Introducing the New Panopto Archiving Rules

In accordance with the Lecture Capture Policy all Panopto recordings are retained for 5 years before they are deleted. This will not change. However, to cut down considerably on storage costs, the University needs to make use of the Archive function of Panopto. 

From 1st November 2024, all Panopto recordings that have not been viewed in 13 months will be moved to the Panopto Archive, from where they can be restored should they be needed. 

Restoring an archived recording: 

As a member of staff or as a student, you can restore an archived recording if you need to access it for any reason, as long as you had permission to access the recording before it was archived. Please be aware that it can take up to 48 hours for a recording to be restored. When the recording has been restored, the original creator of the recording will be notified that it is available as will the person requesting the restoration (if different). 

How Retention Rules will change in our Panopto storage environment: 

Currently: 

Every month; Recordings that have not been viewed in 5 years are deleted. 

What will change: 

At the start of every month; Recordings that have not been viewed for over 13 months will be moved to the Archive. 

Also at the start of every month; Recordings that have not been viewed in 5 years will be deleted. 

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

Weekly Resource Roundup – 1/10/2024

As leader of our PGCTHE programme, I keep an eye out for resources to help staff teach effectively. These include webinars, podcasts, online toolkits, publications and more. Topics include active learning, online/blended teaching, accessibility/inclusion, and effective learning design based on cognitive science. 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. 

Online events and webinars

October

November

  • 21/11/2024 Compassionate Assessment Event 6 Dr. Juuso Henrik Nieminen, “Dr Nieminen has particularly focused on understanding the social effects of assessment on students’ inclusion, belonging and identities.”

December

Resources and publications

Resources on Generative AI

Other resources

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals (open dates) Future Teacher Webinars
  • Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity.
  • Subscribe to SEDA’s mailing list for email discussions about educational development and emerging teaching practices. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
  • Join the #LTHEchat on Twitter Wednesday nights for one hour of lively discussion about learning and teaching in HE. I often find out about good resources for the Roundup from the chat.

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.

Vevox: Polling Tool

Aberystwyth University uses Vevox, a Polling Tool, that allows you to get real time information from people in your teaching sessions or those in your meeting.

We’ve been using Vevox for over 3 years now and were pleased to see it being used in Welcome Talks offering students the opportunity to ask anonymous questions.

We are running some training sessions on using E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Vevox for Learning and Teaching:

  • 4 October, 10:10-11:30
  • 8 October, 14:10-15:30

These sessions will be taking place online via Teams.

In addition to our in house training sessions, Vevox are also running webinars sharing best practice and case studies from their other clients.

If you’re unable to join our sessions, Vevox host their own and you can register for those here: Getting started with Vevox I Your guide to Unmissable Classes

For further help using Vevox, take a look at our Support Materials.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 18/9/2024

As leader of our PGCTHE programme, I keep an eye out for resources to help staff teach effectively. These include webinars, podcasts, online toolkits, publications and more. Topics include active learning, online/blended teaching, accessibility/inclusion, and effective learning design based on cognitive science. 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. 

Online events and webinars

September

October

November

  • 21/11/2024 Compassionate Assessment Event 6 Dr. Juuso Henrik Nieminen, “Dr Nieminen has particularly focused on understanding the social effects of assessment on students’ inclusion, belonging and identities.”

December

Resources and publications

Resources on Generative AI

Other resources

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals 27/9/2024 RAISE Network Student Engagement in HE Journal special issue on Engaging with Student Voice
  • Call for proposals (open dates) Future Teacher Webinars
  • Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity.
  • Subscribe to SEDA’s mailing list for email discussions about educational development and emerging teaching practices. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
  • Join the #LTHEchat on Twitter Wednesday nights for one hour of lively discussion about learning and teaching in HE. I often find out about good resources for the Roundup from the chat.

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.

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.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 9/9/2024

As leader of our PGCTHE programme, I keep an eye out for resources to help staff teach effectively. These include webinars, podcasts, online toolkits, publications and more. Topics include active learning, online/blended teaching, accessibility/inclusion, and effective learning design based on cognitive science. 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. 

Online events and webinars

September

October

November

  • 21/11/2024 Compassionate Assessment Event 6 Dr. Juuso Henrik Nieminen, “Dr Nieminen has particularly focused on understanding the social effects of assessment on students’ inclusion, belonging and identities.”

December

Resources and publications

Resources on Generative AI

Other resources

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals 18/9/2024 Active Learning Network New ALN Co-created Book
  • Call for proposals 27/9/2024 RAISE Network Student Engagement in HE Journal special issue on Engaging with Student Voice
  • Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity.
  • Subscribe to SEDA’s mailing list for email discussions about educational development and emerging teaching practices. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
  • Join the #LTHEchat on Twitter Wednesday nights for one hour of lively discussion about learning and teaching in HE. I often find out about good resources for the Roundup from the chat.

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.

Blackboard Assignment with SafeAssign Pilot

A big thank you to all the staff who have signed up to the Blackboard Assignment with SafeAssign pilot. There’s still time to volunteer if you are interested (email elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Since the last blog post, we have made SafeAssign available for use in Blackboard Assignments. We have also held the first two training sessions. More training sessions will be organised for semester one – visit the Events and Training page to book a place.

We’ve been exploring some of the options for marking in Blackboard Assignment that staff might find useful:

  1. Delegated marking allows staff to mark essays by group. If you divide up marking in your modules between several members of staff, then delegated marking will help you.
  2. Parallel marking allows two staff to mark a piece of work independently without seeing each other’s comments or marks.
  3. Anonymous comments. By default, marking comments in Blackboard Assignment contain the name of the staff member marking. If this is not appropriate for your marking, you can make them anonymous (see below).

Please note that deleted Blackboard assignments can be recovered for up to 30 days after deletion. If you need deleted assignments restored, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk as soon as possible, providing details of module and the assignment name.

Anonymous Comments

When you create a comment, click on the anonymous marking icon

Screenshot of a Blackboard Assignment comment box with the anonymous marking icon highlighted

You can edit existing comments to make them anonymous by clicking on the comment.  Click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the comment and then click on Anonymous.

Screenshot of a Blackboard Assignment comment box with the three dots and Anonymous option highlighted

For further information on the marking tools available in Blackboard Assignments, see Blackboard Annotate Guidance.

Supporting your students

To help your students use Blackboard Assignment to submit their work and find their feedback, we strongly recommend that you include the following FAQs in Assessment and Feedback Learning Module in your Blackboard course:

What’s New in Blackboard September 2024

The September Blackboard update includes enhancements to the Course Content Page, introduces Knowledge Checks in Documents, changes to assessments, feedback & grades hidden using Release Conditions, and an Overview tab in the Grade book to aid grading.

Course Content Page enhancements

The September update to Blackboard sees enhancements to the course content page.

The enhancements include:

  • Greater visual depth
  • Changed Content Page layout
  • Differentiation among course elements

Greater visual depth

The new design incorporates:

  • Subtle gradients and softer edges
  • A more cohesive colour palette with inviting, warmer tones
  • More intuitive navigation, which reduces cognitive load and increases focus on the content

Image 1. Instructor view: Course Content page visual depth improvements

A screenshot of the Instructor view: Course Content page visual depth improvements

Image 2. Student view: Course Content page visual depth improvements

A screenshot of the Student view: Course Content page visual depth improvements

Read More

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.

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.

Weekly Resource Roundup – 27/8/2024

As leader of our PGCTHE programme, I keep an eye out for resources to help staff teach effectively. These include webinars, podcasts, online toolkits, publications and more. Topics include active learning, online/blended teaching, accessibility/inclusion, and effective learning design based on cognitive science. 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. 

Online events and webinars

August

September

Resources and publications

Resources on Generative AI

Other resources

Other

  • Call for proposals (open dates) Unfiltered by EmpowerED: A Podcast Series where educators share unedited stories of inspiration and challenge
  • Call for proposals 18/9/2024 Active Learning Network New ALN Co-created Book
  • Call for proposals 27/9/2024 RAISE Network Student Engagement in HE Journal special issue on Engaging with Student Voice
  • Monthly series European Network for Academic Integrity, ENAI monthly webinars free open webinars on various topics related to academic integrity.
  • Subscribe to SEDA’s mailing list for email discussions about educational development and emerging teaching practices. This is one of the sources I use when identifying useful material for the Roundup.
  • Join the #LTHEchat on Twitter Wednesday nights for one hour of lively discussion about learning and teaching in HE. I often find out about good resources for the Roundup from the chat.

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.