Library support for your teaching online

Reading lists, online course readings, Skills@Library and more – how we can support your teaching online.

Our support for the new hybrid model of online teaching in the next academic year includes:

online access to reading list material
digitising key texts through our online course readings service
academic skills development embedded into your module
support for students automatically progressing to year two
Skills@Library online workshops and individual support for taught students, covering academic skills and maths and statistics
Maths and Statistics support sessions embedded into the curriculum, with a dedicated Microsoft Teams channel
access to primary research items through Special Collections digitised material
using data repositories for teaching and project work.

Details are given below, please get in touch with us as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

Getting ready: your module’s reading list and online course readings

Your module’s core texts may not be immediately accessible to all students if you previously relied on print copies. You can request online course readings to make key texts available electronically.

To make sure that items are available for semester one, please update your reading lists using the reading list tool as soon as possible. Details on how to use the tool are available via the Minerva reading lists guide on the Library website. Be sure to include any online course readings by using the “OCR” tag on the reading list tool. Let us know of any online course readings by 14 August so we can ensure they are ready in time for semester one.

We will prioritise digitisation for next term and contact you if there are any issues with copyright clearance.

Please contact us with any issues using the Minerva reading list tool.

Accessing online resources

We quickly expanded our online offering when the virus struck, since then we have purchased over 600 extra licenses for ebooks. We will continue to work so that all materials needed for teaching are available online if possible.

Our ebooks and eresources are available to all members of the University both on and off campus. There are a small number of eresources that need the user to be on campus – you can access these using the virtual desktop.

For items that are not part of a reading list, you may request ebooks and eresources, along with physical items, via the suggest a purchase form. There can be a six-week turnaround for purchases..

For more information about accessing resources, see the Library news story: Eresources: your questions answered

Please contact us with any issues accessing eresources.

Academic skills development with Skills@Library

You can embed academic skills development in the curriculum through the Skills@Library service. Our Learning Advisors will work with you to identify areas of need, to find out the required skills development, and then to co-design and co-deliver online teaching.

We can also provide support for students automatically progressing to year two, as well as support with digital learning, academic wellbeing and academic integrity.

Our Skills@Library academic skills workshop programme will continue online. Learning Advisors will also continue to offer one-to-one support for all taught students.

Contact Skils@Library to discuss your needs.

Maths and statistics support service

Our dedicated maths and statistics tutors can support student learning through sessions embedded into your curriculum. Tutors will work with you to understand the needs of your students and create bespoke support sessions to help them achieve success in the module.

Our Maths and Statistics Service has a dedicated Microsoft Teams area. This can include a private channel for your module, to allow your students to discuss the maths on your module, share resources and join in on Q&A and drop-in sessions.

One-to-one sessions and workshops will also be available online, so do continue to refer students who may need extra support.

Please contact Skills@Library to discuss support for maths and statistics in your module.

Teaching with Special Collections materials

Our collections house a wide range of rare and unique materials, with many items digitised for online access.

We're developing our teaching support offer to help with online teaching and learning. As well as the work with lecturers and tutors, we're also reviewing and revising existing online research support resources.

Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Using data repositories for teaching and project work

Practical coursework and projects for taught students may present challenges this year as laboratory time and fieldwork may be limited or not possible. One option is to provide data to students with matching questions or projects. Projects could be based entirely on data or use the data for comparison to theoretical or modelling based projects. A rich dataset could support multiple projects or a team project.

Our existing research datasets include: experimental measurements, images from instruments, survey results, and interview recordings and transcripts. These can be raw or processed data and can include software to process or open the data files. Data for teaching could come from research, be a modified version of research data, or be created for teaching. It may already be available through a data repository or it could be deposited as new dataset.

Our Data Management Service offers guidance and practical support to prepare data for sharing through the Leeds data repository.

Contact the Research Data Management Team to discuss how data could be used in your teaching.