Branwen Rhys: LTEU’s latest recruit

27th April 202327th April 2023 Branwen Rhys [brr26] Uncategorised Leave a comment

I joined the LTEU team just after Easter this year as a part-time E-learning Support Officer. I previously worked as an Academic Registry Officer supporting the innovative Nursing Team and their first cohort at the University.

Originally from Anglesey, I moved to Aberystwyth in 2005 to take a Graduate Trainee Librarian post with IS Services and to complete my distance learning Information and Library Studies qualification at DIS (at somewhat less of a distance).

In my mind, this was a temporary move down south with a view to returning to north Wales. However, I’m still here 18 years on, happily married with 2 children, 2 guinea pigs, an eighty year old tortoise and no plans to relocate!

I left the University after a year and worked for the next 15 years or so at the National Library of Wales. I undertook various roles within the Digital Developments Unit working on and leading projects such as ‘Cylchgronau Cymru’, David Lloyd George’s Online Exhibition, Portraits Online, ‘From Warfare to Welfare’ and more recently, the ‘History of Medicine and Health in Wales before the NHS’ project.

Outside of work, I enjoy all sorts of arts and crafts, music, and going for walks with the family. Professionally I am an educator who enjoys empowering others with the information and skills needed to work more efficiently. I am pleased to return to IS to a post closer to my librarian roots and look forwards to becoming an established member of the LTEU Team.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 26/4/2023

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

May

2-31/5/2023 Education Development Service, Birmingham City University, Decolonising Knowledge in Academic Practice Lecture Series
4/5/2023 QAA Scotland, Building connection: The role of enhancement in embracing ‘relationship-rich education’
9/5/2023 University of Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, Student Partnership Framework Launch Event (download the framework)
9-11/5/2023 University of Liverpool CIE, Islands of Innovation
9, 10, 12/5/2023 University of Birmingham, HEFi Festival (hybrid online and in person)
10/5/2023 Westminster Student Partnerships, Curriculum creation as co-inquiry about the University
10/5/2023 creativeHE, Creativity and neurodivergence
10/5/2023 EAT-Erasmus, Practical tools for measuring impact of assessment interventions
12/5/2023 ENAI, Tips and tricks for running survey-based research in Academic Integrity
15/5/2023 ABC LD Team, To VLE and Beyond? Revisiting ABC Learning Design
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
24/5/2023 Royal Society for Chemistry, Inclusive science teaching by design: building success for all learners into your lessons
24/5/2023 creativeHE, Compassion and creativity
26/5/2023 EmpowerED (formerly TILE Webinars), Webinar 5 (propose a topic or just register to attend)

June

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

July

12/7/2023 ENAI and University of Derby, European Conference on Ethics and Integrity in Academia (hybrid in person and online)

Resources and publications

Resources on Artificial Intelligence

Beetham, H. (21/4/2023), On language, language models and writing, imperfect offerings
Bryant-Aird, G. (11/4/2023), Generative AI can change assessment for the better, WonkHE
Carless, D. (19/4/2023), How ChatGPT can help disrupt assessment overload, THE Campus
Compton, M. (5/4/2023), Generative AI: Friend or Foe? (two 15-minute videos and blog), Martin Compton, University College London
European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI Monthly Webinars (recordings of past webinars and information about upcoming webinars)
Galanos, V. (18/4/2023), ChatGPTeaching or ChatGPCheating? Arguments from a semester with large language models in class (Part 1), Teaching Matters blog, University of Edinburgh
Gill, J. (18/4/2023), ChatGPT ‘experimentation’ puts universities in ‘dangerous position’: Experts tell THE and Leeds event that institutions are facing risks they don’t understand, Times Higher Education
Guy, M. (21/4/2023), Generative AI: Lifeline for students or threat to traditional assessment?, National Centre for AI in Teriary Education blog
Lancaster, T. (18/4/2023), ChatGPT: What should assessment look like now? (1-hour video), QAA
Lancaster, T. (20/4/2023), A World Without Contract Cheating – Keynote Presentation for University of Bradford – 20 April 2023(slides)
Robinson, G. (18/4/2023), Generative AI in education: an introduction, Educational Enhancement, University of Sussex
Sadasivan, V. S., Kumar, A., Balasubramanian, S., Wang, W. & Feizi, S. (17/3/2023), Can AI-Generated Text be Reliably Detected?, arXiv:2303.11156v1
Taylor, S. (17/3/2023), What Are Universities Thinking About AI?, Wayfarer Learning Lab – Stephen Taylor
UNESCO (2023), ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in higher education: Quick start guide
Warner, J. (21/4/2023), ChatGPT and Writing Assessment, an Old Problem Made New, Inside Higher Ed

Other resources

#LTHEchat (21/4/2023), #LTHEchat 261: Active Learning (Wakelet collection of Tweets)
Brookfield, s. (1994), Tales from the dark side: a phenomenography of adult critical reflection, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 13:3, 203-216
CAST (2023), Tips for Accessible Educational Materials, Wakefield, MA: Author
Centre for Higher Education Research, Policy and Practice (2019), Active learning strategies for higher education, CHERPP, p.1-175p (downloadable PDF)
Collins, M. & Childs, M. (14/4/2023), How do you create the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational community of practice? (Ft. Copyright Waffle) (1-hour audio recording), Pedagodzilla Podcast
creativeHE community (n.d.), #creativeHE blog
de la Croix, A. & Veen,M. (23/10/2108), The reflective zombie: Problematizing the conceptual framework of reflection in medical education, Perspectives on Medical Education
Furst, E. (12/2022), Making sense of cognitive science and education, EfratFurst
Honeychurch, S. (15/4/2023), Learning Despite Assessment, NomadWarMachine Rhizomes and knitting
Jisc (19/4/2023), International students deserve an equitable digital experience
K. Patricia Cross Academy (n.d.), Active Engaged Learning (set of videos), Techniques Video Library
Kleiman, P. (13/12/2022), Stumbling with Confidence: close encounters of the creative kind (transcript of keynote speech), Stumbling with confidence
Shangase, P. Z., Gachago, D. & Ivala, E. N. (Eds.) (5/2023), Co-teaching and co-research in contexts of inequality, Vernon Press (free PDF download)
Tai, J., Bearman, M., Dollinger, M., Ajjawi, R. (16/4/2023), We need to change the way universities assess students, starting with these 3 things, The Conversation
Vasant, S. (19/4/2023), The importance of Peer Observation of Teaching to induction and teaching practice, The SEDA Blog
Willingham, D. (n.d.), Learning Styles FAQ, Daniel Willingham–Science & Education
Willingham, D. (20/4/2023), There Are Better Ways to Study That Will Last You a Lifetime, New York Times

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.

Turnitin Building Block retired

26th April 202326th April 2023 James Woolley [jbw] E-submission, Technical Updates, Turnitin, Uncategorised Leave a comment

In summer 2022 we moved to a new version of Turnitin. As support for our previous version of Turnitin has now ceased, the historical version (known as Turnitin Building Block) will be retired on 31 August 2023.

This means that any marked assignments will no longer be accessible to staff and students.

Students should download any historical assignments (from pre-academic year 2022-23) and save them.

Staff should contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk) if they still need to access Turnitin assignments in the Building Block for marking purposes.

Even though access will be removed, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit will still be able to request marked assignments via Turnitin support. If you require this after 31 August 2023, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Blackboard Ultra Project Update

19th April 202319th April 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment

It’s been a little while since we gave you a progress report on our move to Blackboard Ultra. We’ve been working hard to prepare for the start of our training programme and making sure that our integrations are working.

Technical Update

We have been focusing on our Course Creation process. To help colleagues with the move to Ultra, we are creating courses for next academic year much earlier this year.

This will also help with our training as colleagues will be preparing their live Ultra course.

Our integrations have also taken a lot of work to set up and get working:

Panopto: Panopto has been moved to an API connector ready for Ultra Courses.
Talis Aspire: Talis Aspire LTI is now enabled. We have been working with colleagues in Academic Engagement to ensure that this is as smooth as possible.
Turnitin: Work on moving Turnitin to a LTI connector was completed in summer 2022, and no additional changes to Turnitin are required for the move to Ultra Courses.
Microsoft Teams meetings: We will move to the Teams LTI in summer 2023. This tool will be for scheduling Teams meetings.

These are existing tools but one of the benefits of moving to Ultra is the introduction of Office 365 LTI integration. This allows you to upload documents from your OneDrive straight into Blackboard as well as offering students the opportunity to collaborate on a document together. For those of you who have been following our progress on our blog, you will see that this collaborative tool forms the basis of our Wiki solution.

Training Update

Our E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Blackboard Ultra training session has now been designed and is ready for staff departmental training sessions.

We have communicated with all Departmental Directors of Learning and Teaching to start arranging your departmental training session. If you are unable to make your scheduled session then we will be running them centrally.

See our training blogpost for an overview of our training package.

Required Minimum Presence

As Blackboard Ultra Courses have a completely different approach to organising and arranging content, our Required Minimum Presence has been re-written. Keep a look out for our updated RMP.

Guidance Materials

We have been working on rationalising and preparing our guidance materials, including our FAQs. One change you’ll notice once we’re in Ultra Courses is that our FAQs will link directly to Blackboard help materials. These materials are available bilingually in Welsh and English.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

Our Annual Learning and Teaching Conference is taking place between 4 and 6 July. A key strand of the conference will be the Blackboard Ultra. Keep an eye on our blogposts as we announce our keynote speakers. A reminder that our Call for Proposals closes on 5 May – you can submit a proposal using our online Call for Proposals form.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 17/4/2023

17th April 202326th April 2023 Mary Jacob [mhj] Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

Online events and webinars

April

20/4/2023 Centre for Online and Distance Education, Supporting student voice and students as partners in a blended environment
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)
24/4/2023 Active Learning Network, Global Festival of Active Learning
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 Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars, University of Kent, Using Artificial Intelligence in Education: A Student Voice
26/4/2023 University of Birmingham, HEFi Reading Group: Becoming a critically reflective teacher Ch. 13 with Stephen Brookfield
26/4/2023 IFNTF Global Seminar Series, What does flourishing in the tail end of the pandemic look like?
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
27/4/2023 Future Teacher Webinars, Rich Media 3 Video – Reflected

May

9/5/2023 University of Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, Student Partnership Framework Launch Event (download the framework)
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
24/5/2023 Royal Society for Chemistry, Inclusive science teaching by design: building success for all learners into your lessons

June

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

July

12/7/2023 ENAI and University of Derby, European Conference on Ethics and Integrity in Academia (hybrid in person and online)

Resources and publications

Resources on Artificial Intelligence

Burgess, M. (13/4/2023), The Hacking of ChatGPT Is Just Getting Started, Wired
Cassidy, C. (16/4/2023), Australian universities split on using new tool to detect AI plagiarism, The Guardian
Compton, M. (15/4/2023), Generative AI: Friend or Foe? (two short videos and one 42-minute audio recording), Martin Compton, University College London
Cotton, D. R. E., Cotton, P. A. & Shipway, J. R. (13/3/2023), Chatting and cheating: Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT, Innovations in Education and Teaching International.
Fowler, G. A. & Merrill, J. B. (13/4/2023), The AI bot has picked an answer for you. Here’s how often it’s bad, Washington Post
Jiang, L. (2/3/2023), Survival Strategies in the Era of AI Taught by Stanford (10-minute video), AIRE Program, Stanford University

Other resources

Costello, E. (13/4/2023), OER23: ‘A one star review’ (blog post and recordings of several keynote speakers from the OER23 conference)
Cottingham, S. & Clark, J. L. (13/4/2023), Meaningful Learning (downloadable poster based on David Ausubel’s concept of meaningful learning), One-pagers, Jamie Clark
Eaton, S. E. (14/4/2023), A Comprehensive Academic Integrity (CAI) Framework: An Overview, Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary, available for download from Learning, Teaching and Leadership
Forsyth, R. (25/3/2023), Oral examinations, Assessment in Higher Education
Pleschová, G. & Simon, A. (Eds.) (2022), Internationalising teaching in higher education. Supporting peer learning, Delft: Delft University of Technology. Output from IMPACT project.

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

Weekly Resource Roundup – 12/4/2023

12th April 202314th April 2023 Mary Jacob [mhj] Resources and Webinars, Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

Online events and webinars

April

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)
24/4/2023 Active Learning Network, Global Festival of Active Learning
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 Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars, University of Kent, Using Artificial Intelligence in Education: A Student Voice
26/4/2023 University of Birmingham, HEFi Reading Group: Becoming a critically reflective teacher Ch. 13 with Stephen Brookfield
26/4/2023 IFNTF Global Seminar Series, What does flourishing in the tail end of the pandemic look like?
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
27/4/2023 Future Teacher Webinars, Rich Media 3 Video – Reflected

May

9/5/2023 University of Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, Student Partnership Framework Launch Event (download the framework)
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
24/5/2023 Royal Society for Chemistry, Inclusive science teaching by design: building success for all learners into your lessons

June

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

Resources on Artificial Intelligence

Bali, M. (1/4/2023), What I Mean When I Say Critical AI Literacy, Thinking Allowed
Broome, B. (10/4/2023), A writing teacher got schooled by ChatGPT. Here’s what he learned, Washington Post
Compton, M. (2/4/2023), How Generative AI Will Change Assessment in Higher Education,
Department for Education (39/3/2023), DfS policy paper: Generative artificial intelligence in education, UK Government
Dickinson, J. (29/3/2023), It looks like you’re trying to assess a student, WonkHE
Eaton, S. E. (7/4/2023), How to Talk to Your Students about ChatGPT: A Lesson Plan for High School and College Students, Learning, Teaching and Leadership
Education Burrito Podcast with Kiu Sum (28/3/2023), Ep 44: Unwrapping the use of ChatGPT in Academic Integrity with Emma Duke-Williams (33-minute audio recording)
Edwards, B. (6/4/2023), Why ChatGPT and Bing Chat are so good at making things up: A look inside the hallucinating artificial minds of the famous text prediction bots, Ars Technica
Farrokhnia, M., Banihashem, S. K., Noroozi, O. & Wals, N. (2023), A SWOT analysis of ChatGPT: Implications for educational practice and research, Innovations in Education and Teaching International
Fowler, G. A. (3/4/2023), We tested a new ChatGPT-detector for teachers. It flagged an innocent student, Washington Post
Lancaster, T. (29/3/2023), Keynote: Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom: Friend or Foe? (42-minute video), Learning and Teaching at the University of Lincoln
Marcus, G. (7/4/2023), In A.I. Race, Microsoft and Google Choose Speed Over Caution, New York Times
Moran, C. (6/4/2023), ChatGPT is making up fake Guardian articles. Here’s how we’re responding, The Guardian
Snay, P. (4/4/2023), Turnitin’s New AI Writing Detection (and what it means for your teaching), Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, Bright Space
Verma, P. & Oremus, W. (5/4/2023), ChatGPT invented a sexual harassment scandal and named a real law prof as the accused, Washington Post
Webb, M. (8/12/2023), GPT-3 and Plausible Untruths, Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education
Wild, B. (9/4/2023), ChatGPT: Cardiff students admit using AI on essays, BBC News

Other resources

Amrane-Cooper, L., Baume, D., Brown, S., Hatzipanagos, S., Powell, P., Sherman, S. & Tait, A. (27/3/2023), Online and digital education for a connected world, UCL Press, free download
Collins, M. & Childs, M. (31/3/2023), Remixplay 5 2023: Conference-in-a-pod! (2-hour audio recording), Pedagodzilla: The pedagogic podcast with the pop culture core
Eka Putri, I. G. A. P., Widdop Quinton, H. & Selkrig, K. (2023), Reshaping teaching in higher education through a mandala of creative pedagogies, Teaching in Higher Education
Furst, E. (12/2022), Making sense of cognitive science and education, Bridging Cognitive Science & Education
Kuepper-Tetzel, C. (11/4/2023), Trauma-Informed Education and Promoting Resilience in the Classroom – A Summary, Teaching Innovation and Learning Enhancement Network (TILE)
LMU Take 5 (22/10/2020), Take5 #51 The best way to develop a compassionate pedagogy?, Take 5
Merseal, H. M., Luchini, S., Kenett, Y. N., Knudsen, K., Bilder, R. M., & Beaty, R. E. (2023), Free association ability distinguishes highly creative artists from scientists: Findings from the Big-C Project, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication.
Overson, C. E., Hakala, C. M., Kordonowy, L. L. & Benassi, V. A. (Eds.) (2023), In their own words: What scholars and teachers want you to know about why and how to apply the science of learning in your academic setting, Society for the Teaching of Psychology (free PDF download)
Salmon, M. (29/3/2023), Ambitious recommendations for student mental health in Wales, WonkHE

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

Mini Conference: Virtual Reality – Materials Available

12th April 202312th April 2023 James Woolley [jbw] Conference, Mini Conference 2023 Virtual Reality, Uncategorised 2 Comments

On 28 March, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit hosted their first mini conference of the year in person.

The mini conference’s theme was Virtual Reality. The conference materials are now available on our webpages.

The conference started with a keynote by Chris Rees who is the Executive Head of Digital Creativity and Learning Unit at University of Wales Trinity St David’s. Chris gave an overview of how UWTSD have been using two newly created immersive rooms (Swansea and Cardiff), with activities ranging from virtual reality gym training through to architectural walk throughs and health and safety training.

The conference then shifted to hearing how colleagues at AU are currently using VR in their learning and teaching. Amanda Jones and Bleddyn Lewis gave an insight into how the Healthcare Education Centre is using Wales’ Virtual Hospital. Education’s Steve Atherton makes use of VR in several modules, including placing students in different education contexts – from refugee camps through to Montessori education settings. After lunch, Helen Miles and Andra Jones (Computer Science) and Rebecca Zerk (Dewis Choice Project / Law and Criminology) ran a workshop outlining the challenges and benefits to VR. Participants also got the opportunity to sample the Dewis choice project using VR headsets.

What emerged from the event is that lots of colleagues are using VR in their learning and teaching. We’re looking at creating a space for colleagues to come together to discuss their approaches to VR. We’ve set up a Teams site. If you’re interested in Virtual Reality and would like to be added to the Teams site, email the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (lteu@aber.ac.uk)