Blackboard Ultra Project Update

8th February 20238th February 2023 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment

It’s been a little while since we updated you on what we’ve been up to with Blackboard Ultra since we launched Ultra Base Navigation at the beginning of January.

We’ve been working with our colleagues at Blackboard to help finalise our course template. Unlike previous years, we’ll be having one course template for all modules and all modules in 2023 will be created blank to assist with the move to Ultra.

We’ve updated our Required Minimum Presence for Blackboard which is going to the Academic Enhancement Committee for approval and feedback. We’ve also been exploring how Welsh and English templates will work together in Ultra. Once we’ve got the template and RMP agreed, we’ll start the process of creating your Ultra Practice Courses so that you can see what Ultra will look like and begin to start thinking about your teaching ready for September 2023.

Our outreach work will continue at the start of next month as we will host focus groups with Departmental Directors of Learning and Teaching and Associate Deans for Learning and Teaching to start discussing what types of training you will require and how best to help you with the Ultra course rollout.

From a technical perspective, we’ve been looking into ways in which Panopto folders will provision with Ultra courses as well as Talis Aspire reading lists.

As part of our work with Blackboard, they have provided us a with a course readiness report which helps us to identify how prepared we currently are for Ultra courses. We’ve started exploring Wiki and Blog equivalences for those of you who currently use these tools in teaching, as well as Blackboard Test question equivalences for those questions that aren’t available in Ultra.

We will be updating our webpages with additional support and guidance materials as we go. If you have got any questions about our move to Ultra Courses then you are welcome to contact us (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Vevox Seminar Series 2023

7th February 20238th February 2023 WordPress User [jbw] Resources and Webinars, Vevox Leave a comment

Vevox is Polling Software that’s used across a whole host of learning and teaching activities at the University.

Over the past 3 months, over 900 polls have been run with over 5000 participants. If you’ve not used Vevox before then you might want to sign up for one of their Zero to Hero 15 minute workshops which are run every Tuesday afternoon. We’ve also got Vevox guidance available on our webpages and we’ve previously run a Mini Conference looking at polling software activities.

In addition to their training, Vevox also run a series of educator webinars online.

Their first guest will be Daniel Fitzpatrick from Aston University and he will be presenting: “Using Vevox in whole class and small group teaching” on the 8th March from 2pm-2:45pm.

Followed by, Laura Jenkins from Loughborough University, speaking on how to “use Vevox for formative and mid-module feedback” on the 22nd of March from 2pm-2:45pm

And closing out the series will be Alex Pitchford presenting from Aberystwyth University discussing “Increasing Engagement & Active Learning using Vevox in Maths and Sciences “on the 26th of April from 2pm-2:45pm

You can register for your place online.

If you are using Vevox in your own teaching and would like to provide us with a case study then email the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (lteu@aber.ac.uk).

Weekly Resource Roundup – 6/2/2023

6th February 20236th February 2023 WordPress User [mhj] Resources and Webinars, Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

Weekly Resource Roundup, Mary Jacob, Lecturer in learning and teaching, Learning and teaching enhancement unit, Aberystwyth University

As leader of our PGCTHE programme, I keep an eye out for resources to help staff teach effectively. These include webinars, podcasts, online toolkits, publications and more. Topics include active learning, online/blended teaching, accessibility/inclusion, and effective learning design based on cognitive science. 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.

Online events and webinars

7/2/2023 Equity Unbound with Anna Mills & Maha Bali, Critically Incorporating AI into Teaching: Developing AI Literacy
8/2/2023 Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars, Pedagogy and Practice when Teaching and Learning Online, including a discussion of ChatGPT
8/2/2023 University of London Centre for Distance and Online Education (CODE), De-colonising digital education: Bridging the great divide
8/2/2023 UDL UK and Ireland Network, UDL Instructional Design Workshop ‘Learn how to create instructional experiences using the UDL principles as part of a structured, facilitated process called CUTLAS’
9/2/2023 INRAP, Designing inclusive assessment: opportunities and challenges
9/2/2023 Academic Development Centre, University of Warwick, Making feedback work
9/2/2023 University of London Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE), Understanding our evolving digital practice: Scholarship and research of teaching
13/2/2023 QAA Scotland, Where in the world is enhancement? Exploring the international impact of Scotland’s enhancement approach
16/2/2023 Academic Development Centre, University of Warwick, The place and case for lectures and lecture capture in the new normal
22/2/2023 Vevox Pedagogy 2023 series, Daniel Fitzpatrick presents ‘Using Vevox in whole class and small group teaching’
23/2/2023 Future Teacher Webinars, Working with Rich Media 1 – Images
7-8/3/2023 Jisc, DigiFest (hybrid online and in person) “Innovation takes collaboration; it takes connection; it takes networks. It takes questions: why do you do that? what if I tried this? why not?”
14/3/2023 University of Sheffield ScHARR Short course, Creating Digital Accessible Teaching Materials
22/3/2023 Vevox Pedagogy 2023 series, Laura Jenkins, University of Loughborough, presents ‘Use Vevox for formative and mid-module feedback’
22/2/2023 NewT Talk series for new or aspiring academics, “Stephanie Aldred will talk about internationalization in HE and William Machaca will share his career story which has many international dimensions”
29/3/2023 UDL UK and Ireland Network, UDL Instructional Design Workshop, “Learn how to create instructional experiences using the UDL principles as part of a structured, facilitated process called CUTLAS”
24-28/4/2023 QAA, Assessment Festival “We will dare to be controversial, ask those difficult questions and take a forward-facing look at how assessment may evolve. The festival will bring different voices from the sector to share and celebrate assessment practices that enhance student experience.”
26/4/2023 Vevox Pedagogy 2023 series, Alex Pitchford, Aberystwyth University, presents ‘Increasing Engagement & Active Learning using Vevox in Maths and Sciences’
9-11/5/2023 University of Liverpool CIE, Islands of Innovation
17-18/5/2023 Change Agents Network conference, Reimagining student/staff partnerships to generate new learning opportunities (call for proposals open until 13/3/2023)

Resources and publications

Bali, M. (3/2/2023), On Equity and Trust and AI, Reflecting Allowed: Maha Bali’s blog about education
Evans, C. (12/2022), Equity, Agency and Transparency Framework (EAT), Inclusive HE
Furze, L (26/1/2023), Teaching AI Ethics (poster), Leon Furze: Reading, Writing, Digital
Grieve, R., Woodley, J., Hunt, S. E. & McKay, A. (15/7/2021) Student fears of oral presentations and public speaking in higher education: a qualitative survey, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45:9, 1281-1293
Moriarty, P. & Merrifield, M. (28/7/2020), Death of the Lecture (15-minute video), Sixty Symbols
Moss, P. (1/2/2023), Group Formation – the role of gender, Learning Design by Paul G Moss
Payne, A. L. & McArthur, J. (2023), A Womanist Approach to Care-full Feedback, Teachers Going Gradeless
QAA (30/1/2023), QAA Briefs Members on Artificial Intelligence Threat to Academic Integrity, QAA News & Events (with downloadable guidance document)
TEL edvisors (2/2/2023), The AI (ChatGPT) future: What do we do now?, TELedvisors webinar with David Cormier and Tim Fawns (1-hour video)
Thomson, S. (1/2/2023), DigiEd Dilemmas Season 1 Episode 1 – Hyflex (42-minute audio recording)

Other

Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity
Subscribe to SEDA’s mailing list for email discussions about educational development and emerging teaching practices. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
Follow University of Birmingham’s Higher Education Futures institute HEFi on Twitter for daily posts with links to pedagogical literature and more. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
Join the #LTHEchat on Twitter Wednesday nights for one hour of lively discussion about learning and teaching in HE. I often find out about good resources for the Roundup from the chat.
Call for submissions due 3/3/2023, Active Learning Network, 2023 Global Online Festival of Active Learning

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.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 1/2/2023

1st February 20231st February 2023 WordPress User [mhj] Resources and Webinars, Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

Online events and webinars

6-10/2/2023 University of Winchester, Decolonising the University Within and Beyond the Curriculum (booking closes 2/2/2023)
8/2/2023 Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars, Pedagogy and Practice when Teaching and Learning Online, including a discussion of ChatGPT
8/2/2023 University of London Centre for Distance and Online Education (CODE), De-colonising digital education: Bridging the great divide
8/2/2023 UDL UK and Ireland Network, UDL Instructional Design Workshop ‘Learn how to create instructional experiences using the UDL principles as part of a structured, facilitated process called CUTLAS’
9/2/2023 Academic Development Centre, University of Warwick, Making feedback work
9/2/2023 University of London Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE), Understanding our evolving digital practice: Scholarship and research of teaching
13/2/2023 QAA Scotland, Where in the world is enhancement? Exploring the international impact of Scotland’s enhancement approach
16/2/2023 Academic Development Centre, University of Warwick, The place and case for lectures and lecture capture in the new normal
23/2/2023 Future Teacher Webinars, Working with Rich Media 1 – Images
7-8/3/2023 Jisc, DigiFest (hybrid online and in person) “Innovation takes collaboration; it takes connection; it takes networks. It takes questions: why do you do that? what if I tried this? why not?”
14/3/2023 University of Sheffield ScHARR Short course, Creating Digital Accessible Teaching Materials
29/3/2023 UDL UK and Ireland Network, UDL Instructional Design Workshop, “Learn how to create instructional experiences using the UDL principles as part of a structured, facilitated process called CUTLAS”
24-28/4/2023 QAA, Assessment Festival “We will dare to be controversial, ask those difficult questions and take a forward-facing look at how assessment may evolve. The festival will bring different voices from the sector to share and celebrate assessment practices that enhance student experience.”
9-11/5/2023 University of Liverpool CIE, Islands of Innovation
17-18/5/2023 Change Agents Network conference, Reimagining student/staff partnerships to generate new learning opportunities (call for proposals open until 13/3/2023)

Resources and publications

Advance HE (31/1/2023), Revised ‘Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2023’ launched today, Advance HE News & Views
Bower, M. & Alfano, M. (31/1/2023), Artificial Intelligence in Education – ChatGPT for Teachers (13-minute video), Macquarie University
Bruff, D. (25/1/2023), Show Us Your Syllabus: Chatbot Edition, Intentional Teaching with Derek Bruff
Bryant, P. (26/1/2023), ChatGPT: IDGAF (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore the Bot), Peter Bryant: Post Digital Learning
Fawns, T. & Cormier, D. (24/1/2023), ChatGPT Discussion 2 (1-hour video), University of Windsor
Healey, M. & Healey, R. (16/1/2023), Searching the Literature on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): An Academic Literacies Perspective and Reviewing the Literature on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): An Academic Literacies Perspective, Learning & Teaching Inquiry 11
Kleon, A. (12/1/2023), AI can’t kill anything worth preserving, Austin Kleon
Mihai, A. (23/1/2023), Let’s get off the fear carousel! “The way I see it, academia’s response to ChatGPT is more about academic culture than about the tool itself,” The Educationalist
Nieminen, J. H., Bearman, M. & Ajjawi, R. (14/12/2022), Designing the digital in authentic assessment: is it fit for purpose?, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
Payne, A. L., Ajjawi, R. & Holloway, J. (14/12/2022), Humanising feedback encounters: a qualitative study of relational literacies for teachers engaging in technology-enhanced feedback, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
Rossi, V. (20/1/2023), ChatGPT and the PGCert (interactive Padlet)
Schroeven, M., Buelens, W. & Kirschner, P. A. (31/1/2023), ChatGPT – What Teachers Need to Know, 3-Star Learning Experiences
Smith, J., Coppin, A., & Clifford, C. (28/2/2021), Incorporating student voice in course development, Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 3(2), 92–102
Staffordshire University TILE Hub (31/1/2023), TILE Webinars series 1 and 2 (playlist of video recordings)

Other

Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity
Subscribe to SEDA’s mailing list for email discussions about educational development and emerging teaching practices. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
Follow University of Birmingham’s Higher Education Futures institute HEFi on Twitter for daily posts with links to pedagogical literature and more. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
Join the #LTHEchat on Twitter Wednesday nights for one hour of lively discussion about learning and teaching in HE. I often find out about good resources for the Roundup from the chat.
Call for submissions due 3/3/2023, Active Learning Network, 2023 Global Online Festival of Active Learning