2020

As lecturer in learning and teaching responsible for the PGCTHE, I keep an eye out for new resources to help our staff teach effectively online. This includes externally-provided webinars, toolkits, publications and other resources. Because active learning is high on our university agenda, I’m particularly keen to share guidance for moving active learning online. Below I’ve listed items that came to my attention in the past week. In the interest of clarity, our policy is to show the titles and descriptions in the language of delivery.

23-27/11/2020, International Virtual Meeting of Teaching, Learning & Assessment in Higher Education – “Speakers include David Boud, David Carless, María Assunção Flores, Liisa Postareff, Ana Remesal, Pete Boyd, Phil Dawson, Daniela Bruna, Carlos González, Ernesto Panadero, Gavin Brown, Verónica Santelices, Gonzalo Cifuentes, Stephen Darwin and Verónica Villarroel.“
26/11/2020, Future Teacher Talks, “Working with Rich Media 1 – Images“
ACUE (5/11/2020), “New Resource for Inclusive and Equitable Teaching“
Education Technology, “Streamlining the virtual student experience webinar recording”
Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning, “The Student Perspective of Online/Remote Teaching webinar recording”
Future Teacher Talks, “Inclusive Practice“
Gettin’ Air – the Open Pedagogy Podcast
Pedagodzilla, “The pedagogic podcast with the pop culture core: This podcast is an elaborate effort to boost and broaden our knowledge of pedagogic theory, practice and research. It’s a heck of a dry subject though, so we have a bit of fun by clumsily slapping geeky analogies over the top from our favorite bits of pop culture nerdery. Each episode we’ll skim just enough information to blag a chunk of pedagogy, and then give it a damn good kicking.”

Please see the Staff Training booking page for training offered by the LTEU and other Aberystwyth University staff. I hope you find this weekly resource roundup useful. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact our team at lteu@aber.ac.uk. You may also wish to follow my Twitter feed, Mary Jacob L&T.

Potential disruption to Blackboard labels and titles

9th November 202028th April 2021 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

You may notice some changes to Blackboard labels whilst we update our language pack tomorrow morning (Tuesday 10.11.2020).

This will affect menu items and My Modules. Blackboard functionality and access will remain during this time and you will still be able to create content, access materials, and submit assignments. This work is scheduled to take place as part of Information Services’ Tuesday morning maintenance: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/94.

New Content Editor in Blackboard

6th November 202028th April 2021 Kate Wright [kaw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

A small number of users are having problems with the new Content Editor in Blackboard. This may stop you being able to add or edit text.

We are working closely with Blackboard to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.

Helping Students to Make Most of Recorded Lectures – Using Discussion and Notes in Panopto

5th November 202028th April 2021 Anna Udalowska [aeu] Information for Students, Online Teaching, Panopto 1 Comment

Panopto recordings have been heavily used by students even before the move to partly online delivery. This year they rely on pre-recorded content even more. Facilitating active learning using asynchronous materials such as lecture recordings can be challenging. We have previously shared with you the guide on using lecture recordings for students outlining six key strategies helping them to make most of the recordings. In one of our previous posts we have also explored the use of Panopto captions and quizzes which enables your recordings to be more accessible and interactive. Today we would like to introduce you to two additional Panopto functionalities – discussion and notes.

The image shows where the Discussion function in Panopto is located. It is between the Contents and Notes tabs on the left hand side of the Panopto editor.

Using Podcasts for Teaching

4th November 202028th April 2021 Anna Udalowska [aeu] Academy Forum, Panopto, Podcasts Leave a comment

The second Academy Forum session this year focused on creating podcasts in Panopto. The discussion emphasised podcasts’ unique potential for facilitating a sense of connection. Usually based on informal monologues, interviews and discussions podcasts provide their users with opportunities to listen in to unconstructed reflections and conversations. As explained by Street (2014) audio storytelling creates a ‘partnership between imagination and memory’ triggering a unique and personal reaction to it (as cited in McHugh, 2014, p.143). Podcasts can provide us with company; unlike with videos or written texts, we can listen to them during other daily activities.

These unique properties of podcasts hold great potential for its use in education. University of Cambridge created a collection of short podcasts from various subject areas. Podcasts are also used by individual educators, Ian Wilson, a Senior Lecturer in Education at York St John University Ian Wilson created a series of podcasts aimed at supporting learners on placements. His podcast focused on providing students with instructions on what the students should be doing the following week, answering any of their questions and providing some motivational advice. Although podcasting may not necessarily be the best solution for delivering the key learning material, as discussed during the Academy Forum session, it can complement your current teaching practice by fostering reflection, increasing learner’s engagement and foster a sense of community.