Welcome to new staff joining Aberystwyth University

Distance Learner Banner

We’re the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit. Based in Information Services, we work with staff across the university to support and develop learning and teaching. We run a wide range of activities to do this.

All the information that you need is on the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit webpages. Our Supporting your Teaching webpages will help you with various teaching solutions.

We write a blog full of the latest updates, details on events and training sessions, and resources.

If you need to get in touch with us, you can do so using one of two email addresses:

  • lteu@aber.ac.uk (for pedagogical and design questions, or to arrange a consultation) or
  • elearning@aber.ac.uk (for technical queries regarding our e-learning tools listed below).

Introduction to E-learning Tools

Virtual Learning Environment: Blackboard

Each module has its own dedicated course in Blackboard. These courses contain online content, such as reading lists, and teaching staff details. This is the main point of information for your students for any given module, including access to lecture recordings and assignment submission. The University has a Blackboard Required Minimum Presence policy for all modules. Please see our staff guide for further information.

Lecture Capture: Panopto

When teaching in person, be aware that all lectures (that is, teaching where the focus is on information being transmitted from staff to students) should be recorded using Panopto, our Lecture Capture software. See details of our Lecture Capture Policy.

E-submission: Turnitin and Blackboard Assignment

At Aberystwyth University, students must submit all text-based and word-processed work electronically as outlined in the University’s E-submission policy. For this, we use our e-submission tools: Turnitin and Blackboard Assignment. Turnitin provides an automatic text matching functionality.

Polling tool: Vevox

Vevox is Aberystwyth University’s polling tool. Polling can be used in learning and teaching activities as well as meetings to make the session interactive and collaborative with many different possibilities for use.

Resources and further help

We have a number of Guides and FAQs to help you use our software.

Training Provision

To support all staff with their teaching, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit runs a series of training sessions. These include:

  • practical sessions to familiarise staff with the different elements of the VLE,
  • the Active Learning agenda,
  • assessment and feedback,
  • accessibility,
  • presentation skills, and more.
  • artificial intelligence

We also offer a range of events and training programmes. You can find details of our annual CPD programme and book your place to attend via our Book a Course page. We deliver some sessions ourselves, while others are delivered by university staff whose teaching features good practice in those areas. Look for (L&T) in the session title.

Events

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit runs a range of events, including the Annual Learning and Teaching ConferenceMini-Conferences, Mini-Fests, and Academy Forums. All of these are great opportunities to meet people from across the university and discuss Learning and Teaching issues and developments.

Programmes

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit also runs programmes to support your continued professional development. This includes the Teaching for Postgraduates at Aberystwyth University (TPAU) programme, and the Master’s level Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE), and a Fellowship (ARCHE) Scheme.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 27/8/2024

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

August

September

Resources and publications

Resources on Generative AI

Other resources

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals 18/9/2024 Active Learning Network New ALN Co-created Book
  • Call for proposals 27/9/2024 RAISE Network Student Engagement in HE Journal special issue on Engaging with Student Voice
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.

Welcome to the Academic Year 2024-25: Updates to Blackboard for students

A warm welcome to new students joining us and those who are returning to study at Aberystwyth University.

In this blogpost, we will outline the changes that have been made to your digital learning environment, Blackboard, ready for the start of the academic year 2024-25.

If you need help using Blackboard, see our Student Guide which contains all kinds of useful information.

We’ve also got FAQs available for the other tools that we support, including Turnitin for e-submission and Panopto for lecture capture.

Updated Template

All courses have been created this year using a slightly different template.

Module Information and Assessment and Feedback have been replaced with Learning Modules. Learning Modules are a more visual way to organise and arrange content.

In Module Information you can expect to find items relating to the administration of the course.

In Assessment and Feedback you can expect to find your submission points, assignment briefs, and marking criteria.

You might find that your lecturers have also used Learning Modules for your Learning Materials.

Progress Tracker

Another change is that Progress Tracker has been turned on by default on all content on your course. This allows you to track your progress through the course by marking tasks as complete. Blackboard’s guidance provides further information.

Blackboard Ally

A reminder that we have Blackboard Ally enabled on all your courses. Blackboard Ally allows you to download content into different formats. This includes .mp3 files, immersive readers, and electronic Braille. For help, look at Ally guidance.  

Blackboard Assignment

We will be running a series of pilots with some courses across the University using Blackboard Assignment. For those of you used to submitting via Turnitin, Blackboard Assignment offers similar functionality. We have a dedicated student FAQ on how to submit using Blackboard Assignment.If you have any difficulties submitting please contact Information Services (is@aber.ac.uk) and your academic department.

Departmental Organisation

Lastly, the final stage of our Ultra project was to move Departmental Organisations onto Ultra. Organisations are similar to Courses but they are not modules that you can take. Organisations are used to provide you with useful information about your Department. They are also used for training and test purposes, such as the Referencing and Plagiarism quiz. You can access your Organisations from the left-hand menu in Blackboard.

If you have any questions about using Blackboard, please contact Information Services (is@aber.ac.uk).

Weekly Resource Roundup – 8/8/2024

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

August

September

Resources and publications

Resources on Generative AI

Other resources

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals 18/9/2024 Active Learning Network New ALN Co-created Book
  • Call for proposals 27/9/2024 RAISE Network Student Engagement in HE Journal special issue on Engaging with Student Voice
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.

What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra – August 2024  

The August Blackboard Learn Ultra update includes enhancements to Ultra Documents, Forms, Release Conditions and Discussions. 

Enhancements to Blackboard Learn Ultra Documents 

The Blackboard Learn Ultra August update included enhancements to the creating and editing functionality of Blackboard Learn Ultra Documents.   

For those unfamiliar with Documents, they are an easy way to create content in Ultra, ensuring compatibility with mobile devices and Blackboard Ally. As this update to Documents is a significant change to content organisation, we have written a separate blog post which can be found here. 

Anonymous student responses for Forms 

Anonymous responses in forms encourage honest and candid feedback from students and help participants feel safe and secure knowing their identities are protected. Anonymity leads to more genuine responses that convey the respondents’ true opinions and experiences. Additionally, it increases participation rates and the overall quality of the results.  

Instructors can now collect anonymous submissions in Forms. The new Anonymous submissions option appears in the Grading & Submissions section of Form Settings

Image 1. Anonymous submissions option 

The Grading and Submission settings with Anonymous submissions selected

When you select Anonymous submissions, these settings are enabled by default:  

  • Due date 
  • Prohibit late submissions  
  • Prohibit new attempts after due date  
  • Complete/incomplete is selected as the grading schema for non-graded forms  
  • When grading, the submission earns the points assigned; you can’t edit or override the points earned 

Additional important details to note:  

  • Anonymous forms cannot be administered to groups.  
  • Class conversations are not supported when Anonymous submissions is selected.  
  • To ensure anonymity, student activity, exceptions, exemptions and accommodations are not supported.  
  • To ensure anonymity, student progress/statistics are not captured.  
  • Modifications to form questions and settings are not permitted if the form has submissions and the due date has passed.  

From the Submissions tab for a form, you can view an anonymized list of students participants along with this information and options:  

  • Student submission status 
  • Grading status and grade – At submission, the grading status is set to Complete and the grade is marked (for example., 5/5)  
  • Post — Graded forms post automatically  
  • Download all – You can download all form submissions 

To view responses, select an anonymous student from the list. You can enter overall feedback for their submission.  

  • For ungraded forms, the text “Submitted” or “Not submitted”  
  • For graded forms, the grade  

From the Gradebook, before the due date for an anonymous form, “Anonymous” appears in the cell for each student. After the due date, the cells display:  

From the Grades tab, you can select Download Gradebook to download responses to forms with anonymous submissions. 

Blackboard has taken care to ensure students know when their submission to a form is anonymous. The Anonymous icon and label appears on:  

  • the Content Page  
  • the Form panel where they start the attempt and view their submission  
  • the Details & Information section that appears while responding to the form 

Image 2. The Student view of the Anonymous label and icon for a form 

Student view of the Details and Information settings with the Anonymous label and icon for a form 

Improvements to creating assignments (not Turnitin) 

Instructors need robust, easy to use tools when creating their assessments.  

To create a better experience, the new Assignment page includes these improvements:  

  • A new Instructions box where instructors can use the full content editor to craft assignment instructions. 
  • There are no options to add questions to an assignment.  
  • The Settings panel now includes only options relevant to assignments.  
  • Blank attempts are no longer created when students view assignment instructions. The system only creates an attempt when students add content to the file drop zone / content editor. Note: Group or timed and proctored assignments continue to create attempts when students view the instructions. 

Image 1. Instructor view of the New Assignment page with the new Instructions box 

Instructor view of the New Assignment page with the new Instructions box 

Image 2. Instructor view of adding instructions to an assignment 

Instructor view of adding instructions to an assignment 

Image 3. Students view of the new Assignment Information panel and the View Instructions option 

Students view of the new Assignment Details and Information panel and the View Instructions option 

Image 4. Student view of the assignment instructions 

Student view of the assignment instructions 

Multiple rules for release conditions 

Instructors need to release course content based on performance criteria to sequence students on learning paths correctly. Sometimes they also need to release content to different groups using different criteria. To support this needed flexibility, instructors can now create multiple rules for release conditions.  

You can create rules for release conditions based on these criteria: date, time, and grade range performance criteria. You can also create rules for specific individual learners, groups, or for all members. 

Image 1. The new Release Conditions page 

The new Release Conditions page 

Ability to ‘Follow’ Discussions for Enhanced Engagement 

Discussions are an important part of the course experience, allowing for easy collaboration between all course members. The ability to engage and re-engage with discussions ensures that collaboration is active and lively. Users can re-engage when they know there are new posts by following the discussion.  

Key Enhancements:  

  • Follow Discussions: Users can follow select discussions and receive notifications for new contributions from peers or instructors.  
  • User Notification Settings: New notification options for the Activity Stream settings allow users to manage notification types for discussions:  
    • Activity on my responses  
    • Activity on responses I have replied to  
    • Responses from instructors  
    • Responses for followed discussions  
    • Replies for followed discussions  

Image 1. New ‘Follow’ option inside a discussion 

the new ‘Follow’ option inside a discussion 

Image 2. New user notification options for the Activity Stream 

New user notification options for the Activity Stream 

Image 3. Notifications being delivered to the Activity Stream 

Notifications being delivered to the Activity Stream 

Vevox Polling: Summer 2024 Update

The University has a subscription to Vevox Polling. You can run polling activities in your classroom with participants using mobile devices.

Vevox’s update for summer 2024 includes some new functionality that we wish to draw your attention to.

New question type: Rating scale Poll

This question type allows you to set a rating scale from 1 to the highest value. You can rename the bottom of the scale and the top of the scale and add multiple items to the rating.

This question type would be useful for activities such as muddiest point or identifying topics for revision.

You can replace the rating scale with a star rating instead.

To use the rating scale question, select create new and choose Rating Scale from the question type menu.

Images as choices in multichoice polls

You can give your respondents the option to choose an image as a selection in the multichoice style question.

Rather than entering text, images allow you to create a more visual response to the question type.

You can use the Unsplash image library to help you find images relevant to your questions.

Question specific settings

Previously the settings that you applied to your poll applied to all questions. Now there’s functionality to choose different settings for different poll questions.

You can choose to amend:

  • The display of real-time results
  • The display of results on poll close
  • Different countdown timer music selection
  • Automatic countdown timer

To amend settings on individual questions, choose Use custom settings for this poll in the question interface.

Multiple Survey/ self-paced quizzes

For colleagues who make use of self-paced quizzes and surveys, it’s now possible to run more than one at a time. This means that you can embed them across different modules.

Shuffle Survey questions

If you want to randomise the order in which survey questions appear, select Shuffle question order on the Survey interface.

Image history

Vevox will now save images that you upload to use in Polls. This will help save time with uploading and recreating questions.

See our support pages for using Vevox. You can also read previous updates on the blog.

Vevox run regular webinars on how to use the software. Sign up for these online.

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

SafeAssign

We are looking for volunteers to evaluate an alternative to Turnitin for text-matching and marking. This alternative is called SafeAssign. SafeAssign is part of Blackboard.

Training will be provided, and support will be available during the semester from e-learning support staff. We will ask everyone taking part in the evaluation to complete a short online survey before and after the trial. We will also invite you to a meeting at the end of the semester to share your experiences. 

Please read the information below about this evaluation which will help you decide whether you would like to take part. If you want more information or would like to volunteer, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk

What is SafeAssign?

SafeAssign is a text-matching tool provided by Blackboard. It is included in our main Blackboard licence. SafeAssign is an alternative to Turnitin.

Why are we evaluating it?

AU used SafeAssign before we started using Turnitin. As part of our commitment to making sure that we are using the best tools available, we would like to evaluate whether SafeAssign would be appropriate for text-matching. This evaluation has been approved by the Academic Enhancement Committee (May 2024).

What will be different if I use SafeAssign instead of Turnitin?

Some aspects of marking and submission will be changed:

  • New submission, marking and text-matching tools
  • A different database of assignments and sources for text-matching. This database won’t include previous years’ submissions from AU.

You’ll see some new features:

  • Text highlighting
  • Welsh language interface for submission and marking
  • View and retrieve previous student submissions

And some features will not be available:

  • You will need to post marks manually rather setting a release date and time. However, this will give you a little more control over when marks are made available to students.
  • Submit on behalf of students
  • Switch off anonymous marking for individual students
  • Rubrics and quick marks can’t be exported from Turnitin, although similar tools are available in Blackboard.

Full details of the features of both Turnitin and SafeAssign are available.

Welsh language

All elements of this evaluation will be available in both Welsh and English. This includes help guides, training, support, and evaluation. SafeAssign itself is translated as part of Anthology’s commitment to Welsh. Welsh language text is including in the text-matching service.

What will I have to do if I volunteer?

We strongly recommend that modules included in the evaluation use SafeAssign use the tool for all e-submissions during the duration of the module. This helps both staff and students become familiar with SafeAssign rather than swapping between multiple submission and marking tools.

All staff involved in the submission, marking and moderation for the module will have to use SafeAssign (note that this includes external examiners). If you volunteer a module that has multiple staff marking on it, please make sure that they are all aware, and have all received appropriate training (see below). We will provide all external examiners with information about the evaluation.

We strongly recommend that you provide a practice submission for your students before their first assignment. This will make sure that they know how to use SafeAssign correctly. We will provide guides and FAQs for students which you can link to from the Assessment and Feedback area of your Blackboard course.

What training and support will be available?

We will publish guides and FAQs for staff and students on the LTEU website. We will also run training sessions on how to create submission points and how to mark. Full support will be available to staff and students throughout the term.

How will it impact my students?

Submission will be different for students; one advantage of using SafeAssign is that students will get an email receipt. Students will also see their feedback in a slightly different way. We will provide full support for students.

Can I talk to someone about this?

Contact elearning@aber.ac.uk for information and to discuss whether SafeAssign is appropriate for your module.

Blackboard Learn Ultra: Enhancements to Documents

The Blackboard Learn Ultra August update included enhancements to the creating and editing functionality of Blackboard Learn Ultra Documents.

For those unfamiliar with Documents, they are an easy way to create content in Ultra, ensuring compatibility with mobile devices and Blackboard Ally. As this update to Documents is a significant change to content organisation, we are producing this separate blogpost. You can read about other enhancements in the August update blogpost.

The latest update gives instructors more power and control over how content appears. It functions as a webpage, with a variety of block types that can be used to create and organise content. These blocks can be moved around to give instructors more options over the layout of their content.

In summary:

  • Images can be brought in-line with text
  • Bilingual content can be arranged more easily
  • Headings can be used to aid with navigation
  • Files can be uploaded and converted into an Ultra Document, retaining the original formatting

An example of a Document created using the new content editor can be seen below:

Full view of an enhanced Document with blocks filled with text and images

For all instructors, the biggest change is that the content creator appears at the top of the page. You can still use the + icon to create content which will then give you the menu that you see below:

Image of content creator block in Ultra Documents

The convert a file option is new functionality that allows you to upload a file. This will convert it into an Ultra Document retaining the formatting of the original file.

Selecting Content will take you to the usual content editor.

This allows you to add content and resize.

You can easily move content around bringing images in line with text.

As you work with re-organising and re-arranging content, we recommend that you save your work as you go to ensure that changes remain.

For further information on creating and using documents, see Blackboard Help Guidance.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Reminder

We are just over a month away from our annual learning and teaching conference, taking place between 10-12 September 2024.

You can book your place online.

There are many highlights to this year’s programme and we are grateful to colleagues for sharing their innovative teaching practices with us.

The conference starts with an online keynote and workshop from Professor Lisa Taylor (University of East Anglia). Professor Taylor will introduce how employability can be embedded in the curriculum before highlighting her pioneering work around work-based online placements.

In the subsequent workshop, colleagues will be given the opportunity to apply these principles to their own disciplines. Professor Taylor’s abstract provides further information.

Building on Professor Taylor’s session, colleagues from across the University will be sharing their approaches to embedding employability in the curriculum, culminating in a workshop from Bev Herring on curriculum design for employability development.

As well as employability, we have sessions on:

  • Using AI in Learning and Teaching
  • Decolonising curricula
  • Neurodiversity in Education
  • Approaches to team-taught teaching
  • Enhancing student engagement
  • Simulation-based learning
  • Trauma informed teaching

And so much more.

Take a look at the full programme online and book your place.

This conference is free for Aberystwyth University staff and students to attend.

Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally is available to everyone who uses Blackboard.

Any student can download course content in alternative formats for free. If you want to know more have a look at Which format should I use table on the Ally website.

All staff can check the accessibility of their course and get help fixing any issues.

Since September 2023, when AU started using Blackboard Ally, staff and students have been making use of it.

Alternative Formats

  • 3579 individual users download an alternative format
  • 22,912 documents converted
  • Alternative formats used in 1100 courses

The most downloaded alternative format is the Tagged PDF. Tagged PDF is useful for reading on the go, or for students who like to read information to search, print, or take notes. It can also be good for anyone who uses screen readers or text-to-speech with speed adjustment.

Course Accessibility

Staff have also been using Ally to make content more accessible for students:

  • 282 fixes to content
  • 66 courses have had content fixed
  • AU accessibility score improved from 65.7% to 69.5%

To find out more about using Ally have a look at our Staff and Student FAQs.