Exemplary Course Award 2022-23

30th March 202330th March 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Exemplary Course Award Leave a comment

Anna Udalowska, from Lifelong Learning, has been awarded the Exemplary Course Award for the module XN16710: The Science of Wellbeing.

In addition to the winner, the following modules achieved Highly Commended:

Alexander Taylor from the Department of Psychology for the module PS32120: Behavioural Neuroscience
Kathy Hampson from the Department of Law and Criminology for the module LC26120: Youth Crime ad Justice
Lara Kipp from the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies for the module TP30020: Contemporary Drama
Panna Karlinger from the School of Education for the module ED20820: Making Sense of the Curriculum

The diverse range of teaching and learning styles evidenced in this year’s applications reflects the innovative work that is taking place across the institution.

The aim of the Exemplary Course Award, now in its eighth year, aims to recognise the very best learning and teaching practices. It gives staff members the opportunity to share their work with colleagues, enhance their current modules in Blackboard, and receive feedback on to improve.

Modules are assessed across 4 areas: course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, and learner support. The self-assessed nature of the award gives staff the opportunity to reflect on their course and enhance aspects of their module before a panel assesses each application against the rubric.

The panel and the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit would like to thank all of the applicants for the time and effort that they have put into their applications and modules this year.

We’re looking forward to receiving more applications next year and many congratulations to the recipients of this year’s award.

Blackboard Ultra: Blog Alternatives Overview

29th March 202329th March 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Blackboard Blogs, Blackboard Discussion Boards, Blackboard Journals, Interactive Tools, Technical Updates, Ultra Leave a comment

This post outlines the solutions that the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit are working on for Blog activities in Blackboard Ultra. Once these solutions have been tried and tested, we will work on providing guidance for colleagues.

Background

Blogs are a collaborative tool used for a number of assessed and unassessed activities at Aberystwyth University.

The tool is not currently available in Blackboard Ultra (despite our enhancement requests) and is not on Blackboard’s roadmap of development.

The unavailability of the Blog tool has been included in all parts of the decision-making process to highlight it as a risk in the move to Blackboard Ultra.

In their very nature blogs offer students the opportunity to reflect on their learning, organise their thoughts and ideas chronologically, and comment on each other’s posts.

Whilst there aren’t blogs in Ultra, there are two fully-integrated participation and engagement tools that will offer alternatives: Journals and Discussions.

Option 1: Use the Journal tool

Whilst blogs don’t exist in Blackboard Ultra, the journal tool does remain. Journals are used in a similar way to blogs but they are private between course tutors and students. If the activity can function without making student’s posts visible to all, we recommend using this tool.

You can get an overview of the journal tool by watching this Journal overview tutorial.

Option 2: Use the Discussions tool

If the activity requires an interactive element between students then we recommend using the discussion tool. Here you can create a thread, organise your discussions via folders, set the discussions to be graded, encourage student participation by not viewing the thread until students have completed their initial post.

For an idea as to how discussions work, take a look at this demonstration video.

Even though our discussion board tool has changed, our principles on discussion board design and engagement still remain the same. Take a look at our discussion board design blogpost for some tips and questions for you to ask yourselves in the design of the activity.

Option 3: Use WordPress blogging tool

Whilst we recommend that discussion board activity remains in Blackboard so that student engagement and assessment can take place, there is another blogging tool supported by the University: WordPress. If you think that WordPress is the only option for you then we recommend that you get in contact with us first to discuss your activity and so we can advise further (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Weekly Resource Roundup – 27/3/2023

27th March 202327th March 2023 Mary Jacob [mhj] Resources and Webinars, Uncategorised, Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

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

30/3/2023 QAA, Improving student learning by linking inclusion/accessibility and academic integrity
30/3/2023 Learning and Teaching Innovation Lecture Series, Beyond the Chat: Understanding the Impact of ChatGPT in Higher Education
30/3/2023 Future Teacher Webinars, Working with Rich Media 2 – Audio
31/3/2023 QAA, ChatGPT: How do I use it as a force for good?
31/3/2023 INASP, Beyond content delivery: How to make online learning truly participatory?
5/4/2023 University of Westminster Student Partnerships, Expanding representations and interpretations of partnership: An approach to decolonizing
5/4/2023 University of the Arts, London, Experiences using Educational Video and Audio
5/4/2023 Transforming Assessment, Designs for our times: adapting assessment in an AI context
12/4/2023 EAT-Erasmus, Self-regulation competency framework
14/4/2023 European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI), ENAI Recommendations on the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence and the European Conference on Ethics and Integrity in Academia 2023 (ECEIA 2023)
18/4/2023 QAA, ChatGPT: What should assessment look like now?
19/4/2023 WonkHE, The avalanche is here: Higher education and the AI revolution
20/4/2023 #TELresearchers Lancaster University, #TELresearchers with Dr Bonnie Stewart
20/4/2023 Advance HE, Student Engagement Conference 2023: What does student engagement mean to you? (in-person conference in Manchester)
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’
26/4/2023 Turnitin Protecting Academic Integrity in 2023, Webinar 3: The Student View On Contract Cheating and AI Writing Tools
9-11/5/2023 University of Liverpool CIE, Islands of Innovation
12/5/2023 ENAI, Tips and tricks for running survey-based research in Academic Integrity
16/5/2023 Advance HE, Mental Wellbeing in HE Conference 2023: Putting theory into practice – Creating a whole university approach to student and staff wellbeing (in-person conference, Manchester)
17-18/5/2023 Change Agents Network conference, Reimagining student/staff partnerships to generate new learning opportunities
9/6/2023 Academic Practice and Technology Conference (APT) “Implications and Ethical Dimensions of using Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Teaching, Learning and Assessment“, pre-conference online event
30/6/2023 Academic Practice and Technology Conference (APT) “Implications and Ethical Dimensions of using Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Teaching, Learning and Assessment“, in-person at King’s College London, Strand campus

Resources and publications

Aberystwyth University LTEU (27/3/2023), Launch of Turnitin AI writing and ChatGPT Detection Capability, Aberystwyth University LTEU Blog
Association for Learning Technology (ALT) South (3/3/2023), Open and inclusive assessments (1-hour video) and presentation slides
Cottington, S. (26/2/2022), Schemas determine what we learn, Evidence for Educators: Using cognitive science to make better decisions
Fowler, G. A. (21/3/2023), Say what, Bard? What Google’s new AI gets right, wrong and weird, Washington Post
Jisc (n.d.), National centre for AI in tertiary education community (information about joining this community of practice)
Mills, A. (23/3/2023), ChatGPT Just Got Better. What Does That Mean for Our Writing Assignments?, Chronicle of Higher Education (or read her thread on Twitter)
Munoz, A., Wilson, A., Pereira Nunes, B., Del Medico, C., Slade, C., Bennett, D., et al. (2023), AAIN Generative Artificial Intelligence Guidelines, Deakin University. Educational resource., National Teaching Repository
Nerantzi, C. (2/2/2023), Creating a collection of creative ideas to use AI in education, #CreativeHE
Phipps, L. (27/3/2023), Means. Motive, Opportunity: A Composite Narrative about Academic Misconduct, Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education
Pitt, E. & Winstone, N. (2023), Enabling and valuing feedback literacies, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 48:2, 149-157
QAA (23/3/2023), ChatGPT: To ban or not to ban? (1-hour video), QAA webinars (for more QAA guidance and forthcoming webinars, see ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence)
Webb, M. (17/3/2023), AI writing detectors – concepts and considerations, Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education
Wegerif, R. (14/3/2023), Will ChatGPT turn education back to Socrates?, Rupert Wegerif
Wild, J. & Nzegwu, F. (30/1/2023), Digital Technology in Capacity Development: Enabling Learning and Supporting Change, INASP

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 papers due 15/5/2023, King’s College London, University College London, the London School of Economics & Political Science and Imperial College London Academic Practice and Technology Conference (APT) 2023 (hybrid in person and online), Implications and Ethical Dimensions of using Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education teaching, learning and assessment

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.

Launch of Turnitin AI writing and ChatGPT Detection Capability

27th March 202313th April 2023 James Woolley [jbw] E-submission, Feedback, Marking, Turnitin Leave a comment

On 4 April Turnitin will be launching their new AI writing and ChatGPT detection capability which will be added to the Similarity Report. Before colleagues start using the AI detector, we thought that we would caveat it with the following quotations from authoritative professional bodies in the sector.

Jisc notes: “AI detectors cannot prove conclusively that text was written by AI.”
— Michael Webb (17/3/2023), AI writing detectors – concepts and considerations, Jisc National Centre for AI

The QAA advises: “Be cautious in your use of tools that claim to detect text generated by AI and advise staff of the institutional position. The output from these tools is unverified and there is evidence that some text generated by AI evades detection. In addition, students may not have given permission to upload their work to these tools or agreed how their data will be stored.”
— QAA (31/1/2023), The rise of artificial intelligence software and potential risks for academic integrity: briefing paper for higher education providers

Please also see the Guidance for Staff compiled by the Generative AI Working Group led by Mary Jacob. The guide outlines suggestions for how we can explain our existing assessments to students in ways that will discourage unacceptable academic practice with AI, and also red flags to consider when marking.

You can read more about the Turnitin AI enhancement in this Turnitin blog post.

For guidance on how to use this tool, take a look at Turnitin’s:

AI writing detection- How to use guide Download

AI writing FAQs_Mar23_UK Download

Turnitin also published an AI writing resource page to support educators with teaching resources and to report its progress in developing AI writing detection features.

If you have any questions about using Turnitin’s AI writing and ChatGPT detection capability or interpreting the results, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Weekly Resource Roundup – 21/3/2023

21st March 202327th March 2023 Mary Jacob [mhj] Resources and Webinars, Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

Online events and webinars

28/3/2023 Turnitin Protecting Academic Integrity in 2023, Webinar 2: Combating Contract Cheating On Campus
29/3/2023 Talis Elevate Teach Learn Collaborate Repeat pedagogy panel: Getting Started – First Steps with Social Annotation
29/3/2023 IFNTF Seminars, Engaging Students with the Feedback Process with Nigel Francis, Cardiff University
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”
30/3/2023 QAA, Improving student learning by linking inclusion/accessibility and academic integrity
30/3/2023 Learning and Teaching Innovation Lecture Series, Beyond the Chat: Understanding the Impact of ChatGPT in Higher Education
30/3/2023 Future Teacher Webinars, Working with Rich Media 2 – Audio
5/4/2023 Transforming Assessment, Designs for our times: adapting assessment in an AI context
12/4/2023 EAT-Erasmus, Self-regulation competency framework
14/4/2023 European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI), ENAI Recommendations on the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence and the European Conference on Ethics and Integrity in Academia 2023 (ECEIA 2023)
19/4/2023 WonkHE, The avalanche is here: Higher education and the AI revolution
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’
26/4/2023 Turnitin Protecting Academic Integrity in 2023, Webinar 3: The Student View On Contract Cheating and AI Writing Tools
9-11/5/2023 University of Liverpool CIE, Islands of Innovation
12/5/2023 ENAI, Tips and tricks for running survey-based research in Academic Integrity
17-18/5/2023 Change Agents Network conference, Reimagining student/staff partnerships to generate new learning opportunities
9/6/2023 Academic Practice and Technology Conference (APT) “Implications and Ethical Dimensions of using Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Teaching, Learning and Assessment“, pre-conference online event
30/6/2023 Academic Practice and Technology Conference (APT) “Implications and Ethical Dimensions of using Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Teaching, Learning and Assessment“, in-person at King’s College London, Strand campus

Resources and publications

Association for Learning Technology (ALT) South (3/3/2023), Open and inclusive assessments (1-hour video) and presentation slides
Association for Learning Technology (ALT) South (15/3/2023), TechThursdays – Directed study, ChatGPT led independent study and Exam revision (1 hour video)
Bozkurt, A., Xiao, J., Lambert, S., Pazurek, A., Crompton, H., Koseoglu, S., Farrow, R., Bond, M., Nerantzi, C., Honeychurch, S., Bali, M., Dron, J., Mir, K., Stewart, B., Costello, E., Mason, J., Stracke, C. M., Romero-Hall, E., Koutropoulos, A., Toquero, C. M., Singh, L Tlili, A., Lee, K., Nichols, M., Ossiannilsson, E., Brown, M., Irvine, V., Raffaghelli, J. E., Santos-Hermosa, G Farrell, O., Adam, T., Thong, Y. L., Sani-Bozkurt, S., Sharma, R. C., Hrastinski, S., & Jandrić, P. (2023), Speculative Futures on ChatGPT and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): A collective reflection from the educational landscape, Asian Journal of Distance Education, 18(1), 53-130
Bridle, J. (16/3/2023), The stupidity of AI, The Guardian
Chechitelli, A. (n.d.), Understanding false positives within our AI writing detection capabilities, Turnitin Blog
Chew, S.L. & Cerbin, W. J. (2020), The cognitive challenges of effective teaching, The Journal of Economic Education
Cotton, D. R. E., Cotton, P. A. & Shipway, J. R. (2023), Chatting and cheating: Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT, Innovations in Education and Teaching International
Dickinson, J. (17/3/2023), An avalanche really is coming this time, WonkHE
Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars (16/3/2023), Teaching with ChatGPT: Examples of Practice
Guy, M. (12/3/2023), Digifest 2023: An innovation celebration, Alternative Assessment (summary of Jisc DigiFest highlights)
Jisc (7/3/2023), Framework for digital transformation in higher education, Jisc Guides
Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education No. 26 (28/2/2023): Special Edition, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Köseoğlu, S., Veletsianos, G. & Rowell, C. (2023), Critical digital pedagogy in higher education, AU Press
Leach, M. (20/3/2023), Like Clippy, only on steroids, WonkHE, ‘Generative AI tools are about to be ubiquitous. Mark Leach reviews the week that might have changed everything for HE.’
Microsoft (17/3/2023), Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot with Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote (11-minute video)
Mihai, A. (16/3/2023), On throwing a party. Inclusive practice in Higher Education, The Educationalist
Moore, E. (16/3/2023), Help! A robot wrote my essay!: Reflections on webinars about ChatGPT, OU Learning Design Team Blog
OpenAI (14/3/2023), GPT-4 is OpenAI’s most advanced system, producing safer and more useful responses
Trimbos, B. & Nicol, D. (13/3/2023), From Active Learning to Active Feedback, SBO
Yan, Z. (8/8/2022), Student Self-Assessment as a Process for Learning (1st ed.), Routledge. (First chapter is open access)

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 papers due 15/5/2023, King’s College London, University College London, the London School of Economics & Political Science and Imperial College London Academic Practice and Technology Conference (APT) 2023 (hybrid in person and online), Implications and Ethical Dimensions of using Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education teaching, learning and assessment

Conference Registration now open

20th March 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2023, Conference Leave a comment

Registration for the eleventh annual Learning and Teaching conference is now open. This year’s Learning and Teaching conference has the theme Transformative Teaching: Creating Opportunities for Learning and will be taking place between Tuesday 4 and Thursday 6 July 2023.

You can register for the conference online.

Call for Proposals

Staff, postgraduate teaching assistants, and students are welcome to propose sessions on any topic relating to learning and teaching.

Submit and view the call for proposals online. Please complete this form no later than 5 May 2023.

Blackboard Ultra Training

20th March 202313th April 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Training and Support, Ultra Leave a comment

In this blogpost we’ll be outlining the training that we’ve been designing ready for the move to Blackboard Ultra.

We will be offering every department an E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Blackboard Ultra training session. We will be liaising with your departmental director of learning and teaching to arrange this, offering either an online or an in-person session.

In this session, we will outline what colleagues need to do to get their modules ready for September. The main outcome of this session is that colleagues will be able to achieve the Required Minimum Presence. The session includes some design tips, an overview of the analytics available in Blackboard Ultra, as well as how to create Turnitin submission points, links to your reading list, and Panopto links. We’ll introduce you to the updated interactive tools: Discussions and Journals. In addition to this, we’ll look at the new workflow for creating Blackboard Assignments and Blackboard Tests, and the Grade Book.

If you cannot make your departmental session, then we are also offering them centrally.

To complement this session, we are running some centrally organised E-learning Enhanced Sessions:

E-learning Enhanced: Introduction to Discussions
E-learning Enhanced: Introduction to Journals
E-learning Enhanced: Introduction to Tests
E-learning Enhanced: Designing Wiki Equivalences
E-learning Enhanced: Designing Blog Equivalences

These sessions will be advertised on our course booking site.

If the session is taking place online then a Teams link will be emailed to you.

If you have any questions about our move to Blackboard Ultra, then do contact elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Blackboard Ultra: Wiki Alternatives Overview

14th March 202314th March 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Blackboard Wikis, Ultra Leave a comment

This blogpost outlines the solutions that the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit are working on for Wiki activities. Once these solutions have been tried and tested, we will work on providing guidance for colleagues.

Background

Wikis are a collaborative tool used for a number of assessed and unassessed activities at Aberystwyth University.

The tool is not currently available in Blackboard Ultra (despite our enhancement requests) and is not on Blackboard’s roadmap of development.

The unavailability of the Wiki tool has been included in all parts of the decision-making process to highlight it as a risk in the move to Blackboard Ultra.

In their very nature wikis are collaborative giving students the opportunity to contribute as part of a group. Students can produce media rich resources linking to external content, videos, and images. The content can be arranged over a number of pages, with a structure pre-given by the tutor.

This blogpost outlines a number of options for Wiki equivalences. The options are listed in order of LTEU preference.

Sustainability in the Curriculum: Materials Available

13th March 202323rd March 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Events and Networks, External Speakers, Training and Support Leave a comment

On 9 March, LTEU welcomed Dr Sarah Gretton and Alice Jackson from the University of Leicester to run a session entitled How to use UN 2030 Agenda Sustainability Development Goals to frame the Curriculum.

Slides and recordings from the session are now available.

University of Leicester Sustainable Development Goals Slides Download

In the session, Sarah and Alice gave an overview of how they embed SDGs across all curricula at Leicester, with 100% of their programmes having a module related to an SDG.

Participants at the session were given the opportunity to reflect on modules that they teach on and whether any of the UN SDGs map to them. Participants were also asked if students were aware of this mapping and whether it was captured in the learning outcomes of modules and programmes.

If you’re interested in Sustainability in the Curriculum then the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal targets are a good starting place.

In addition to SDGs, the presenters also linked to the following resources:

This external speaker event builds on our Mini Conference on Sustainability held in December.

Our next external speaker event is on 19 April, 14:00-15:30, where James Wood from Bangor University will be running a session on Improving Feedback Literacy. You can book this session via the Course Booking page.

Blackboard Ultra: Directors of Learning and Teaching Consultations

13th March 202313th March 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Training and Support, Ultra Leave a comment

On 1 and 2 March, LTEU met with Departmental Directors of Learning and Teaching to update on the Blackboard Ultra project and discuss our plans for training, ways in which we can address challenges, and the support required for the Ultra project.

The slides from the session can be downloaded from this link.

DLT consultation Download

The slides include an update on the project timeline, what academic colleagues will have to do, and an overview of our training approach.

Summary of discussions

Support contact – if you are having any difficulties with using e-learning tools then do contact elearning@aber.ac.uk and we will be happy to help you out.
Adding Reading List and Panopto Link – Staff members will have to add links to these in their modules. There is currently no way of doing this automatically, but we will continue to investigate ways of doing so.
Departments will be able to choose whether they have an in-person training session or an online training session.
LTEU will continue training on using Ultra over the summer and into the new academic year
Academic colleagues will be able to access and copy materials from historical modules – the current retention period is 5 years + current year.
Where possible, colleagues should use Blackboard text editor features to ensure that their content is as accessible as possible.
A checklist will be produced so that colleagues can check that they’ve done everything required in building their modules.
Colleagues would like a consistent message from Information Services about the project.
Training sessions will be offered to all Registry teams as well as external examiners and franchise campuses.
Communications and approach will include the benefits of the move to Ultra and a list of new features.
Where possible, video materials will be created.

If you have any questions, concerns, or want to speak to us about something specific in your course, then contact us on elearning@aber.ac.uk.