; occasionally you have to wait until the end of a session for your questions posed in chat to be answered. Please observe the netiquette your tutors set up so as to ensure the smooth delivery of a live lesson.
It is very likely you will do some group work during your course. In an online environment, do plan how your group members are going to work together, for example, when to meet, what channels to be used and what responsibility each is going to assume.
To make the best out of an online session, you may need to do some preparation. The preparation will cover the content side of your study; for example, reading some relevant resource, coming up with a design concept, or doing a pre-lesson task. The preparation could also include your technological readiness; for example, you may need to download a software and have a correct session link for a lesson.
Google and other search engines offer a great place to start your research. However - 
Having a schedule and routine can help us to keep on top of workload and reduce stress. Try: 
Practising staying grounded is useful in times of uncertainty and change. This is because it can leave us feeling emotionally and physically “up in the air”. Because of this, tools and techniques that help bring us back into our body (back down to the ground) can help us cope. Examples of these might include:
Space can be difficult to find, depending on where you live. However, it can be helpful to try and find a space, even a little one, that is specifically for studying.
Nature is one of the few consistent in this time of change, and it is also one that has positive effects on our mental wellbeing. Take time to observe the changes in the nature around you as the seasons change. You might want to try activities like: 
You have probably heard this one a lot, but it really can help (although it can sometimes take a bit of practice).
There are lots of ways to stay connected, both physically and virtually. Staying connected is imperative to our survival as human beings, and fuels the production of our happiness hormone (serotonin). You can stay connected through: 
Did you know that on average we spend around 11 hours a day staring at one screen or another? Excessive screen time can lead to problems with your health later down the line. For example: headaches, issues with sleep, eye strain, and neck, back and shoulder pain. To mitigate against the negative of being sat in front of a screen for prolonged periods, try to: 
Cyber bullying and harassment have become increasingly common over the last few years, with the increase in anonymity and accessibility to others through social media channels. Some of it has become normalised within our society, and so we often aren’t aware that it is even happening. 
As you know, the growth of the Internet and technology has meant that we can share content at the click of a button. Some of the content we are exposed to, for example, content containing violence, extremist behaviour, or criminal activity, is illegal. However, because the Internet is difficult to police, we can still be exposed to these things.
Did you know there was such a thing as digital self-harm? Well now you do. Someone might be engaging in digital self-harm if they 
Your digital footprint is information that exists about you online. This can include photographs you have posted or have been tagged in, comments you have made, personal information and much more. Your digital footprint may even consist of content that you thought you'd deleted.
A first step in understanding your digital footprint is to perform a google search of your name, you can do this by searching ‘forename + surname’ in inverted commas to specifically trawl the two names together.