Author Archives: James Woolley [jbw]

Tips for monitoring chat for online and in person sessions

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Distance Learner BannerIn this blogpost, we’ll be looking at some tips for monitoring a Teams chat when you’ve also got attendees joining in person and online.

The planning of the synchronous activity and what you want your students to be able to do after they have engaged with the activity shapes the purpose of the chat. Ask yourself: what role do you want the chat to have in your teaching session?

For example, do you want the chat to be used for students joining online to communicate their ideas with you? Do you want it to be used for them to chat with each other? Do you want the chat contributions to be communicated with those joining in person?

In addition to that, you want to think about how you are asking your online students to engage in the session. Do you want them, for example, to use the raise the hand function to attract your attention? Or, do you want them to only use the chat.

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Changes to Teaching Rooms

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Practice Modules

This blogpost is intended to take you through various scenarios that you may wish to use in Teaching Rooms. If you have any questions, please email is@aber.ac.uk.

The following changes have been made to teaching rooms:

  • There are now two screens in the teaching room. Screen 1 (the one with the web camera on) is the main screen. Screen 2 is directly linked to the projector. Use Screen 2 to display materials to your class and to share with participants via Teams.
  • Microsoft Teams has been installed and a shortcut is on all desktops.
  • New desktop microphones have been installed and lapel mics removed.

If you are in a teaching room and require technical assistance, pick up the phone and wait. It will automatically dial through to Technical Support.

Before the session we advise you to:

  1. Set up a Teams meeting for participants who are unable to join the session face to face (How do I do that?)
  2. Have the teaching materials easily available to you – we recommend you use OneDrive and copy your materials to the desktop before beginning the session. Avoid bringing USBs etc. into the teaching room. (How do I use OneDrive?)
  3. Communicate with any students joining via Teams how they will be participating in the session and how you will handle questions from them.

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Useful Information: Online Teaching

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Distance Learner BannerSetting up sessions through MS Teams:

  • Unless otherwise agreed, Microsoft Teams should be used to run all online teaching sessions.
  • Details of online teaching sessions should be posted in Blackboard (see our FAQ how to set up a Teams meeting in Blackboard?).
  • Please note that for any sessions set up through Blackboard, students will be able to use the link to join the session 15 minutes before the chosen start time. Any time prior to this, students have the option to add the session to their Office365 calendars (see our student FAQ).

Keeping students informed:

  1. Use the announcements feature in Blackboard to communicate with your students. (See our FAQ How do I add an announcement to my Blackboard module?)
  2. Ensure that your Blackboard contacts page has your contact information and clear instructions on how and when students should contact you.

Delivering online sessions from the University:

  • If required, you may come into the University to deliver your online session from the teaching rooms in the allotted timetabled slots. Please ensure you are using the correct room and time allocated to your activity. 

CPD sessions:

  • The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit will be running a number of CPD sessions for staff members over the coming weeks, focusing specifically on online learning and teaching and associated E-learning tools.

For any technical assistance with using MS Teams or any of the E-learning tools, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk. If you wish to discuss any aspect of learning and teaching, please email lteu@aber.ac.uk.

 

Learning and Teaching Updates – September 2020

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We would like to provide you with an overview of recent developments and support materials that we have worked on for the past few months.

This information is also available at:  https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/is/it-services/elearning/continuity/

Scheduling MS Teams meeting from Blackboard

All teaching sessions held in MS Teams should be scheduled in Blackboard. This includes timetabled online activities.

Setting up a meeting: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/3067

Information for students: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/3061

Recording seminars and Teams activities

There are privacy concerns which need to be considered when recording a meeting in MS Teams.

Further information: Guidance on recording seminars and Teams activities

Using teaching rooms

Information about using teaching rooms this academic year, including how to use MS Teams in an in-person teaching session is available at Teaching Room Guide 2020-21

Support materials for students

Supporting your Learning resources for students are now available at https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/important-info/living-and-learning-in-aberystwyth-2020-21/students/supporting-your-learning/. We will add to this page during the semester as things change or we approach key points for students.

Invitation: Aberystwyth University’s Learning and Teaching Conference 2020

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We’re looking forward to this year’s Learning and Teaching Conference which is just under a month away, 7-9th September 2020.

As you may have read, this year’s Conference will be taking place online via Teams so you can join us for as much or as little of the conference as you wish.

You can download the full programme and book your place online.

We’re grateful to have a number of external speakers this year. Our keynote, Professor Ale Armellini, will be talking about embedding active blended learning into all courses at the University of Northampton. You can read more about this project on the University of Northampton’s webpage. 

In addition to Professor Armellini, we also have Dr Kate Lister from the Open University who will be talking about embedding wellbeing into the curriculum. In addition to her presentation, Kate will also be offering a drop-in session where colleagues can ask specific questions about the wellbeing strategy.

Finally, Gillian Fielding from Blackboard will be joining us to offer examples of tools that can be used to engage students in online learning.

As well as our external speakers, we’ve also got some great presentations and discussions lined up from colleagues across the University, with great practical tips and case studies.

We’ve got sessions on the following topics:

  • Teaching practical classes and subjects online
  • Virtual labs
  • Embedding employability into the curriculum
  • Making online seminars interactive
  • Peer assisted learning
  • Predicting academic achievement
  • In class polling
  • Video assessments

And much more…

Hope to see you there.

Learning and Teaching Conference 2020 Logo

Conference Registration

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Registration for the eighth annual Learning and Teaching conference is open. This year’s Learning and Teaching conference has the theme Enhancing the Curriculum: Inspire Learning and Invigorate Teaching! and will be taking place online between Monday 7th and Wednesday 9th September 2020.

You can register for the conference by filling in this online form.

This year, we’ve got an exciting and varied programme with activities, workshops and presentations demonstrating the innovative teaching practices that are taking place across the University. A draft copy of the programme is available on our webpages.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Learning and Teaching Conference 2020 Logo

Changes to the Blackboard Required Minimum Presence (RMP)

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Distance Learner BannerWe have updated the RMP to respond to the Covid-19 situation. The new RMP contains items that will help support students with their online learning. It has been developed by the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Group (LTEU) with significant input from sub-groups of the Learning and Teaching Scenario Planning Group (LTSPG).

What’s New?

All new or altered items are highlighted in bold in the new RMP. They represent some good practice currently in place around AU as well as responding to some of the queries received by the LTEU from staff and students during the Covid-19 crisis. Some highlights include:

  • A Panopto recording of a module tour to help students to familiarise themselves with how the module will run
  • Induction activities – see below
  • Providing clear information to students on what they need to do online, how they should do it, and what to do if they have problems
  • Recommendations on providing lecture materials via short Panopto recordings.

Induction materials

The IBERS Distance Learning modules make use of an induction folder (known as Unit 0). This introduces all students to a range of activities which must be completed to ensure that students are able to successfully study online. We recommend this approach for modules in the coming year. The types of activities you may want to include will vary between modules and will depend on what tools and approaches you are using in the module. Some examples may be:

  • A practice Turnitin or Blackboard Assignment submission to check submission and that students can view their feedback
  • Viewing a Panopto recording and completing a quiz
  • Posting an introductory message to a discussion forum
  • Completing a formative Blackboard test
  • Locating library materials through the Aspire Reading List

If you need any help or support with the new RMP, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk

Parent-child modules

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Image of Blackboard logo and parent-child

Now that the 2020-21 modules are available to staff, we can link them together at the module co-ordinator’s request. This process is known as parent-childing. Linking modules together is an effective way of dealing with separate modules with the same content so you don’t have to upload materials to two or more different modules.

This process makes one module the parent, whilst the other module(s) become a child. There’s no limit on how many modules you make a child but there can only be one parent.

If you’d like to parent-child your modules, and you’re the module co-coordinator, contact elearning@aber.ac.uk with the module codes for the parent and child modules.

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2020/2021 Modules now available

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Modules for the academic year 2020/2021 are now available for staff teaching on modules.

You may have noticed that a new tab has appeared on the top menu of your Blackboard screen:

Module menu showing 2020-21 modules highlighted (second tab from the left)

If you’re enrolled as a staff member on the module in Astra then you should be able to view your modules for next academic year. If you’re not able to see a module that you are enrolled on then contact your Departmental Administrator. Students won’t be enrolled on the module until registration is complete.

This year, Blank Course Copy applies to all on-campus Postgraduate modules.

We’ve got the following support available to help with Blank Course Copy:

If you have any queries regarding Blank Course Copy, or need further assistance, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Reminder: Call for Proposals: Learning and Teaching Conference 2020

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*Closing Friday*

We are inviting proposals for the 8th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Monday 7th – Wednesday 9th September 2020.

Submit and view the call for proposals online.

This year’s conference theme, Enhancing the Curriculum: Inspire Learning and Invigorate Teaching, aims to reflect the commitment that AU staff have to enhance the student learning experience.

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