Month: August 2025

Weekly Resource Roundup – 28/8/2025

WordPress User [mhj] Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

August

September

October

Resources and publications

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals (open dates) Future Teacher Webinars
  • Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity.

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@ab

Panopto

WordPress User [kaw] Accessibility, Panopto Leave a comment

Panopto has now been set-up ready for 2025-26.

Automatic Captions  

Automatic captioning has now been set-up for all 2025-26 folders in Panopto. The language for captioning matches the language of your Blackboard course template.   

For bilingual courses we recommend creating a sub-folder to hold the recordings for one of the languages of your course delivery (see FAQ).   

When you make your recordings, you must select the correct language folder before pressing record. This is because Welsh captions cannot be added to recordings copied or moved from other folders.   

You can find information about automatic captioning in the AU Lecture Capture Policy (section 12). 

Linking to All Panopto Recordings 

You can create a link to the Panopto folder in your Blackboard course. This means that students will be able to see the recordings for the course all in one place.  

Finding your Panopto folder  

Panopto folders for all this year’s modules are in the 2025-26 folder.  

To find the Panopto folder you want to record into: 

  • Click the dropdown button on the right-hand side of the Folder box. 
  • Click the dropdown arrow to the left of the academic year folder to expand it. 
  • Select the Panopto folder you want to record into. 

You can also search for the Panopto folder you want to record into: 

  • In the Folder box start typing the module code or name of the Panopto folder you want to Record into 
  • Select the folder you want to record into. 

What to do if you can’t see your Panopto folder 

In a small number of courses, the Panopto folder wasn’t created over the summer. If you can’t find your Panopto folder using the steps above, you can create a folder from Blackboard: 

  1. Login to Blackboard and find your course 
  1. Click on Books and Tools > View course and institution tools
  1. Click on Holl Fideo Panopto / All Panopto Videos 

You should then be able to find the Panopto folder to make a recording.  

Welcome new staff joining Aberystwyth University, 2025-26

WordPress User [jbw] Academy Forum, Blackboard, Conference, E-submission, Events and Networks, External Speakers, Panopto, Polling Software, Training and Support, Ultra, Vevox, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

A warm welcome to new staff joining Aberystwyth University.

In this blogpost we aim to provide you with information related to technology in learning and teaching, our training provision, support channels, and events that we run.

All the information that you need is on our webpages.

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 elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Introduction to E-learning Tools

Virtual Learning Environment: Blackboard

Each module has its own dedicated course in Blackboard. Students can expect to find information about the module, learning materials, and e-submission guidance, as well as links to reading lists and lecture capture.

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. We use Blackboard Tests to run online exams.

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, we run a series of training sessions across the following strands:

  • E-learning Essentials: designed for colleagues new to the university, teaching, or who would like to get a refresher. The aim of these sessions is to ensure that colleagues can meet the university’s digital learning and teaching policies.
  • E-learning Enhanced: designed to build on the skills gained in our e-learning essentials series, colleagues will create an activity or assessment unique to their learning and teaching contexts.
  • E-learning Excellence: designed to offer colleagues the opportunity to create exemplary learning and teaching opportunities – often unique and sector leading.

You can find details of our annual CPD programme and book your place to attend via Book a Course page.

Events

We run a range of events, including the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference and Mini-Conferences

All of these are great opportunities to meet people from across the university and discuss Learning and Teaching issues and developments.

We look forward to seeing you at a forthcoming event. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk if you have any questions.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 20/8/2025

WordPress User [mhj] 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

August

September

October

Resources and publications

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates)Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals (open dates)Future Teacher Webinars
  • Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity.

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. Social media: BSky, X.com.

Blackboard Ally

WordPress User [kaw] Accessibility, Blackboard, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment
Inclusivity and Accessibility banner

Blackboard Ally continues to be a popular part of Blackboard with more staff and students making use of it during academic year 2024-25.

The number of downloads into alternative format more than doubled last year –over 62,000 documents were downloaded into alternative formats.  And over 4000 users used this option.

Staff also made more use of the tools to fix accessibility issues in their courses – over 800 files were fixed last year (compared to 295 in 2024-25).

For the first time this year, the Blackboard Required Minimum Presence states that all Blackboard courses should have an Ally score of 70%. If you want to check your Ally score have a look at our blog post. You can also a book a place on one of the E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Blackboard Ally training courses in September.

What’s new in Blackboard August 2025

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Diweddariadau Misol, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment
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In the August update, we want to draw your attention to the table of contents feature being added to Learning Modules.  

In addition to this, there are enhancements to documents with block styling options, and increased accessibility across student gradebook and student overview pages.

New: Adding Table of Contents to Learning Modules for students

We’ve redesigned the Learning Module experience for students by adding a collapsible Table of Contents. This update improves navigation, orientation, and progress tracking. 

As part of this improvement, assessments now open in a full panel instead of a smaller panel.

Students now have a simplified way to navigate and track progress in Learning Modules. Updates include:

  • A table of contents for the items in a Learning Module. Select Contents to open and collapse the table of contents

Image 1: Learning Modules now contain a Table of Contents panel to orient students within Learning Modules for their courses. The panel can be collapsed with the arrow button at the top of the Table of Contents.

Screenshot of Table of Contents within Learning Modules
  • Easy navigation between items  
  • Manual or automatic item completion tracking from within the Learning Module
  • Next and Previous buttons moved closer together at the top of the page for an improved experience.

Image 2: The navigation buttons Previous and Next now appear closer to each other in the user interface within Learning Modules to give an improved user experience.

Screenshot of the User interface

Assessments within Learning Modules. Assessments now open in a full panel, providing a consistent and distraction-free experience.

Image 3: The Assessments pages within Learning Modules now appear as a full-sized panel.

Screenshot of the Assessments page

Forced sequence in Learning Modules. When sequencing is enforced, students must use the Next and Previous buttons to move through content in order. Students can’t jump ahead using the table of contents unless they have already completed the item they are navigating to. Skipping ahead without completing a Learning Module item is disabled in this mode. 

Enhance Documents with block styling options 

We added block styling to Documents, giving instructors new ways to enhance visual appeal and guide student attention. The styling options feature both color and icons. The style options include:

  • Question
  • Tip
  • Key points
  • Next steps
  • Highlight

Image 1. Instructors can select styling options from a dropdown menu that appears in Edit mode on all block types.

Screenshot of styling menu.

Our forthcoming training session E-learning Enhanced: Become a Document Pro will explore this and other document functionality to help colleagues create dynamic content. You can book your place online.

Increased accessibility in the student gradebook

To improve accessibility, we updated the student Gradebook to use a semantic HTML table structure. This change replaces the previous layout, which relied on stacked <div> elements. The new structure improves screen reader support and keyboard navigation.

Increased accessibility in the student overview page

To improve accessibility, we updated the student Overview page to use a semantic HTML table structure. This change replaces the previous layout, which relied on stacked <div> elements. The new structure improves screen reader support and keyboard navigation.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.