Generative AI Mini Conference: Materials Available

Happy New Year!

Just before the Christmas vacation period, we hosted our final event of the year: a mini conference on Generative AI.

The materials from this Mini Conference are now available on our webpages.

Thank you very much to our presenters from the Departments of Computer Science, Geography and Earth Sciences, and the School of Literature and Languages.  

And a special thank you to our external speakers: James Fern and Richard Mason from Bath University who gave us a brilliant overview of the two-lane approach to assessment design that Bath is currently working through.

We look forward to welcoming you to one of our upcoming events.

Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year from the Digital Education Team

Nadolig Llawen / Merry Christmas

We’ve had some fantastic experiences and milestones this year.

Back in March, we announced our 2025 Exemplary Course Award and highly commended recipients.

In April, we hosted a Mini Conference on Employability and the Inclusive Curriculum in collaboration with colleagues in Careers and Employability.

In July, we had our 13th Annual Education and Student Experience Conference with over 200 attendees across 3 days.

At this event, a new Education and Student Experience Award Fund was announced, and we confirmed the recipients of these in November.

In November, we took part in Blackboard Ally Fix your Content Day, making the content of our Virtual Learning Environment even more accessible. We placed 3rd in the UK and 60th on the international leaderboard. 

From a technical perspective, we’re really pleased with the introduction of automatic captions on lecture recordings, Blackboard’s Learning Object Repository, badges and achievements, and the e-submission review.

And we’re rounding the year off with a Mini Conference on Generative AI on Thursday 18 December. We’ve got a fantastic programme and there is still time to book your place.

We’re excited about what 2026 will bring in the Digital Education arena.

Some initial things that we’ll be working on and want to draw your attention to.

Applications for the Exemplary Course Award 2026 will close on Friday 30 January.

On January 8 there will be a minor update to the Blackboard interface.

We’re planning our next Mini Conference in collaboration with colleagues in Student Journey for April 2026. Further information will be made available soon.

And our 14th Education and Student Experience Conference will take place between 8-10 September 2026. Keep an eye out for updates, call for proposals, and external speaker announcements.

We’ve got our training programme available on the booking system for Semester 2 for colleagues to book onto.

We’re looking forward to working further with you in 2026.

We hope you have a restful break.

Kate, Keziah, & Jim

Mini Conference: Generative AI, Thursday 18 December: Programme Announcement

We are delighted to confirm our programme for our final event of the year on Thursday 18 December.

Our Mini Conference on Generative AI is taking place between 09:30 and 15:30. We are running this as a hybrid event. For those wanting to join in person, it will take place in the Visualisation Centre building, VC, 0.06.

We are delighted to confirm our external speakers:

James Fern and Richard Mason will be joining us to share the 2-lane approach to Generative AI Assessment Design that has been adopted at Bath University.

You can read more about this on their webpages: The Two-Lane Approach to GenAI Assessment Categorisation – Learning and Teaching Hub

In addition to James and Richard, we have an exciting line up:

  • Hannah Dee, Amanda Clare and Clive King from the Department of Computer Science will be presenting.
  • Emma Butler-Way, Tom Holt, Rhys Dafydd Jones, Jayesh Mukherjee, and Stephen Tooth will be joining us from the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences.
  • Jennifer Wood and Alex Mangold from Modern Languages will also be presenting.
  • Joy Cadwallader and colleagues from Academic Engagement will also be joining.

To see the full programme and abstracts, see our webpage. You can book your place clicking on this link.

Education and Student Experience Award Fund Recipients

Earlier this year, Professor Anwen Jones announced the Education and Student Experience Award Fund at the 13th Annual Education and Student Experience Conference.

We are delighted to confirm this year’s winners and the 4 enhancement projects that they will be leading over the coming year:

  • Dr Elizabeth New, History and Welsh History: The Aber Medieval Physic Garden
  • Dr Emma Sheppard, Geography and Earth Sciences: Developing a Sustainable Student Gear Hub
  • Dr Kate Woodward, Theatre, Film and Television Studies: Inclusivity and Accessibility in Assessment Design and Feedback Practices
  • Dr Scott Tompsett, Department of Life Sciences: Pulling together – supporting teamwork assessment more effectively

Thank you to all applicants for submitting a proposal and to the awards panel.

There will be opportunities to hear more about these projects at next year’s annual Education and Student Experience Conference.

Save the Date: 14th Annual Education and Student Experience Conference

We’re pleased to announce the dates for Aberystwyth University’s 14th annual Education and Student Experience Conference.

We will be hosting the conference between Tuesday 8 – Thursday 10 September 2026.

We will start work on planning and establishing themes and guest speakers for the conference.

Conference themes, calls for proposals, and external speakers will be announced in the new year. Keep an eye on our webpages and our blog for further information.

If there is a particular topic that you would like the conference to address, do get in touch via elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Call for Proposals: Mini Conference: Generative AI

On Thursday 18 December, the Digital Education Team will be hosting their final event of the year, a mini conference on Generative AI.

We are looking for calls for proposals from staff and students for this event.

If you are interested in contributing, please complete this form by Friday 7 November.

We are interested in sessions around the following themes:

  • Embedding generative AI skills in the curriculum 
  • Generative AI as an employability skill
  • Generative AI use in assessment
  • Generative AI and maintaining academic integrity
  • Generative AI for learning activities

Booking for the event is already open. Please book your place online.

If you have any questions, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Education and Student Experience Conference Award Fund

At the 13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Professor Anwen Jones announced a fund of £10,000 for colleagues to bid against to a maximum of £2,000 for projects related to the conference theme:

  • Compassionate engagement and assessment
  • Health and wellbeing in a learning and teaching context 
  • Accessibility and inclusion (inclusive learning and teaching design) 

The University is providing half of the total funding, with the remainder coming from Medr, the Welsh universities regulator. 

We are looking for a wide range of projects across all areas of our community which would make a difference to our education and student experience. 

To submit an application:

Please see this webpage for further information, which includes a series of FAQs. 

If you have any questions, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk

Welcome new staff joining Aberystwyth University, 2025-26

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.

13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference Materials Available

Between the 8-10 July, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit hosted the 13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference.

The materials from the conference are now available on our webpages.

We would like to thank all of our contributors and attendees. The sessions were of such high quality.

We’re already heading into planning our 14th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference which is scheduled to take place in September 2026 (date TBC).

We hope to see you at a forthcoming event.

13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Programme Announcement

We are delighted to announce the programme for the University’s 13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference.

The Conference is taking place between Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 July.

Tuesday 8 July will be online, with sessions in person on Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 July.

You can see the full programme on our webpages and you can book your place online.

This year’s conference boasts a number of external speakers.

Keynote speaker:

Dr Neil Currant will be offering a keynote presentation on Compassionate Assessment. There will also be a masterclass workshop with colleagues being able to apply these principles to their own scenarios. See our blog update for further information.

External speakers:

We’ve got three other external speakers lined up. For further information, click the links below:

In addition to that, we’ve got some amazing sessions from colleagues showcasing the cutting-edge teaching practices taking place at the University.

Topics include:

  • Generative AI 
  • Online learning and community building 
  • Student panel on their learning experiences
  • Outreach work with schools 
  • Inclusive curriculum design 
  • Pan Wales group update 
  • Innovative and engaging teaching activities 
  • PGCTHE and TPAU celebration 

The programme has been designed to support learning and teaching priorities and initiatives for the forthcoming academic year. 

If you have any questions, please contact us on elearning@aber.ac.uk

We’re looking forward to seeing you in July.