The Annual Education and Student Experience Conference brings colleagues together to celebrate, share and showcase the innovative work taking place across our University to enhance learning, teaching and the student experience.
This year, a total of £10,000 is available, with applications welcomed for projects of up to £2,000 each.
Projects should align to this year’s conference themes.
Diversifying the curriculum
Skills, graduate attributes, and real-world application of competencies
Students as co-creators and collaborators
The awards are funded through the Education and Student Experience Fund and the Race Equality Charter Fund.
We encourage applications from across the University community and welcome proposals which would make a difference to our education and student experience.
Applicants should attend this year’s conference, which is taking place between 8-10 September. You can book your place using this online form.
The conference programme includes presentations from recipients of last year’s awards.
Are you thinking about coming to the Education and Student Experience conference in September? Maybe you’ve never attended before, or you are new to the university. Perhaps you’re not sure whether it would be a good use of your time. With just under a month to go, we wanted to release a blogpost outlining previous conference feedback.
Of course, we would say it’s the best three days in the diary (we do organise it!), but what do attendees from last year say?
Every year we run a feedback survey with people who have been to the conference. And last year 97% of people who responded rated the conference as 4 or 5 out of 5. And 90% said that it met their expectations.
The aspects of the conference that attendees valued the most were that it provided an opportunity to discuss up-to-date topics in learning and teaching, and community building. The mix of internal and external speakers means you have the chance to find out what’s going on in other AU departments, as well as universities in the UK and beyond. And you can meet staff in other departments who may share the same teaching or research interests as you. There’s plenty of time during breaks to meet new people as well as catch-up with colleagues you haven’t seen for a while.
Not only is the conference a great event, but attendees say that it has a direct impact on their teaching practice. Through both the conference papers and workshops, and the conversations, staff say that they use new approaches learnt from the conference in their teaching. After last year’s conference, several staff members told us they were going to explore using AI in their teaching. If you are thinking of applying for AdvanceHE fellowship, the conference is also a great way of taking part in CPD and reflecting on your teaching practice.
One of the messages that attendees suggested that we share more widely is that you’re welcome to dip in and out of the conference. We know that you may not be able to spend all three days attending, but you can come along for a couple of talks that really interest you. And of course, you can stay for as long as you like if you find that you want to carry on the conversation, or another session catches your eye.
So, it’s not just the organising team who rate the conference highly – staff from across the university agree that it’s a good way of meeting colleagues, discussing teaching topics, and learning something that they can use in their teaching. Come along and join them and find out for yourself. We’d love to see you there.
Merging courses is an effective way of dealing with separate courses with the same content so you don’t have to upload materials to two or more different courses.
This process makes one course the Primary (previously parent), whilst the other course(s) becomes Secondary (previously child). There’s no limit on how many secondary courses you can make but there can only be one primary.
Examples from Aberystwyth
Many members of staff are currently using the merge course facility across the institution. Some examples are:
Modules are taught the same content but there’s a module available for different years.
Modules that bring together different degree schemes and have different module IDs, e.g. dissertation modules.
Essentially, any module/course that shares the same content is ideal for Merging courses.
What do students see?
Students will see the name of the course that they are enrolled on (even if it’s the secondary course) when they log into Blackboard but they will see all the content placed in the primary course. Instructors will not be able to place content in the secondary course.
Things to consider
Now, before the start of term and whilst course content is being built, is the perfect time for linking your courses. Whilst the linking of courses does save time in the loading of materials, here are some points to consider:
All content can be viewed as soon as the courses are merged (as long as students are enrolled on the course). In addition to PowerPoints and lecture materials, this also includes Announcements and other interactive tools on your primary course.
Historical student interactions on a secondary course (such as using blogs or posting in discussion boards) won’t be available once the courses have been merged.
Any submission points created on a secondary module before the merge takes place will no longer be able to be viewed. We would advise creating these again in the primary course.
How do I control content so that it is only viewable to a module cohort?
Whilst all content is automatically visible once the courses are merged, you can use groups and adaptive release if you only want the content to be visible to a specific module cohort. This might be useful, for example, if you have merged a 2nd year and 3rd year course but your students on the different courses have separate assignments. You can use groups – 1 for the 2nd year students and one for 3rd year students and limit who can see the assignment information and submission point. See our guidance on Creating Groups and Release Conditions.
Merging Courses and the Grade Book
Once the merging takes place, all students will appear in the Grade Book of the primary course. It is possible to filter the gradebook using Merged Modules so that you only see the information for students on the relevant modules.
Click the filter button highlighted below and choose from the dropdown for merged courses:
If you’d like further information on this process or have any questions, please contact us on elearning@aber.ac.uk.
In just over a week’s time, the August Blackboard update will be released. This includes an overhaul of the Gradebook. Please see below for further information.
The monthly August Blackboard release has a new user interface for the Gradebook.
Given the nature of this update, we have a separate blogpost dedicated to it.
If you have any questions about the updated Gradebook or grading, please contact the Digital Education Team (elearning@aber.ac.uk).
Every course has the Gradebook, which is used to manage all aspects of the administration of marks. It can be accessed via the top menu of Blackboard courses.
As part of this update, the following processes are not changing:
Grades, calculations, and overall grade configuration
Grade schemas and grading settings
Course-level accommodations
The List View
All existing grades and submission history
The component marks transfer process also remains unchanged.
Change 1: Default view
The default view of the Gradebook is now the grid view
You can swap between the grid view and the list view by clicking between the views:
Change 2: To do list
The Gradebook Overview is now called the To Do List which is available in grid and list views:
From here, you can see what work there is to mark and post:
A reminder that marks need to be posted in order to be included in the marks transfer.
Change 3: Entering Grades
The ways to enter grades into columns has changed.
Click on the pencil icon to change and enter the grade:
You can then post the marks from this screen by clicking on the post icon:
You can also leave feedback from this view by clicking on the mark
If you want to mark and leave feedback on all Blackboard marked items, click on this icon:
This will then open the assignment mark screen.
Change 4: Updating and editing columns
Editing columns now take place via the list view.
Change 5: Filtering by merged module
It is possible to filter the gradebook using Merged Modules so that you only see the information for students on the relevant modules.
Click the filter button highlighted below and choose from the dropdown for merged courses:
Change 6: File upload and download gradebook
The functionality for downloading and uploading to the gradebook has moved.
Click on the settings cog:
Choose Download marks or Upload marks depending on what you want to do.
Change 7: Checking the visibility of a column
The visibility status of columns can no longer be seen in the grid view.
To check the visibility of the column, navigate to the list view:
You can amend the visibility of the column by clicking on the ….
We are now working to update our guidance to reflect the changes in the Gradebook.
If you need any further information or have any questions, please contact us on elearning@aber.ac.uk.
We previously announced our keynote speaker at this year’s Annual Education and Student Experience Conference: Dr Hardeep Kaur Basra.
We’re now delighted to announce our second external speakers: Professor Ruth Healey and Millie Leach.
They’ll be joining us on Day 1 of the conference with the session: From tokenistic to authentic: meaningful co-creation with students.
Please see below for their biographies:
Ruth Healey is a Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, at the University of Chester. She is a National Teaching Fellow (NTF) (2017); a Fellow of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) (2019), a Senior Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) (2024), and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) (2026). She is one of the inaugural editors of the International Journal for Students as Partners(2016-).
Millie Leach is an undergraduate BSc Cybersecurity student at the University of Chester, working alongside her degree as a Student Learning Consultant for the university’s Centre for Academic Innovation and Development. She is a recipient of Staff and Educational Development Association’s (SEDA) ‘Student Partnership Impact Award’ (2025) and recently become an editor of the International Journal for Students as Partners(2025-).
To support students who are resitting in August we are asking all module coordinators to add the new Resit ready item into the Assessment and Feedback area in Blackboard courses.
Resit ready contains resources to support students who are resitting coursework or exams in the supplementary exam period. Once it has been added to courses, colleagues can add then any module or department specific information into the Assessment and Feedback area.
In the July update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements:
Add supplemental content to Learning Object Repository folders and learning modules
Add descriptions to Discussions and Journals
Run a Rubric Evaluation Report for graded activities
Control AI Conversation duration with time limits
Find your favourite courses faster with Course Switcher
Add supplemental content to Learning Object Repository folders and learning modules
Instructors can now add their own content to folders and learning modules pulled from the LOR. Before, these were locked—you could view them but couldn’t add anything. Now, you can add in your own course-specific materials while the original LOR content stays locked and still updates across courses. Your additions work like normal course content, so you can edit, update, or remove them anytime without affecting other courses. LOR content will always stay at the top, and anything you add appears underneath—it can’t be moved around within the original LOR materials.
Image 1: The Course Content page will show a learning module added from the LOR, with an instructor document at the bottom. LOR-owned items have the label “This item is managed by your institution.”
Add descriptions to Discussions and Journals
Discussions and Journals now have a Description field, just like other course content, which makes everything on the Course Content page more consistent and easier to scan. Instructors can use this optional field to give quick context or set expectations before students start an activity, while keeping the actual prompt focused on the task or question. The prompt itself no longer shows on the main content page. For students, this means they’ll see a clear, simple overview of what each Discussion or Journal is about before opening it, making it easier to understand what’s coming next.
Image 2: Instructors can add a description in the Description field for a Discussion.
Run a Rubric Evaluation Report for graded activities
Instructors can now run a Rubric Evaluation Report straight from the gradebook for any graded activity that uses a rubric. It pulls together data from all student submissions, giving a quick, clear view of how students are doing against each criterion.
To use it, open the gradebook, find a column with a rubric, and launch the report from the menu in either Grid or Gradable Items view. You can download it as a PDF or CSV.
Marks need to already have been posted in order to view the report. If there aren’t enough posted grading data yet, you’ll see a message letting you know.
The report includes an overview of the assignment, overall average scores, a visual breakdown comparing possible vs achieved points, and a detailed table showing how students performed across criteria, including stats like average, median, and standard deviation.
Control AI Conversation duration with time limits
Instructors can now control how long AI Conversations last by adding time limits, making things a bit more structured and easier to manage. There are two different ways to do this, depending on what you want to time — the whole activity or just the conversation part.
An AI Conversation has two parts: the chat itself and a reflection question that follows. You can either set a time limit for the entire assessment (which includes both parts) or just for the conversation. The full assessment timer already existed — if time runs out, it either auto-submits or gives students extra time, depending on your settings. The new option is a conversation-only timer, which stops the chat after a set time but does not limit students’ time on the reflection question afterward.
You can’t use both timers at once — it’s one or the other. If you turn one on, the other is automatically disabled.
Within the conversation constraints, you’ll also now see two controls: a message limit (how many replies students can send) and the new time limit. You can use either, both, or neither. Just note: once a student starts, the time limit is locked in.
Image 3: You can now set a time limit for either a student’s AI conversation, or their written reflection after the chat.
For students, a visible countdown helps them keep track of time. Where it shows up depends on the timer you picked — either inside the chat or at the top of the whole assessment. If only the conversation is timed, they can still complete the reflection question without time pressure.
Image 4: Depending on the instructor’s settings, the timer is shown when students are completing their chat or during their reflection.
Overall, this makes expectations clearer, supports accessibility needs, and gives instructors more flexibility when designing AI-based activities.
Find your favourite courses faster with Course Switcher
Finding your favourite courses is now easier with the updated Course Switcher. You can now see all your favourited courses right there, so there’s no need to keep jumping back to the Courses page. This builds on recent updates like search and recent courses, making it quicker to move around.
There’s a new Favourites tab that automatically shows what courses you have chosen as your favourites on the main Courses page. It sits alongside Recent and Search, so everything’s in one place. Overall, it’s a simpler, faster way to jump between courses and stay focused without the extra clicks.
Image 5: The Course Switcher now has a Favourites tab, allowing you to add a personalized list of frequently used courses..
If you use Blackboard Assignment for your assessment, you may be interested in our latest update. Staff can now use the functionality of Blackboard Assignment whiles also getting a Similarity Report from Turnitin.
This is particularly useful for multi-part assignments and assignment files that are too big to use Turnitin. Like other elements of Blackboard, Assignment is available in Welsh for both staff and students. It also means that you get the benefits of Blackboard Assignment (such as an electronic receipt for students) as well as being able to use the same Similarity Report as other colleagues.
If you already make use of Blackboard Assignment, then we encourage you to try out the new Turnitin feature. Our Guide contains all the information to help you get started. Submission and marking stay the same, but you get the additional Similarity Report alongside your marking.
We’d also be interested in your feedback – during the year, we’ll contact you for feedback on using this new Turnitin integration.
Our keynote will be delivered by Dr Hardeep Kaur Basra who is Head of Educational Development at De Montfort University.
Dr Kaur Basra has led the Decolonising DMU project. This keynote and workshop will build on our own Race Equality Charter work. This session will be complemented by colleagues engaged in decolonising the curriculum at Aberystwyth.
We’re welcoming Professor Ruth Healey from Chester University who is an expert on students as co-creators.
UndebAber will be delivering a session on skills alongside WONKHE’s Jim Dickinson.
Colleagues from Blackboard will be joining us to highlight new accessibility initiatives with Blackboard Ally and roadmaps of new features. We’ll be presenting with the Department of Life Sciences on using achievements to record skills.
Recipients of the inaugural Education and Student Experience Awards will provide updates on their 4 projects and we’ll be launching the 2nd year of this initiative at the conference.
There are workshops and presentations across the 3 days – thank you to our colleagues and students who are contributing.
We hope to see you there and we’re looking forward to what promises to be an amazing event.
