Lynda.com, recently made available to all staff and students at SHU, is a site containing high-quality video training on common and specialist software packages. There are videos on a wide range of software, from general tools, such as Microsoft Word and Google Drive, to specialist tools, such as Final Cut Pro and SPSS. In addition to this software training, there are a number of more general or conceptual videos, including ones on topics such as flipped classrooms, instructional design, foundations of typography, principles of computer programming, travel photography, etc. The videos on Lynda.com are all professionally produced, with full transcripts and subtitles, and are designed to be used as part of a training course as well as an individual resource. This gives several advantages over similar videos on Youtube or other general sites in that individual videos can be watched to quickly address a specific training need, or entire courses can be watched to build new skills, and the materials for any exercises are available for download, making it possible to work on the exact file that is being used in the video rather than an approximation of it.

The videos are an excellent resource for both staff and students and can be accessed from http://go.shu.ac.uk/lynda and entering your standard SHU login details. Apps are available to allow videos to be watched on iPhone and iPad or Android devices, which may make it a little easier to follow along with the videos on your computer.