2023

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

15/3/2023 Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars, Teaching with ChatGPT: Examples of Practice
15/3/2023 EAT-Erasmus, Promoting student self-regulation through assessment
22/3/2023 Vevox Pedagogy 2023 series, Laura Jenkins, University of Loughborough, presents ‘Use Vevox for formative and mid-module feedback’
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 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)
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

Beckingham, S. & Hartley, P. (7/3/2023), An Updated Non-Technical Introduction to ChatGPT (32-minute video), SEDA Webinars, with presentation slides
Cotton, D., Cotton, P., & Shipway, J. R. (10/1/2023), Chatting and Cheating. Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT, EdArXiv [NOTE: be sure to read through the Discussion section of this paper]
Fallin L. (28/2/2023), Supporting inclusive learning resource design with Designing for Diverse Learners (downloadable poster), National Teaching Repository
Gooding, M. (10/3/2023, updated 13/3/2023), OpenAI’s GPT-4 to ‘launch next week’ – Microsoft Germany, TechMonitor
Horizon2020 INTEGRITY project (2021), Integrity Games (interactive game-based scenarios for academic integrity)
MacFarlane, B. (6/3/2023), Why ChatGPT Will Actually Become a Catalyst for Innovation in Higher Education, LinkedIn
Marcus, G. (10/3/2023), The long shadow of GPT: We don’t really know what’s coming, The Road to AI We Can Trust
University of Toronto Quarterly Special Issue on the Creative Humanities (Winter 2022)
Van Gompel, K. (2/3/2023), Five ways to prepare writing assignments in the age of AI, turnitin Blog
Wong, P. (6/6/2022), Surviving institutional racism as a Chinese female in UK higher education, Studies in Technology Enhanced Learning 2(3)

Other

Association for Learning Technology (ALT) South (3/3/2023), Open and inclusive assessments (1-hour video) and presentation slides
Cotton, D., Cotton, P., & Shipway, J. R. (2023, January 10), Chatting and Cheating. Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPTMonthly 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.

Ultra Practice Courses created

9th March 20239th March 2023 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Training and Support, Ultra Leave a comment

Now that the templates have been confirmed we have created an individual Ultra Practice Course for all staff members.

This practice course is private to you and has no students enrolled on it. You can use this course to create content and try out the new Ultra course interface.

You will find your practice course by going to Organisations on the left-hand side menu:

Ultra Base Navigation with Organisations showing

The course has been created with the bilingual AU course template. For further information on course templates, see our previous blogpost. They will be named your name Cwrs Ymarfer Ultra / Ultra Practice Course.

To help prepare you for Ultra courses next academic year, try the following:

You’ll notice that you can drag and drop content much more easily in Ultra. Additionally, you can choose where you add content (without newly created content defaulting to the bottom of the page).

As Ultra is much more fluid than Blackboard original, your approach to content organisation is essential to help students navigate the module. Make sure that you use the preview features so that you can get an idea of how the content looks to students:

It might be that you want to discuss content organisation with colleagues to see if there’s departmental approach that you want to take.

We will be using these practice organisations for training purposes over the coming months. Keep an eye on our blog and webpages for additional information as further guidance is produced.

We’ll be blogging additional tasks over the coming months for you to try in your Ultra practice course. In our next blogpost of this nature, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the Grade Book, Assignments, Turnitin, and Blackboard tests.

If you’ve got any questions about the move to Blackboard Ultra, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Mini Conference: Programme announced

8th March 20238th March 2023 WordPress User [jbw] Conference, Mini Conference 2023 Virtual Reality Leave a comment

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce the programme for its forthcoming Virtual Reality Mini Conference on Tuesday 28 March.

Booking for the event is already open. This mini conference is taking place in person in B23, Llandinam Building between 11:00 and 16:00.

The Mini Conference will start at 11:00 with a session by Chris Rees from UWTSD. Our blogpost announcing Chris as our external speaker provides further information.

From 11:45, Amanda Jones and Bleddyn Lewis from the Healthcare Education Centre in the Department of Life Sciences will be showcasing what they do with their students in their session Embracing Virtual Reality within Healthcare Education for student nurses.

At 12:30, Education’s Steve Atherton will be presenting the session VR in Education.

A lunch break has been scheduled between 13:00 and 14:00. We will not be providing catering at this event but please feel free to bring your lunch along with you.

Between 14:00 and 16:00 Sarah Wydall, Helen Miles, Rebecca Zerk, and Andra Jones will be providing a 2 hour workshop identifying the next step in the evaluation for the use of VR as a training tool. This session is limited to 15 people – the session is first come, first served and you will be able to sign up for it on the morning of the mini conference.

Most of the sessions are hands on and interactive – you’ll have the opportunity to try out VR and see how colleagues are using it in their teaching.

Abstracts and the full programme will be available on our webpages in due course.

If you have any questions, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (lteu@aber.ac.uk).

Weekly Resource Roundup – 6/3/2023

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

Online events and webinars

14/3/2023 University of Sheffield ScHARR Short course, Creating Digital Accessible Teaching Materials
14/3/2023 AdvanceHE, The opportunities and threats from students’ use of AI tools, paired with the AdvanceHE blog post by Kay Hack and Charles Knight, Higher education in the era of AI
15/3/2023 Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars, Teaching with ChatGPT: Examples of Practice
15/3/2023 EAT-Erasmus, Promoting student self-regulation through assessment
22/3/2023 Vevox Pedagogy 2023 series, Laura Jenkins, University of Loughborough, presents ‘Use Vevox for formative and mid-module feedback’
28/3/2023 Turnitin Protecting Academic Integrity in 2023, Webinar 2: Combating Contract Cheating On Campus
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 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
12/4/2023 EAT-Erasmus, Self-regulation competency framework
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
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

Bruff, D. (23/2/2023), On ChatGPT, Boilerplate, and Ghost Writing, Agile Learning
Cooke, N. (16/2/2023), Podcasts to Teach, Learn & Network (2-minute video), University of Birmingham HEFi MicroCPD
Eaton, S. E. (25/2/2023), 6 Tenets of Postplagiarism: Writing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Learning, Teaching and Leadership
Harwell, D. (25/2/2023), Tech’s hottest new job: AI whisperer. No coding required, Washington Post
Holmes, J. (28/2/2023), Universities warn against using ChatGPT for assignments, BBC News
Metz, C. (26/2/2023), Why Do A.I. Chatbots Tell Lies and Act Weird? Look in the Mirror, New York Times
UCL (2/2023), AI, education and assessment: staff briefing #1, UCL Teaching and Learning

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