learning resources magazine - summer

LEARNING RESOURCES

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Welcome to the Summer edition of Update, the interactive Learning

Resources magazine. Each section is packed full of useful tips and

resources to help you with your studies, assignments and research. Click

the images on each page to find out even more.

Farewell Mons Hill and Castle View!

Mons Hill and Castle View Libraries will be closing forever on 29th June.

The majority of the books will have a new home in Broadway Library

together with a large number of new titles. If you haven’t already done so,

check out the sale tables in all three libraries for bargain books.

Happy Reading!

General LR Information Page 3

Computing Page 4

Engineering Page 5

Foundation Studies and ESOL Page 6

Sports Studies Page 7

Hair and Beauty Page 8

Arts Page 9

6th Form Pages 10-11

Care and Early Years Page 12

Public Services Page 13

Our Quality to You Page 14-15

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3 2 Need a break from work?

Fed up with carrying heavy books?

Broadway Library has 4 Amazon Kindles you can borrow. All are pre-loaded with novels, biographies and other interesting reads. Ask in the Library today!

Borrow a Kindle!

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Coming soon! The Library has ordered the following titles which will be on the shelves

in the next few weeks. Click the images below to check when they’re

available. Please note only titles in capitals are ready to borrow now.

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New BooksNew Books

These books are all available from Broadway Library. Click the images to

see whether you can borrow them now.

Across

3. Where component parts are joined together to make products. (8) 5. Component to turn electrical power on or off. (6) 7. The decay of a material as a result of chemical reaction with its surroundings. (9)

11. Mass per unit volume of a given substance. (7) 13. Triangular tool used for the accurate drawing of certain angles. (9)

15. An industrial term describing the manufacture of metal product. (11) 16. Construction drawings are always produced

using _____ _(6) 17. A permanent mechanical means of fastening material together. (5)

18. C in LCD stands for (7) Down 1. Small stylised drawing which represents a

more complex item. (6) 2. A design which is drawn using no tools apart from the pencil or pen – no straight edge is

used at all. (8) 4. To alter a material to meet a requirement, for example drilling holes or chamfering edges. (7) 6. A process where iron is coated in zinc, making it far more resistant to corrosion. (11)

8. A2 + B2 = C2 (10) 9. Light line that joins an edge, or corner, to its corresponding dimension showing the link. (6) 10. A formal drawing technique where a horizontal line is drawn with typically 1, 2 or 3 vanishing

points upon the line. The drawing is then produced accordingly using the vanishing point/s, generating an impression of depth. (10) 12. A classification of plastic resin that cures by chemical reaction when heated and, once cured,

cannot be re-softened by heating. (9) 14. Construction plans are drawn smaller than real buildings so that they will fit on a piece of paper.(5)

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Revision Help Are you struggling to revise? Below are a few of the books from the

library that may help you with studying methods. Click the images to see if

you can borrow them now.

If you need help finding a revision book for your subject then please feel

free to ask one of the library staff.

Also remember to take regular breaks otherwise it will become hard to

concentrate on your notes. Have a look at some of the books and DVDs

available in the library for when you need to take a break.

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CV Creator Need help with designing a CV? Click here for an online CV builder. All

you need is your personal information, your work experience and your

qualifications. You can then choose a design and download it into a word

or pdf format.

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Dudley Evolve Have you seen the new Sport facilities for the next academic year? Have

a look at the New Build video here.

The multi-use sports hall has been built to official Sport England

specifications and has fantastic facilities for students, which the general

public can also hire. Accommodating 6 badminton courts, 2 five-a-side

pitches and cricket nets, the large sports hall has a dividing partition to

enable different sports to take place at the same time.

The environmentally friendly air-conditioned fitness suite is slightly

unusual as it was once a fire station and since being developed has

retained the original brick frontage and doors. Kitted out with the latest

cardiovascular, resistance, strength-endurance and balance equipment, the

fitness suite will be used by students during the week and open to the

public during the evenings and weekends.

Job Searching Looking for a job? Here are a few useful links on the Directgov website

that might help:

Where to look for jobs CV Example 1

Online Search Covering Letter Example

Writing a CV Preparing for an Interview

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Get Blogging!

Reading Blogs on the internet is a great way to check out the latest

trends and up-to-date catwalk fashions in the Hair & Beauty world and

also read great reviews on new products. Here are our favourites - click

the logos to go straight to the sites:

Fabulous YouTube tutorials, step by step guides on creating looks:

Make-up product reviews:

Marie Claire Best Beauty Blog of the Year

Winner:

Also keep up to date and follow the people in the know-how on Twitter!

@InStyle @BenefitBeauty @skincaretweets

@sephora @marieclaire @makeupbymario

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Films recently added to the Library Catalogue

Here are a few new titles now available to borrow from the library. Please

remember there is no charge to borrow a DVD but fines may be incurred

if the item is not returned on time. Click on the images below to see

whether they’re available to borrow now.

127 Hours

Battle: Los Angeles

Black Swan

The King’s Speech

Pirates of the Caribbean

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

True Grit

We Need to Talk about Kevin

Summer Blockbusters! Coming soon to a cinema near you...click the pictures for more details:

Brave

The Amazing Spiderman

The Dark Knight Rises

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Don’t forget!

All textbooks are due for return on 15th June.

If you have exams after that and need the books

for longer, please come and speak to a member

of library staff to avoid fines.

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Need revision ideas? These websites cover most

AS and A Level subjects. Click on the links below

for revision tips, notes and techniques.

The library has several books with handy hints for

exams and revision. Here’s a selection of what’s

available. Click the images to check whether you

can borrow them now:

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Need to study over the Summer? Access the Nursery World website for

news about childcare and Early Years education. Click the covers below

to go straight to the site.

Click “blog” at the top of the page to access blogs written by the

Nursery World team.

www.nurseryworld.co.uk

Spotlight on Teaching Assistants

We have several titles for students on Teaching Assistant

courses. Click the books below to see whether they are available for you

to borrow.

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Interested in joining the Armed Forces?

Check out these websites below. Click the logos to go straight

to the sites:

Jobs in the RAF are far more diverse than

you’d find in a civilian organisation. Everyone

knows we have pilots, of course, but there

are more than 50 other careers. To fill those positions, we recruit from the widest range of people we can. We’re interested in people from all

sorts of backgrounds.

This website will allow you to

explore all the opportunities

available in the Army. If you still

have questions, contact our online

office or visit us on Facebook.

Variety is very much central to a life in the Royal Navy. As well as unique

opportunities for travel, adventure, training and

teamwork, a career with the Royal Navy offers many

practical

benefits too.

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Service Level Agreements—How did we do?

We always try hard to give you the best service possible within Learning

Resources. This is why we have our Service Level Agreement to ensure

they we stay on the ball at all times, giving you a consistently good service.

Once a year we measure our performance to check that we are keeping

our promise. Below are the results of this years audit:

RBL Centres

1. Student can access a machine within 10 minutes of arriving.

96.6% of students accessed a machine within 30 seconds of arriving.

0.8% of students accessed a machine within 1 minute of arriving.

0.4% of students accessed a machine within 13minute of arriving.

2.2% of students left the centres before a machine became available.

2. Faulty machines are fixed within 24hrs or reported to IT Services.

3 faults occurred with machines during the audit, all three of which were

fixed with 5 minutes of the report.

E-Learning

1. Monitoring via Survey (Results on next page)

2. Requests for support or staff development in any area relating to E-

Learning are responded to within 5 working days.

During the audit period, all received requests were dealt with on the same

day and in many instances, within the hour.

3. Monitoring—Performance Management Reviews

Performance Management Reviews for e-Learning staff are up to date.

The Library has a good selection of books, materials and resources.

The Library has helped me progress on my course.

Overall, how would you rate the service you receive from the Library?

The RBL Centre has a good selection of hardware, software and resources.

The RBL Centre has made a positive impact on my learning at the college.

Overall, how would you rate the service you receive from the RBL Centre?

I find Blackboard easy to use.

There is a good range of materials available on Blackboard for my course.

Overall, how would you rate Blackboard?

I find ProPortal easy to use.

Access to ProPortal has made a positive impact on my learning at the college.

Overall, how would you rate ProPortal?

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Libraries

1. Ensure e-mail reminders are sent 3 days before the books are due for

return.

All 9 reminders sent out on day of audit and on time.

2. Ensure overdue notices are sent out on time (14 & 28 days after due

date)

All 48 sent out on time.

3. Ensure reservations are communicated to users no later than the next

working day.

All reservation were communicated on the same day as the item became

available.

Student Survey Results—How did we do?

We recently conducted a student survey to gauge if we are providing a

good services to our customers. The headline results can be seen below:

Thanks to all 247 students who completed the survey. This gives us some

really good information on areas to improve and these will feed into our

development plan for the next academic year.

The Library has a good selection of books, materials and resources.

The Library has helped me progress on my course.

Overall, how would you rate the service you receive from the Library?

The RBL Centre has a good selection of hardware, software and resources.

The RBL Centre has made a positive impact on my learning at the college.

Overall, how would you rate the service you receive from the RBL Centre?

I find Blackboard easy to use.

There is a good range of materials available on Blackboard for my course.

Overall, how would you rate Blackboard?

I find ProPortal easy to use.

Access to ProPortal has made a positive impact on my learning at the college.

Overall, how would you rate ProPortal?

Percentage

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LEARNING RESOURCES

The Teams

If you have any suggestions for inclusion in the next edition of

Update please contact the relevant team on 01384 363353 or

363374.

Business and Computing Dena and Liz

Access and HE Dena and Liz

Construction Chris and Lee

Foundation Studies and ESOL Suzy and Jon

Sports Studies Suzy and Jon

Hair and Beauty Sarah and Tracey

Arts Sarah and Tracey

6th Form Amy and Suresh

Travel and Tourism Amy and Suresh

Care and Early Years Sue and Janet Public Services Sue and Janet

Editor Beth

Key Contacts:

Learning Resources Co-ordinator:

Richard Gibbons

01384 363374

richard.gibbons@dudleycol.ac.uk

Library Co-ordinator:

Dena Lewis

01384 363349

dena.lewis@dudleycol.ac.uk