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 2026-27

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.

AI Use Statement

Across the university, there will be new requirements for declaring the use of generative AI in assignments in the 2026-27 academic year. Students will now be expected to include this AI Tool-Use statement at the end of their assignments. The AI Tool-Use statement comes in the form of a tick box table and asks students to declare the type of tools that were used to help with their assignment. 

Vevox

Vevox is Aberystwyth University’s polling tool. Vevox offers an interactive and collaborative experience for learners and teachers and can be used for activities such as gauging opinion or to provide participants with question & answer opportunities. As Vevox is used throughout the university, we would encourage students to bring a mobile device or tablet to their classes in order to participate in the Vevox activities.

Turnitin in Blackboard Assignments

Recently, an update has been rolled that allows Turnitin to be integrated into Blackboard Assignments at Aberystwyth University. During 2026-27 we are encouraging all staff currently using Blackboard Assignment to enable Turnitin on appropriate assignments. The submission, marking and feedback workflows will be the same as previously. All aspects of the process, apart from the Turnitin report, will be available in Welsh. Guidance on setting up and using Turnitin in Blackboard Assignment can be found in our Guide. For more information on Turnitin in Blackboard Assignment, have a look at our blog post.

Blackboard Ally

Following last years’ progress in stipulating a minimum accessibility score on all modules, work is continuing to ensure that content is as compatible with Blackboard Ally as possible. Blackboard Ally is a tool available to staff and students at Aberystwyth University to improve the accessibility of materials and content on Blackboard. From the instructor’s perspective Ally has features which allow you to assess the accessibility of materials and will provide recommendations for alternative formats to improve any weak areas. From a student’s perspective Ally has a number of tools available to make content easier to read, understand, and engage with.

Pronouns

For the upcoming academic year, an integration has been developed between the student record and Blackboard. This means that the pronouns you select on the student record will automatically update in Blackboard. The clearer visibility of staff and students’ gender expression strengthens the university’s commitment to gender diversity and inclusivity, in the classroom and online.

Course Access

Students will be able to gain access to their Blackboard courses once they have completed their enrolment. This webpage contains more details about the enrolment process.