Mini Conference Programme Announced

On Thursday 16th December, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit will be hosting the second Academy Mini-Conference online of this academic year.

The theme will be ‘Using Polling Software to Enhance Learning and Teaching Activities’. Since we procured Vevox earlier this year, we’ve seen a proliferation in the use of polling software in learning and teaching activities.

The Mini-Conference will run from 10:30-15:00. We’re excited to confirm our programme:

Dr Christina Stanley – keynote (Chester University): Polling to boost student confidence and promote inclusivity
Joe Probert & Izzy Whitley: Vevox
Dr Maire Gorman (Physics & Graduate School): Inter & Intra-cohort bonding (and peer learning) in statistics teaching
Bruce Wight (Aberystwyth Business School): How much does a Polar Bear weigh? Enough to break the ice! Using Vevox for Icebreaker Activities
Dr Jennifer Wood (Modern Languages): Is there anybody out there? Using Polling Software in the Language Classroom: Breaching the void.

For session abstracts and timings, please see the programme on our webpages.

We hope that you will be able to join us.

You can register to attend the Mini-Conference by clicking on this link.

If you have any queries, please email lteu@aber.ac.uk.

Our top tips for organising Online Conferences

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Since the pandemic, many conferences have shifted from face to face to online events. Here in the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit we’ve run two annual learning and teaching conferences online as well as some mini conferences and Academy Forums. In this blogpost, we’ll be offering you some of our top tips to help you organise your event.

1. Choose the right platform

There’s a lot of video conferencing software to choose from, but here at AU we use Teams as our default video conferencing tool. We do have a limited number of licences for Zoom but these are reserved for functionality that can’t be achieved in Teams. For example, for simultaneous translation, or for sessions with more than 250 participants.

You can set up Teams meetings for the sessions from a calendar. Alternatively, you can set up a Teams site but this will be limited to .ac.uk domains so be aware of that, especially with External Speakers.

We like to put our links on a webpage so that we can quickly pass the sessions onto anyone who signs up late. Alternatively, you can use a word document or an email that has the links embedded.

Mini Conference: External Speaker

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We are pleased to announce that our first external speaker joining us at this year’s Mini Conference, Using Polling Software for Learning and Teaching Activities, is Dr Christina Stanley.

Dr Stanley’s session will be entitled Polling to Boost Student Confidence and Promote Inclusivity.

Dr Stanley is a Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and is MSc Programme Lead and the University of Chester.

Booking for the event on Thursday 16^th December is open alongside our Call for Proposals.

Keep an eye on our blog as we release further information on the event.

Save the Date: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

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The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit are excited to announce the date for the 10^th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. The conference will be taking place between Monday 12^th September and Wednesday 14^th September 2022.

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.

We also have a Conference Steering Group who help with the organisation, design, and publicity of the conference. The Steering Group meets a couple of times a year. If you want to join the Steering Group for next year’s conference, then please email lteu@aber.ac.uk.

Mini Conference: Using Polling Software to Enhance Learning and Teaching Activities

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The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce that it’s next Mini Conference will be taking place on Thursday 16^th December, online via Teams.

We’ll be taking a look at polling software – a tool that can be used to engage students in their learning and drive-up understanding of complex topics. This year, the University procured Vevox, an online polling tool, that is fully integrated in Teams and can make your face to face activities interactive.

Call for Proposals:

We’re looking for colleagues that make use of polling software in their learning and teaching to present at the Mini Conference. Potential topics might include:

Using polling for induction and ice-breaker activities
Polling for gamification
Polling for driving up learning
Making in-person teaching sessions interactive
Polling for asynchronous activities

Submit your proposal online before Friday 19^th November.

Booking for the one-day event is already open – book online.

We’ll be joined by some external presenters at the event so keep an eye on our blog as we announce our programme.

If you’ve got any questions, let us know: lteu@aber.ac.uk.

Resources from the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

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Hector, our AberForward who has been working with us to support the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, has pulled together a list of resources inspired by the talks at the conference. If you want to watch any of the sessions again, then you can do so on our webpages.

Conference Keynote: Dr Chrissi Nerantzi

Our conference keynote was definitely a highlight. Chrissi asked conference attendees the following questions. Below are the results from our conference delegates:

Mentimeter poll result outlining how much colleagues agree with the following statements:

I am feeling more creative since the pandemic broke out (3.8)

My students react more positively to create tasks since the pandemic broke out (3.2)

I find it easier to be creative in my teaching practice during the pandemic (3.3)

Being creative means risk lowering my evaluation scores linked to my teaching (3)

Mentimeter word cloud results answering the following question: What is your main driver to innovate in your practice?

Most common answers:

Engagement
Student engagmeent
Fun
Curiosity
Inclusivity
Learning

If you’re interested in reading more about Chrissi’s work, then take a look at the following webpages:

Annual Learning & Teaching Conference 2021 recordings and resources now available!

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That’s a wrap! with over three and half days of back-to-back presentations given by over 40 presenters and over 150 delegates in attendance. We at the LTEU want to say a big thank you to everyone who got involved and attended our biggest annual learning and teaching conference to date.

If you didn’t manage to attend not to worry, we are pleased to announce that all of the recordings are now live on the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference programme page.

If you attended this year’s conference, we would love to hear your feedback, please fill in our Annual Learning & Teaching Conference 2021 Survey. We are beginning our preparations for our 10th Annual Learning & Teaching Conference and your feedback will help us make it the best one yet!

This week, I will be writing a couple of blogs about the conference, so if you haven’t yet, take a look at our blog and sign up for updates from the LTEU team. Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the presenters and delegates, we couldn’t do it without you!

Vevox webinar: How to use Vevox in your hybrid classroom

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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 30^th 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/

Invitation: Aberystwyth University’s Learning and Teaching Conference 2021

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

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Third external speaker – Dr Dyddgu Hywel

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We are delighted to announce our third external speaker to this year’s Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Dr Dyddgu Hywel, senior lecturer in Education at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Dyddgu studied BSc (Hons) ‘Design and Technology Secondary Education leading to Qualified Teacher Status’ at Bangor University, where she graduated with first class honours. Her early career started as a Design and Technology A Level lecturer at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor, before being appointed as a Design and Technology teacher at Rhydywaun Comprehensive School.

She has now been working at Cardiff Metropolitan University for the past seven years, working as a senior lecturer in the School of Education, with expertise in innovative teaching, student engagement and health and well-being. Following 8 years of playing rugby for her country in the red shirt, she has adopted several effective ways of living healthily, maintaining a positive mindset, and mastering a work-life balance.

Dyddgu’s workshop will focus on prioritizing the health and well-being of staff. The workshop will benefit all academic staff at the university, to identify effective ways of protecting their personal health and well-being, as well as providing pastoral care for all students.

Workshop objectives:

An opportunity to reflect on your personal health and well-being
Consider the right balance between everyday life and work pressures
Identify the role of educators in student health and well-being
Identify personal stress management, attitude and positive thinking
Adopt time management and prioritization
Promote Welsh-language resources for effective relaxation and reflection

Dyddgu will be presenting online through the medium of Welsh and we will be providing simultaneous translation.

The ninth Annual Learning and Teaching Conference will be held online between Tuesday 29 June and Friday 2 July. You can book a place by completing this online form.