12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference Materials Available

Between the 10 and 12 September, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit hosted the 12th 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 13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference which is scheduled to take place in July 2025 (date TBC).

We hope to see you at a forthcoming event.

Welcome to new staff joining Aberystwyth University

Distance Learner Banner

We’re the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit. Based in Information Services, we work with staff across the university to support and develop learning and teaching. We run a wide range of activities to do this.

All the information that you need is on the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit webpages. Our Supporting your Teaching webpages will help you with various teaching solutions.

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 one of two email addresses:

  • lteu@aber.ac.uk (for pedagogical and design questions, or to arrange a consultation) or
  • elearning@aber.ac.uk (for technical queries regarding our e-learning tools listed below).

Introduction to E-learning Tools

Virtual Learning Environment: Blackboard

Each module has its own dedicated course in Blackboard. These courses contain online content, such as reading lists, and teaching staff details. This is the main point of information for your students for any given module, including access to lecture recordings and assignment submission. 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.

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, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit runs a series of training sessions. These include:

  • practical sessions to familiarise staff with the different elements of the VLE,
  • the Active Learning agenda,
  • assessment and feedback,
  • accessibility,
  • presentation skills, and more.
  • artificial intelligence

We also offer a range of events and training programmes. You can find details of our annual CPD programme and book your place to attend via our Book a Course page. We deliver some sessions ourselves, while others are delivered by university staff whose teaching features good practice in those areas. Look for (L&T) in the session title.

Events

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit runs a range of events, including the Annual Learning and Teaching ConferenceMini-Conferences, Mini-Fests, and Academy Forums. All of these are great opportunities to meet people from across the university and discuss Learning and Teaching issues and developments.

Programmes

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit also runs programmes to support your continued professional development. This includes the Teaching for Postgraduates at Aberystwyth University (TPAU) programme, and the Master’s level Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE), and a Fellowship (ARCHE) Scheme.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Reminder

We are just over a month away from our annual learning and teaching conference, taking place between 10-12 September 2024.

You can book your place online.

There are many highlights to this year’s programme and we are grateful to colleagues for sharing their innovative teaching practices with us.

The conference starts with an online keynote and workshop from Professor Lisa Taylor (University of East Anglia). Professor Taylor will introduce how employability can be embedded in the curriculum before highlighting her pioneering work around work-based online placements.

In the subsequent workshop, colleagues will be given the opportunity to apply these principles to their own disciplines. Professor Taylor’s abstract provides further information.

Building on Professor Taylor’s session, colleagues from across the University will be sharing their approaches to embedding employability in the curriculum, culminating in a workshop from Bev Herring on curriculum design for employability development.

As well as employability, we have sessions on:

  • Using AI in Learning and Teaching
  • Decolonising curricula
  • Neurodiversity in Education
  • Approaches to team-taught teaching
  • Enhancing student engagement
  • Simulation-based learning
  • Trauma informed teaching

And so much more.

Take a look at the full programme online and book your place.

This conference is free for Aberystwyth University staff and students to attend.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Programme Announced

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the 12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, 10-12 September. 

We’re pleased to confirm our full programme. 

We will have 1 day online (Tuesday 10 September) and 2 days in person (Wednesday 11 September and Thursday 12 September).

You can register for the conference online.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us (lteu@aber.ac.uk).

Keynote announcement: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Professor Lisa Taylor

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce this year’s Annual Learning and Teaching Conference speaker.

Professor Lisa Taylor from the University of East Anglia will be joining us to present on employability in the curriculum. Lisa is Professor of Employability and Learning Innovation and Associate Dean for Employability for the Faculty of Medicine and Health.

Lisa is an Occupational Therapist by background with ten years of clinical experience within the NHS whilst also completing her MSc and PhD.

For the last twelve years Lisa has worked in higher education as a lecturer within the Occupational Therapy academic team at the University of East Anglia. Lisa has held employability leadership roles alongside her lecturing role for eleven of those years, initially as employability director for the School of Health Sciences and then as Associate Dean for Employability for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Lisa is passionate about employability and learning innovations, maximising the impact for students/learners, academic colleagues, and external partners. A prestigious Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) was awarded to Lisa based on her sustained ability to facilitate and influence quality student learning.

Lisa has helped developed the wider employability agenda through supporting and engaging with colleagues locally, nationally, and internationally, impacting on student learning outcomes and experience, through teaching, strategic initiatives and learning innovations. The award of an NTF positions Lisa as a sector leader in employability and learning innovations. Lisa publishes and presents widely, helping to steer the national conversation about employability. 

One of Lisa’s learning innovations is the Peer Enhanced e-Placement (PEEP). Lisa has won multiple awards for the pioneering PEEP and has published a book based on its design and delivery principles, Constructing Online Work-Based Learning Placements: Approaches to Pedagogy Design, Planning and Implementation. The PEEP will be presented as part of Lisa’s keynote lecture.

The Learning and Teaching Conference will be taking place between 10 and 12 September. Colleagues are welcome to submit proposals and bookings are now open.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Registration now open

Registration for the twelfth annual Learning and Teaching conference is now open.

This year’s Learning and Teaching conference has the theme Equipping for Excellence: Pioneering Learning and Teaching Design and will be taking place between Tuesday 10 and Thursday 12 September 2024.

You can register for the conference online.

Call for Proposals

Staff, postgraduate teaching assistants, and students are invited to submit proposals for the 12th Annual Aberystwyth University Learning and Teaching Conference held 10-12 September 2024.

Submit and view the call for proposals online.

Please complete this form no later than 24 May 2024.

Call for Proposals: Learning and Teaching Conference 2024

We are now inviting proposals for the 12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Tuesday 10-Thursday 12 September 2024.

Submit and view the call for proposals online. 

The theme for this year’s conference is:

Equipping for Excellence: Pioneering Learning and Teaching Design.

The main strands of this year’s conference are:

  • Embedding employability skills across the curriculum and beyond
  • Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to enhance learning
  • Creating dynamic learning activities to motivate and engage
  • Designing inclusive learning for all

Staff, postgraduate teaching assistants, and students are welcome to propose sessions on any topic relating to learning and teaching, especially those that focus on the incorporation and use of technology. Even if your suggestion doesn’t fit a particular strand, other topics are welcome.

We seek to encourage presenters to consider using alternative formats that reflect and suit the content of their sessions. As such, we are not specifying a standardised presentation format.

Please complete this form no later than 24 May 2024.

If you have any questions, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit at lteu@aber.ac.uk.

12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Conference Theme Announcement

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce the theme for our 12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference.
The Learning and Teaching Conference will be taking place from Tuesday 10 – Thursday 12 September 2024.
The theme and strands for this year’s conference are:
Equipping for Excellence: Pioneering Learning and Teaching Design

  • Embedding employability skills across the curriculum and beyond
  • Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to enhance learning
  • Creating dynamic learning activities to motivate and engage
  • Designing inclusive learning for all

Keep a look out for our forthcoming call for proposals and for booking onto the conference.

Save the Date: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit are excited to announce the date for the 12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. The conference will be taking place between Tuesday 10 and Thursday 12 September 2024.

Look out for Calls for Proposals and the announcement of the conference theme. As usual, we will be updating our Learning and Teaching Conference Webpages and also our blog to keep you up-to-date with how things are progressing.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference Materials Available

Photograph of think tank during conference opening.

Between the 4 and 6 July, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit hosted the 11th 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.

Across two in person days and one online day, delegates heard about the developments for Blackboard Learn Ultra, Chat GPT and AI, and creative approaches to assessment design.

We’re already heading into planning our 12th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference which is scheduled to take place in September 2024 (date TBC).

We hope to see you at a forthcoming event.