On November 5th, 2020 Blackboard is rolling out an update to the Content Editor (aka WYSIWYG editor). This is the primary input method in Blackboard.
This is what it looks like:
Category: Blackboard
MS Teams: 10 Common Questions
Following training sessions that we have conducted over the past few weeks on using MS Teams for learning and teaching activities, here are answers to 10 common questions. Further information on using MS Teams can be found in our Microsoft Teams FAQs, and please do not hesitate getting in touch with us if you have any further queries (lteu@aber.ac.uk).
Q1: If I am sharing my screen can I still see the chat function?
A1: Unfortunately, unless you have two screens then this will not be possible. You could either ask a student to monitor the chat for you or you could stop sharing your screen from time to time to check what has been posted in the chat. There are some advanced share screen options that may enable you to see the chat in some instances, and we’re happy to discuss these with you further.
Q2: I would like to add an external individual from outside Aberystwyth University to one of my ‘teams’ within MS Teams, is this possible?
A2: It is possible to add external individuals who have an Office 365 account with an ac.uk domain, but any external individual who has an email account that is not an ac.uk address will need to complete a request form to have their domain added to AU Teams access. Alternatively, you could set up meetings with external individuals through MS Teams without having to request access.
Q3: After recording a meeting, how would I access the recording and how long is it available for?
A3: After ending a meeting the recording will appear in the meeting’s chat and this will be available to download for 22 days. Please familiarise yourself with the University’s Lecture Capture Policy for details on what type of sessions are appropriate to record.
Useful Information: Online Teaching
Setting 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:
- Use the announcements feature in Blackboard to communicate with your students. (See our FAQ How do I add an announcement to my Blackboard module?)
- 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
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.
Changes to the Blackboard Required Minimum Presence (RMP)
We 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
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.
More training sessions available
The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit have got some more Moving to Online Teaching and Using Microsoft Teams for Learning and Teaching Activities scheduled. You can book your place online and we will send you a Teams Calendar invite to attend the training session.
In the Moving to Online Teaching session, we introduce some general guidance on how to design and prepare for online teaching. We look at the various interactive tools available in Blackboard and offer tips on how best to implement them into your teaching. We also provide some guidance on the e-assessment tools available to you, guidance on how to tailor your Panopto recordings for online delivery, and how to design and prepare for online video conferencing sessions. We finish with some guidance on using Third Party Software to support Learning and Teaching.
In using Microsoft Teams for Learning and Teaching Activities, we expand our advice on running online teaching sessions for students and go through the functionality available to you in Teams meetings. We provide guidance and information on how best to run interactive sessions with your students, looking at the document collaboration functionality available in Teams.
Underpinning these sessions are the principles of Active Learning and Accessibility that will help to create effective online learning environments for your students.
We will be developing our CPD programme over the summer to respond to the needs of staff. If you wish to discuss any aspect of learning and teaching, please email lteu@aber.ac.uk. For any technical guidance, email elearning@aber.ac.uk.
Exemplary Course Award
Dr Lara Kipp, from the Department of Theatre Film and Television Studies, has been awarded the Exemplary Course Award for the module TP22320: Principles of Scenography. The panel commended this module for its innovative assessment design and support, clear and logically ordered learning materials, novel use of announcements, and offering multiple ways for students to engage with learning activities.
In addition to the winner, the following module achieved Highly Commended:
- Dr Rhianedd Jewell from the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies for the module CY25620 / CY35620: Y Gymraeg yn y Gweithle
The diverse range of teaching and learning styles evidenced in this year’s applications reflects the innovative work that is taking place across the institution.
The aim of the Exemplary Course Award, now in its seventh year, aims to recognise the very best learning and teaching practices. It gives staff members the opportunity to share their work with colleagues, enhance their current modules in Blackboard, and receive feedback on to improve.
Modules are assessed across 4 areas: course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, and learner support. The self-assessed nature of the award gives staff the opportunity to reflect on their course and enhance aspects of their module before a panel assesses each application against the rubric.
The panel and the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit would like to thank all of the applicants for the time and effort that they have put into their applications and modules this year.
We’re looking forward to receiving more applications next year and many congratulations to the recipients of this year’s award.
Tips for Discussion Board Engagement
One of the interactive tools available in Blackboard is the Discussion Board. Whilst moving to online teaching, we’ve seen staff start to use discussion boards to communicate with their students and for students to communicate with their peers.
In this blogpost, we’ll be giving you some tips on how best to design learning activities using discussion boards and some strategies for implementing them into learning and teaching. As we move to online teaching, it’s important to remember that this is new to students as well as staff. A well-designed online learning activity will help to alleviate stresses for students and queries for staff.
One of the most common queries we get from staff is about student engagement with various e-learning tools. Engagement depends on how the learning activity is designed and how it feeds into the rest of the module and learning process.
The first question to ask yourself when starting to use discussion boards is what is its purpose? What is it that you want your students to do or be able to do after engaging with the activity? After you’ve established that the discussion board is the correct tool for the activity (remember to put the learning need first), you can begin to design it.
A recent blogpost by Slobodan Tomic, Ellen Roberts, Jane Lund from York University identifies some tips for best embedding Discussion Forums in your teaching. They propose a series of 5 questions that will help you to clarify the specificities of your discussion board for your learning activity:
| 1. What is the activity? | A discussion (with or without reference to a resource)
A debate A reflection on personal experience A co-created presentation Resource sharing |
| 2. What is the purpose of the discussion or activity? | To enable students to:
· Digest and critique a reading · Construct an argument · Test/challenge a theory · Work in pairs/teams · Develop skills (e.g. search for and share resources)
|
| 3. What do students need to do and by when? | How long will the activity run for?
Should they post once, or more than once? Should they respond to at least one other post? Do they need to communicate off-platform to complete the task? Should they nominate a rapporteur? What are the deadlines for each stage of the task? |
| 4. What will the tutor’s role be, and how often will they be ‘present’ (see below)? | Will tutors facilitate the discussion?
Or will they lurk but not comment until a particular point? Will tutors be checking in every day? Every few days? At the end of the task if it is a student-led task? |
| 5. What do students do if they have any problems? | How should communicate this?
In the forum? By email? |
There are many more useful tips in this blogpost so do look at it.
Once you’ve got the correct purpose for the discussion board, you can start to think about how best to embed into your teaching.
The following tips should help encourage engagement:
- Preparation:
- Have you prepared the students for the activity?
- Have you explained exactly what you expect of the students?
- Have you provided students with guidance on how to engage with the tool?
- Have you explained to students how best to communicate with you?
- Explanation:
- Have you explained to your students the benefit of engaging with the activity?
- Do your students know why they have to undertake the activity?
- Have you explained to students why you have set up the activity in a certain way?
- Response:
- Have you responded to discussion board posts regularly (if designed in the learning activity)?
- Have you responded to posts in other learning activities?
- If running virtual seminars, have you drawn on the content in the posts?
- Examples:
- Have you provided sample discussion forum posts to your students?
- If you’re expecting students to post on other discussion forum posts, have you given examples of what types of posts they should be doing?
You may also Gilly Salmon’s Five Stage Model useful. This model isn’t new but is designed to help scaffold students into online discussion.
Hopefully, these tips will help you design your learning activity using discussion boards. Once you have designed the activity, you’ll find all the help on setting them up in our FAQs: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/index.php?search=discussion.
We’re always on the lookout to hear from people successfully using e-learning tools in their teaching. If you’ve been using the Discussion Board feature successfully, then we’d like to hear from you. Drop us an email. As always, if you have any questions about using these tools, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk.
References
Tomic, S., Roberts, E., Lund, J. 2020. Designing learning and teaching online: the role of discussion forums. [Online]. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/news-and-views/designing-learning-and-teaching-online-role-discussion-forums. Last accessed: 30.04.2020.
Salmon, G. n.d. Five Stage Model. [Online]. Available at: https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html. Last accessed: 30.04.2020.
Blackboard Tests – Creating Online Assessment Activities for your Students
Online tests and quizzes can be created for your students using the Tests function in Blackboard. Tests can be provided as a formative method of assessment, as a self-assessment method for students, or as a more formal means of assessing student performance.
The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit have recently updated our Blackboard Tests guidance, to support staff in providing online assessment activities for students.
Why Use Blackboard Tests in my module?
Benefits to Students:
- Reinforce learning. Research has shown that tests and quizzes are powerful tools to promote retrieval practice, aid revision and improve learning.
- Valuable feedback. Blackboard Tests can provide varied, additional feedback opportunities for students.
- Media rich experience. Videos, images and links to recordings and external resources can be provided within the questions and answers.