Alternative activities to in-person teaching

19th November 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [sil12] Blackboard, HyFlex, Online Teaching, Other Tools, Panopto, Polling Software, Teaching Continuity, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

There may be occasions where it is not practically possible for you to simultaneously deliver non-lecture activities (e.g. seminars, workshops, etc.) to students in-person and students joining via MS Teams.

In this blog post, we will explore some different options for delivering alternative activities for those students that cannot join in-person sessions. Before you begin to design an alternative activity, consider the following points:

Which alternative activity will best emulate the experience that students in the original in-person session are getting?
What are my intended learning outcomes and which activities will best achieve these?
How long will it take me to plan an activity and do I have the capacity to do this?
Think carefully about your assessment criteria – will the alternative activity that you provide allow the students to undertake the module assessments successfully?
Clarity and focus are at the heart of any well-designed online activity. Ensure that students using your alternative activity know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. If you ask students to use any technology, you must provide students with clear and concise guidance on how to use these.

Potential disruption to Blackboard labels and titles

9th November 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

You may notice some changes to Blackboard labels whilst we update our language pack tomorrow morning (Tuesday 10.11.2020).

This will affect menu items and My Modules. Blackboard functionality and access will remain during this time and you will still be able to create content, access materials, and submit assignments. This work is scheduled to take place as part of Information Services’ Tuesday morning maintenance: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/94.

New Content Editor in Blackboard

6th November 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [kaw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

A small number of users are having problems with the new Content Editor in Blackboard. This may stop you being able to add or edit text.

We are working closely with Blackboard to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.

An Updated Content Editor for Blackboard

3rd November 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) 1 Comment

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:

The new Blackboard Content Editor

Weekly Resource Roundup – 19/10/2020

19th October 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [mhj] Online Teaching, Training and Support, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE), Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

As lecturer in learning and teaching responsible for the PGCTHE, I keep an eye out for new resources to help our staff teach effectively online. This includes externally-provided webinars, toolkits, publications and other resources. Because active learning is high on our university agenda, I’m particularly keen to share guidance for moving active learning online. Below I’ve listed items that came to my attention in the past week. In the interest of clarity, our policy is to show the titles and descriptions in the language of delivery.

20/10/2020 AbilityNet, “How to do accessible social media”
20/10/2020 Jisc, “Online teaching: overcoming the challenges”
21/10/2020 Centre for Distance Education (CDE) “Autumn 2020 Supporting Student Success event”
21/10/2020 Learning & Teaching in HE Tweetchat, “#LTHEchat187: The Value of Fiction in Learning and Teaching”
22/10/2020 ACUE, “Examining and Mitigating Implicit Bias”
27/10/2020 Faculty Focus, “Engaging College Students Using Active Learning Techniques”
28/10/2020 Chronicle of Higher Education, “Campus Wellbeing Post-Pandemic”
28/10/2020 Future Teacher, “Inclusive practice”
5/11/2020 Centre for Distance Education (CDE) “Adventures in synchronous online teaching”
6/11/2020 National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education “Developing feedback literacy in both staff and students and redesigning assessment to build on this new-found understanding”
16/12/2020 LTEU Aberystwyth University Mini-conference, “Advice for Action: Promoting Good Feedback Practice” proposal and booking
Clark, D. (12/10/2020) “Practice – mostly forgotten yet where most learning takes place…“, Donald Clark Plan B
Crook, A. & Crook, T. W. (26/8/2020) “6 tips for Teaching Online and In Person Simultaneously“, Inside Higher Ed
EdTech VoiceNotes podcast series
Dyer, S & Harris, L. (16/10/2020) “Let’s take the remote out of online learning“, WonkHE blog
Hiscox, T. J. (11/10/2020) “E-learning in the face of a pandemic through the eyes of the students” Post-Pandemic University
Penn, P. (16/10/2020) “How to plan your essays: key advice from psychology”
Thomas, (16/10/2020) “Learning theories timeline: key ideas from educational psychology“, myBRAINisOPEN
RAISE Researching, “Advancing & Inspiring Student Engagement Partnership Special Interest Group Resources”
Retrieval Practice, (11/5/2018) “Boost note-taking. Try Retrieve-Taking!” Weekly Teaching Tips
Sundar, K. (17/9/2020) “The Student Engagement Trap, and How to Avoid It” Edutopia
Swansea University, “Resources for Teaching”

Please see the Staff Training booking page for training offered by the LTEU and other Aberystwyth University staff. I hope you find this weekly resource roundup useful. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact our team at lteu@aber.ac.uk. You may also wish to follow my Twitter feed, Mary Jacob L&T.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 5/10/2020

5th October 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [mhj] Resources and Webinars, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE), Weekly Resource Roundup Leave a comment

20/10/2020 Inspera. “The Pedagogical Impact of Online Assessment”
23/10/2020 SEDA. “Decolonising the curriculum: why the concept requires a wider conversation and how do educational developers bring about effective change?”
Agbonifo O. C., Sarumi O. A., & Akinola Y. M. (2020). “A chemistry laboratory platform enhanced with virtual reality for students’ adaptive learning“. Research in Learning Technology, 28.
Buckley, C. (29/9/2020) “Transforming Solent’s Learning Delivery during covid-19 – Adapting our teaching and learning provision was key to Solent continuing to provide an excellent learning experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. This case study highlights the work done by the SLTI team in building the Transformation Academy.”
Clark, A. (2014) “Blogging Student Essays”. University of Edinburgh Case Studies.
Future Teacher Talks, “Social media for teaching and learning – Resources and recording now available”
Khuri, S. & Reed, M. (1/10/2020) “Tips and tools for making your online meetings and workshops more interactive”
Mehta, Neil. “Pedagogy in the Age of Zoom – Application of key education and learning theories and concepts to teaching in a virtual classroom”
Learning technologist at the University of London. myBRAINisOPEN. “The main aim of this website is to synthesise some of the key ideas and research findings from the fields of instructional design, learning design and multimedia learning and to show how they can be applied to the design and development of blended and online learning in higher education.”
Morris, N. (3/4/2018) “Blogging and innovative assessment practice at Edinburgh“. Teaching Matters Blog.
Pearson, J. “Vlogging in student-led seminars“. Assessment for Learning at King’s College London.
Penn, P. “Psychology of Effective Studying YouTube Channel“.
Penn, P. (2020). The psychology of effective studying: How to succeed in your degree. London; New York, NY: Routledge.
Practitioner Research in Higher Education
Sambell, K. & Graham, L. (21/9/2020) ““We need to change what we’re doing.” Using pedagogic action research to improve teacher management of exemplars.” Practitioner Research in Higher Education 13(1)

Useful Information: Online Teaching

29th September 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, Online Teaching, Other Tools, Training and Support, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

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

21st September 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, E-submission, Online Teaching, Teaching Rooms, Training and Support, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

Distance Learner Banner

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)

16th July 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Teaching Continuity, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

Distance Learner Banner 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

13th July 202028th April 2021 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

Image of Blackboard logo and parent-child

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.

Digital Education Group

Aberystwyth University

Category: Virtual Learning Environment(VLE)