Author: WordPress User [jbw]

Exemplary Course Award Winners at the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Blackboard, Exemplary Course Award, Exemplary Course Award, Uncategorised Leave a comment
Exemplary Course Award image

It was great to see so many faces at this year’s virtual Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. One of the highlights for me was to be able to celebrate our 5 Exemplary Course Award Winners. Since the start of the pandemic we haven’t been able to acknowledge our winners at graduation like we have done in previous years, so the ECA winners session is a way to share the fantastic and innovative practices taking place.

We’re about to start our course creation process for the academic year 2021-22. So, if you want some inspiration, take a look at the module tours linked from the text below.

Winner:

Dr Hanna Binks, Department of Psychology: PS11320: Introduction to Research Methods

This core, first year module equips students with the skills that they need for their duration of the degree in Psychology. The innovative assessment design, bilingual content, consistent organisation, and clear communications with students saw Hanna win this year’s competition. If you want inspiration on how to tie together learning outcomes, assessment, and content then take a look at this module.

Take a look at the PS11320 module tour.

Read More

Updates to Vevox

WordPress User [jbw] Polling Software, Technical Updates, Vevox 1 Comment
Distance Learner Banner

One of the benefits to having a subscription to a dedicated Polling Tool is receiving regular updates. Vevox is the University’s dedicated Polling Tool. You can use it to add interactivity to your teaching sessions as well as your meetings.

Our resources for Vevox are available on our webpages.

Enhancements that have come this month are summarised below:

  • Use of LaTeX to create questions in Polls means that colleagues in disciplines such as Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science can make use of formulae in the creation of their polls. Take a look at Vevox’s LaTeX helpsheet to help you set up your polls.  
  • Ability to Share moderation responsibilities for Q and As with another presenter. See their how to share the Q&A board with a colleague or moderator for further information.
  • Correct answer explanations allow you to provide additional feedback to students when they get a question correct. This can help you save time when running your quiz. For a video summary, check out Vevox’s guidance on Running a Quiz.
  • Filter our responses on word clouds before you present them back to the class to ensure that there’s nothing that you don’t want them to see. Take a look at their instructional video on how to create word clouds.
  • Results from polls can now be displayed as numbers as well as percentages meaning that participants can get an idea how many of their colleagues have responded to the questions. Not used polling in Vevox before? Check out their guidance on how to create a basic poll.

Vevox fully integrates with Teams meaning that you can run the sessions in your online teaching meetings and participants can respond via the Teams app without having to enter a 9 digit code. Find out more on our How do I use Vevox with Microsoft Teams FAQ.  

We’re always on the lookout for case studies so if you’re using Vevox polling in your teaching session drop us an email on lteu@aber.ac.uk and let us know how you’re using it.

View all of these updates on Vevox’s June blogpost.

Vevox webinar: How to use Vevox in your hybrid classroom

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Conference, Polling Software, Vevox Leave a comment

We’re really looking forward to seeing many of you at our forthcoming annual learning and teaching conference – the second time that we’ll be running it online.

We’ve had a slight to change to proceedings. On the 30th June, 2pm-2.45pm, we’ll be linking to Vevox’s webinar on how to use Vevox polling software in a hybrid classroom:

In this interactive webinar, we will be discussing how Vevox can be used in hybrid classes to support active learning wherever the location of your students. Joining us on the panel are Carol Chatten, Learning Technology Development Officer at Edge Hill University, Dr. Robert O’Toole NTF Director of Student Experience and Progression, Faculty of Art at The University of Warwick and Carl Sykes SFHEA, CMALT Senior Learning Technologist at The University of South Wales.

We’ll be looking to share customer success stories and examples to show how Vevox can support a blended learning environment and how you can maximise student engagement, interaction and feedback in a hybrid setting. We’ll being looking at the theme of versatility and how important this is to being able to provide a truly inclusive learning experience.

You can book online to attend the conference: https://aber.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/aultc2021

Our full programme is available online.

You can read more about Vevox, our recently procured polling software: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/is/it-services/elearning/polling-tool/

Taking your (PowerPoint) Lectures Online: Kate Exley Workshop

WordPress User [jbw] Events and Networks, External Speakers, Online Teaching Leave a comment

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce a special online workshop run by Dr Kate Exley on Wednesday 7th July at 10am.

The workshop will be useful for colleagues who are modifying and transferring their traditionally delivered lectures for on-line learning.

Please book your place online [link]:

https://stafftraining.aber.ac.uk/sd/list_courses.php

Places are limited so please book as soon as possible.

Session Overview:

Many colleagues have been involved in providing blended or on-line learning for many years but the Covid pandemic has meant that we have all needed to quickly provide much of our teaching and learning at a distance. This has involved moving our lectures, previously delivered in large lecture theatres and classrooms, to online platforms. The speed at which this huge change has happened has in itself caused significant challenges for staff and students alike.  This blended workshop aims to provide some guidance, examples and a forum for colleagues to share their experiences and ideas for enhancing this provision.

This workshop is presented in two parts:

  • A set of 3 short videos will be made available on or before the 30th June 2021 and should be viewed independently before joining discussion forum – approximately 45 minutes independent study.
  • A discussion forum hosted via Teams on the 7th July, in which participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, share experiences and discuss the topic – lasting 1 hour.

By the end of the two hour, session you should be able to:

  • Consider the purpose of the on-line lecture in Covid times
  • Discuss a range of practical design issues when taking lectures on-line
  • Share experiences and ideas with colleagues ‘in the same boat’
  • Begin to plan your next steps & what you can implement from the workshop

This workshop is mapped primarily to A2, A5, K2, K3 on the UKPSF. 

Read More

Invitation: Aberystwyth University’s Learning and Teaching Conference 2021

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Conference Leave a comment
Keynote announcement banner

We’re looking forward to this year’s Learning and Teaching Conference which is just under a month away, 29th June-2nd July 2021.

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 view the full programme and book your place online.

We’re grateful to have a number of external speakers this year.

Our keynote, Dr Chrissi Nerantzi will be talking about open and flexible pedagogies. At Manchester Metropolitan University, Chrissi developed the openly-licensed practice-based professional developmental programme FLEX which incorporates formal and informal pathways of engagement. She is the founder of the cross institutional Creativity for Learning in Higher Education community, the Teaching and Learning Conversations (TLC) webinars, as well as many other initiatives. You can read more about Chrissi on our blogpost. 

Read More

Sally Brown and Kay Sambell Resources

WordPress User [jbw] External Speakers, Feedback, Turnitin 1 Comment
Banner for Audio Feedback

As part of our Mini Fest on Assessment, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit invited Professors Kay Sambell and Sally Brown to give a workshop looking at how assessment might change because of changes to practices owing to the pandemic.

Throughout the pandemic, Kay and Sally became integral to developing HE assessment practices following the publishing of their paper: The changing landscape of assessment: some possible replacements for unseen, time-constrained, face-to-face invigilated exams.

As part of the workshop, Sally and Kay recorded sections as part of their workshop: Improving assessment and feedback processes post-pandemic: authentic approaches to improve student learning and engagement.

For those unable to attend, you can catch up with these recordings:

In addition to the recordings, you  can view other publications by Kay and Sally that focus specifically on amending practices on their webpages.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference – extended by an extra day

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Conference Leave a comment
Keynote announcement banner

We’re really starting to look forward to our forthcoming ninth Learning and Teaching Conference. The call for proposals has now closed – thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal.

Owing to the volume that we have received, we are now starting the Teaching Conference at lunchtime on Tuesday 29th June and running until the afternoon on Friday 2nd July.

We’ve got a number of external speakers across the four days and we’ll keep posting further updates via our blog of upcoming speakers. I’m pleased to announce that we have got our first Welsh medium keynote session which will be simultaneously translated.

We’ve also been able to run a special panel on Tuesday afternoon on Distance Learning practices and students from the School of Education and the Psychology Department will be offering sessions based on their experiences of learning throughout the pandemic.

The full programme will be announced in due course.

The conference will be taking place online via Teams (with Zoom used for sessions in Welsh).

You can book your place online now via this form.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Second guest speaker: Andy McGregor, JISC

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, External Speakers 3 Comments
Keynote announcement banner

We are pleased to announce our second external speaker for this year’s Learning and Teaching Conference: Andy McGregor. Andy is Director of edtech for JISC.  

Andy’s workshop will focus on the future of assessment and is based on JISC’s paper: The future of assessment: five principles, five targets for 2025, which ‘sets five targets for the next five years to progress assessment towards being more authentic, accessible, appropriately automated and secure’.

Andy is responsible for managing JISC’s portfolio of research and development projects which develop new services that help universities and colleges improve education and research.

In addition to Andy, this year’s keynote will be delivered by Dr Chrissi Nerantzi from Manchester Metropolitan University.

The ninth annual learning and teaching conference is taking place online between Wednesday 30th June and Friday 2nd July. You can book your place by completing this online form.

Keep following our blog for more announcements.

Keynote Announcement: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Conference, External Speakers 4 Comments
Keynote announcement banner

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce that Dr Chrissi Nerantzi will be this year’s keynote speaker.

The conference is taking place online via Teams between 30th June and the 2nd July. Booking for this year’s conference is open and you can still submit a proposal via our online form.

Dr Chrissi Nerantzi (@chrissinerantzi), Principal Lecturer – Academic CPD, University Teaching Academy (UTA), Manchester Metropolitan University

At Manchester Met, Chrissi developed the openly-licensed practice-based professional developmental programme FLEX which incorporates formal and informal pathways of engagement utilising digital professional portfolios and open development opportunities including cross-institutional collaborative initiatives. FLEX has inspired further initiatives internally and externally with staff and students. She is the founder of the the cross-institutional Creativity for Learning in Higher Education community (#creativeHE), the Teaching and Learning Conversations (TLC) webinars and the co-founder of the open courses Flexible, Distance and Online Learning (FDOL), Bring your Own Devices for Learning course (BYOD4L) and the Learning and Teaching in Higher Education tweetchat (#LTHEchat). Chrissi teaches on the  MA in Higher Education at her institution and leads Recognising and Rewarding Teaching Excellence and the Good Practice Exchange. She also co-ordinates the NTF and CATE submissions and regularly mentors colleagues. CChrissi contributes to further academic development activities within UTA, including the institutional PSF scheme and supports colleagues in creative curriculum design and is one of the Faculty Links for Arts and Humanities.

Read More

Call for Proposals – closes on Friday

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2021, Conference Leave a comment

Save the date banner - 30.06.2021-02.07.2021

Staff, postgraduate teaching assistants, and students are welcome to propose sessions on any topic relating to learning and teaching.

Submit and view the call for proposals online. Please complete this form no later than 30th April 2021.

Conference Registration now open

Registration for the ninth annual Learning and Teaching conference is now open. This year’s Learning and Teaching conference has the theme Improvisation within Constraint: Reshaping a Learning Community in a Time of Change and will be taking place between Wednesday 30 June and Friday 2 July 2021.

You can register for the conference online.