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Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Registration now open
Registration for the thirteenth annual Learning and Teaching conference is now open.
This year’s Learning and Teaching conference has the theme Innovative Pathways to Empowering Learners: Adapting, Engaging, and Thriving and will be taking place between Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 July 2025.
You can register for the conference online.
Call for Proposals
Staff, postgraduate teaching assistants, and students are invited to submit proposals for the 13th Annual Aberystwyth University Learning and Teaching Conference held 8-10 July 2025.
Submit and view the call for proposals online.
Please complete this form no later than 8 April 2025.
Mini Conference Keynote announcement: Dr Aranee Manoharan
Inclusive Curriculum 2.0: Bridging Inclusion and Employability Aims through the Curriculum
We are delighted to confirm our keynote for our mini conference on Tuesday 8 April.
Dr Aranee Manoharan from Kings College London will be joining us.
Please see below for an overview of Aranee’s keynote and a biography. You can book your place for the mini conference online and we will be announcing the full programme in due course.
If you have got any questions regarding this event, please contact the conference organisers on elearning@aber.ac.uk.
In this keynote, Aranee will introduce an approach to inclusive curriculum design that supports all students to develop the knowledge, skills, and experiences required to successfully navigate the rigours of a VUCA 21st century. The presentation will explore the key principles of inclusive curriculum development that supports student and graduate outcomes, before sharing how employability can be integrated effectively through subject teaching & learning – including using a programmatic approach to curriculum design and high impact pedagogies and assessments. The session will share a range of tools that Aranee has developed through her work with academic and professional services teams in this area; all of which can also be found in the QAA-funded toolkit for Inclusive Employability Development through the Curriculum that she led with colleagues at City University and University of London.
Dr Aranee Manoharan, PhD, SFHEA, FRSA
Aranee is Senior Associate Director for Careers & Employability at King’s College London. With experience across the areas of teaching, student experience, and educational development, as well as EDI and governance, she specialises in taking a whole student lifecycle approach to improving student outcomes. An Advance HE Senior Fellow, she specialises in inclusive approaches to curriculum design to support student and graduate outcomes and has significant experience working with academic teams to facilitate real-world learning, using high-impact pedagogies and assessments, delivered in collaboration with community and industry partners.
A committed advocate for equity and inclusion, Aranee serves on a number of advisory groups, including the Institute for Student Employers (ISE) EDI Working Group; Royal Society of Biology HUBS Awarding Gap Network; Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter Governance Committee; and as a Board Director for AGCAS, where she leads the social mobility, widening participation, and regional inequality portfolio. Aranee is also the Director of AM Coaching & Consulting, a consultancy that supports organisations to establish inclusive working, learning, and research cultures.
What’s new in Blackboard March 2025
What’s new in Blackboard March 2025
In the March update, Blackboard has changed how release conditions work with due dates and included the ability to copy banners from one course to another. Other updates include enhancements to Tests, Assignments, & Gradebook, and Discussions.
Release conditions panel: due dates now included
When instructors customise release conditions for a content item, the due date for the item is now included with the date and time fields.
Image 1: The due date of a content item now displays after the date and time fields
.
This means that due dates must be between the release conditions of Date/Time that have been applied.
Copy banners between courses
Instructors now have the option to copy banners between courses. Banners can be copied from Ultra or Original courses.
Image 1: The Copy Items page now has the option to select the course banner under Settings
Follow the instructions on copying content for further information.
Tests, Assignments, and Gradebook
The following enhancements are grouped under tests, assignment, and gradebook activities.
New student submission review page for tests
A new and enhanced student-facing submission review page for tests has been developed.
The new layout means that all feedback is clearly laid out and easy for students to identify.
Image 1: The student view of the graded test submission includes a submission timestamp, submission receipt, and feedback for individual questions.
If the test is visible and feedback has been posted, students can access the review page from:
- The gradebook feedback button for the test
- The small panel that displays when students access a test from the Course Content page
If a student submits multiple attempts, they can review each attempt on the submission review page. The instructor defines which attempt to grade in the test’s final grade calculation setting.
Please note that this does not affect online exams as we advise that the test is hidden from students to prevent them seeing their results.
Show/hide calculated columns in the gradebook
Instructors can now configure visibility for calculated columns from Items Management in the Gradebook by click on the associated calculation:
Pop-out rubric with Blackboard Assignment
Grading rubrics on Blackboard Assignments can pop out into a separate window as part of the assignment workflow.
Image 1: Instructors can pop out the rubric by selecting the expand icon in the rubric panel.
When the pop-out rubric is open, the ability to add Overall Feedback and grade with the rubric in the main grading interface is inactive. This prevents an instructor from editing the same information in two separate places simultaneously.
We recommend using two screens with this enhancement.
Discussions
Usability improvements for Discussions
Several improvements have been made to Discussions:
- Improved visibility: Posts now have a grey background to stand out better against the page.
- Full post display: Long discussion posts are now fully visible without the need for scrolling, enhancing readability.
Image 1. A long discussion post displayed in its entirety with a grey background.
We made several changes to enhance the accessibility of key features on the discussion home page.
- Participation metrics: The number of posts and replies is now listed directly on the discussion home page, replacing the total response counter. This change makes important information more immediately available.
- Direct edit option: The Edit button is now directly accessible from the post, saving instructors time.
Image 2. The changes made to the discussion home page included the addition of an Edit button and a count of posts and replies.
Hidden Discussions tab from student course view
The Discussions page will only be available to students if any of the below conditions are met:
- Students have permission to create new discussions
- The instructor has created a discussion or discussion folder on the course
Anonymous discussions: New privilege to reveal author
System administrators can now reveal the identity of the author of an anonymous discussion post or reply. If you are running an anonymous Discussion and need to de-anonymise a comment, contact elearning@aber.ac.uk outlining the course, discussion, and post, as well as the rationale for requesting it be de-anonymised.
If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.
Creating an inclusive approach to learning and teaching during Ramadan
As Ramadan starts, we wanted to highlight a guide for educators that has been led by Oxford Brookes’ Professor Louise Taylor (along with several other collaborators).
During this time, those observing Ramadan, will abstain from food and drink during daylight hours.
The full guide can be accessed and downloaded from this webpage.
The guide outlines the potential impact of Ramadan on students’ learning and offers some adaptions that may want to be considered. Oxford Brookes have produced a 7-minute video of students sharing their experience of Ramadan. The guide draws on surveys from HE professionals to provide an evidence-based approach and offers 6 ways in which we could adopt more inclusive learning:
- Acknowledge Ramadan
- Avoid assumptions and ask
- Adjust assessment timings
- Offer asynchronous learning
- Raise awareness and celebrate
- Be inclusive and make sustainable change
The guide concludes that its key message places importance on initiating discussions with Muslim students.
As a community, we hope to build on this work for next year, using this guidance as a starting point.
We are passionate about inclusive education practices and would love to showcase them at the forthcoming Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. If you adopt inclusive practices in your teaching, then do consider submitting a proposal for the conference.
Update on Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign Pilot
Since September 2024, Information Services (IS) have been running a pilot of Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign to evaluate the use of SafeAssign. This is part of our commitment to making sure that we are using the best tools available. The purpose of this blogpost is to summarise the outcomes of our pilot.
18 staff volunteered to use Blackboard Assignment for submission and marking, and SafeAssign for text-matching. These staff were based in seven different departments and taught a range of UG and PG modules. All staff were offered training and provided with written guidance on using both Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign. The training sessions provided an opportunity for staff to discuss different assessment scenarios with E-learning staff and to ascertain the suitability for Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign. We also sent out surveys to staff on their use of e-marking and feedback tools.
A big thanks to all the staff and students involved in the pilot and all those who completed the surveys.
Outcome
AU will continue to use our current suite of e-assessment tools:
- Turnitin
- Blackboard Assignment
- Blackboard Tests
- Assessed Blackboard Tools
The pilot allowed us to reflect on the requirements for an e-assessment solution. It was clear from this that we need a combination of different solutions for different assessment requirements.
We would recommend Blackboard Assignment be used for:
- Multi-part assignments
- A Welsh language interface for marking and submission
- Panopto submissions
One of the main purposes of the pilot was to investigate the efficacy of SafeAssign and its functionality as a text matching solution. Over the next few months, with input from stakeholders, we will decide whether we leave SafeAssign switched on and we’ll communicate this decision after Easter.
Survey Results
As well as taking part in training, staff in the pilot were asked to complete a survey before and after using Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign. The first survey was about their use of Turnitin, and the second one was about their experiences of using Assignment and SafeAssign.
We also sent out the first survey to all staff asking for their feedback on Turnitin, and use of Turnitin tools that have no equivalent in SafeAssign. This survey was designed to help us understand whether any of the features in Turnitin are essential to the AU marking and feedback process. Overall, 71 staff took part in these first surveys.
Some of the most frequently used and important features in Turnitin are not currently available in Blackboard and SafeAssign. Two of these were ranked as regularly used:
- Timed and automatic release of marks and feedback (78% of respondents)
- Seeing whether students have viewed marks (60% of respondents)
Three features ranked as essential from an e-assessment solution:
- Timed release of marks (66% of respondents)
- Submitting on behalf of students (51% of respondents)
- Revealing individual names whilst marking anonymously (51% of respondents)
The key finding from the survey was that timed release of marks is considered both important and used frequently by staff, making it an essential requirement for any AU marking and feedback system.
The second survey was sent to just the pilot group and asked them about their use of the tools in Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign, as well as their recommendations for changing submission and marking tools. 6 staff responded to this survey. They generally found it easy to use Blackboard and SafeAssign and didn’t report many problems for either them or their students. However, they highlighted limitations in functionality, which meant that some of the pilot group didn’t end up using Blackboard and SafeAssign at all:
- Issues navigating the marking interface
- File size upload limit (SafeAssign will only check files less than 10Mb)
- Lack of automated marks release
Anthology Ideas Exchange
Anthology Ideas Exchange allows all Blackboard institutions to request and vote on functionality enhancements to the product. As a result of training sessions and staff feedback, we made 21 suggestions via the Anthology Ideas Exchange. These were a mix of Turnitin functionality that doesn’t have an equivalent in SafeAssign, as well as changes to existing SafeAssign functionality. Some examples include:
| Enhancement Request | Ideas Exchange | Status |
| Schedule grade posting | 3052 | Future consideration |
| See if students have viewed feedback | 1612 | Planning to implement in the next 6+ months |
| Anonymous marking switched off before grades released | 1685 | Follow up |
| Annotate comment library export / import | 1751 | Future consideration |
| Submit on behalf of students | 164 | Planning to implement but this will initially only be to submit in draft attempts made by students. |
| Scheduled Grade Posting | 3052 | Future consideration |
| Increase file size limit for SafeAssign | 5711 136 | Future consideration |
If you have suggestions or changes for any part of Blackboard on that you would like us to add to the Ideas Exchange, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk. You may also be interested in the new section in our monthly update blog which highlights any Ideas Exchange ideas that we have added or voted for which have been added to Blackboard.
Weekly Resource Roundup – 27/2/2025
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
February
- 28/2/2025 EmpowerED Webinars, A Webinar Series for Embracing Innovation in Teaching and Learning “an opportunity to celebrate and share success stories, showcase good practice exemplars and discuss the adoption of innovative approaches within teaching and learning with colleagues across the wider education sector.”
March
- 1/3/2025 Jisc Artificial Intelligence, Artificial intelligence and ethics (see Jisc AI training for more AI-related sessions)
- 5/3/2025 Anglia-Ruskin University Community Engagement, Ethical & aesthetic practices for audio-visual research in the era of AI
- 5/3/2025 Transforming Assessment, Interactive Oral Assessments in first-year
- 5/3/2025 Jisc, Supporting learners’ digital identity and wellbeing
- 6/3/2025 Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool, Pedagogical-Informed Gamification Workshop: Integrating learning aims, objectives, and assessment into game-based solutions (hybrid in-person and online event)
- 11-12/3/2025 Jisc, DigiFest (hybrid online and in person in Birmingham, online access free of charge)
- 13-14/3/2025 Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE, University of London), Research in Distance Education and e-Learning (RIDE) conference: Empowering and Sustaining Change (hybrid in person and online), (booking)
- 18/3/2025 Jisc Artificial Intelligence, AI in Education HE community meetup
- 18/3/2025 Oxford Brookes University, Talking Teaching Across the Globe: Uncovering and addressing the Placements and Internships “Sustainability Gap”
- 20/3/2025 University of Calgary Werklund School of Education, Artificial Intelligence and Future-Focused Learning, Distinguished Research Lecture with Dr Sarah Elaine Eaton (hybrid in person and online)
- 23-25/4/2025 Active Learning Network, 5th Online Global Festival of Active Learning
- 24/3/2025 RAISE SIG, AI in HE: Written assessments in the age of AI: change, push-back, and student (dis)engagement by Dr. Martin Compton
- 26/3/2025 De Montfort Education Academy, Awarding Gap Seminar series: Disrupting the Discourse: University Culture Decoded
- 27/3/2025 Future Teacher Webinars, Designing appropriate assessment
- 28/3/2025 Kevin L. Merry, Better Assessment in Higher Education: A UDL Approach (workshop and book launch)
April
- 9/4/2025 Anglia Ruskin University – Community Engagement, Using Generative AI in the classroom: Tadhg Blommerde
- 30/4/2025 Anglia Ruskin University – Community Engagement, Inquiry graphics: Multimodal learning and the use of Generative AI: Dr Tünde Varga-Atkins, Dr Natasa Lackovic & Dr Run Wen
May
- 9/5/2025 Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool , Theme Park of Innovation 2025 (call for proposals open until 21/2/2025)
- 20/5/2025 Student Belonging Community of Practice, UEA Student Belonging Conference 2025 (hybrid in person and online), also see Student Belonging Community of Practice Sign Up
- 27/5/2025 (online) and 29/5/2025 (in person), Change Agents Network, Annual Conference: The impact of student-staff partnerships on learning in an ever changing higher-education environment
June
- 25/6/2025 De Montfort Education Academy, Awarding Gap Seminar series: Decolonising learning and assessment: insights from student and educator experiences
July
- 15/7/2025 Active Learning Network, Active Learning Conference 2025
Resources and publications
- AI Advisory Council (n.d.), AI Advisory Council Advice Papers, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Republic of Ireland
- Beckingham, S. (n.d.), Reverse Social Media [card set], Social Media for Learning, “This card set considers what you want to achieve first and then offers examples of tools to help you do this”
- Beaudry, S. G., Lennox Terrion, J., Rocchi, M., & Bartleman, M. (12/31/2024), Relational Teaching Behaviours in the Large University Class: An Observational Study, The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (15)3
- Bergstrom, C. T. & West, J. D. (2025), Modern Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? How to Thrive in a ChatGPT World
- Bui, D. (15/8/2024), Efficient Rubric Creation: AI-Generated Rubrics and Rewriting Tips, The Educational Designer
- Costello, E., McDonald, J., Macgilchrist, F. et al. (4/3/2024), Speculative Practicescapes of Learning Design and Dreaming, Postdigital Science and Education
- Mihai, A. (26/2/2025), How do you measure the quality of education?, The Educationalist
- Mihai, A. (6/4/2021), Problem-Based Learning (PBL): let students take the driver’s seat, The Educationalist
- QAA (n.d.), QAA membership podcast series
- QAA (n.d.), Collaborative Enhancement Projects (set of case studies and frameworks)
- Roberts, J. (23/1/2025), Proactively Limiting the Use of AI in the Classroom, Edutopia
- TIRIgogy ConnectED Podcast series, “Teaching Intensive Research Informed Pedagogy Series for Professional Development. In each 10-minute episode, we dive headfirst into the most pressing issues facing Higher Education today.”
- University of Birmingham (2/2025), Education in Practice (6)1, “This is an issue that has sprung out of our Education Excellence Conference in September 2024, which focuses on GAI in higher education.”
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.
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. Social media: X.com, BSky.
Weekly Resource Roundup – 18/2/2025
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
February
- 20/2/2025 Jisc, Developing AI literacy for learners/students
- 20-21/2/2025 Dublin City University, Education after the algorithm: Co-designing critical and creative futures hybrid conference: 20/2/2025 online, 21/2/2025 in Dublin (registration link)
- 21/2/2025 Dustin Hosseini & Nayiri Keshishi, Generative AI: a problematic illustration of the intersections of racialized gender, race, ethnicity (repeat session)
- 26/2/2025 Generative AI Network, University of Liverpool, GAIN webinar: What is holistic generative AI literacy? and Can GenAI be your research assistant? (Zoom link 13:00-14:30)
- 26/2/2025 IFNTF, Powergogy, a power-centred pedagogy
- 26-27/2/2025 QAA, Quality Insights Conference
- 27/2/2025 Future Teacher Webinars, Developing fluency with digital tools and resources
- 27/2/2025 Oxford Brookes University, Talking Teaching Across the Globe: Fostering student-staff trust in the age of GenAI
- 28/2/2025 EmpowerED Webinars, A Webinar Series for Embracing Innovation in Teaching and Learning “an opportunity to celebrate and share success stories, showcase good practice exemplars and discuss the adoption of innovative approaches within teaching and learning with colleagues across the wider education sector.”
March
- 1/3/2025 Jisc Artificial Intelligence, Artificial intelligence and ethics (see Jisc AI training for more AI-related sessions)
- 5/3/2025 Jisc, Supporting learners’ digital identity and wellbeing
- 6/3/2025 Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool, Pedagogical-Informed Gamification Workshop: Integrating learning aims, objectives, and assessment into game-based solutions (hybrid in-person and online event)
- 11-12/3/2025 Jisc, DigiFest (hybrid online and in person in Birmingham, online access free of charge)
- 18/3/2025 Oxford Brookes University, Talking Teaching Across the Globe: Uncovering and addressing the Placements and Internships “Sustainability Gap”
- 24/3/2025 RAISE SIG, AI in HE: Written assessments in the age of AI: change, push-back, and student (dis)engagement by Dr. Martin Compton
- 26/3/2025 De Montfort Education Academy, Awarding Gap Seminar series: Disrupting the Discourse: University Culture Decoded
- 27/3/2025 Future Teacher Webinars, Designing appropriate assessment
April
- 9/4/2025 Anglia Ruskin University – Community Engagement, Using Generative AI in the classroom: Tadhg Blommerde
- 30/4/2025 Anglia Ruskin University – Community Engagement, Inquiry graphics: Multimodal learning and the use of Generative AI: Dr Tünde Varga-Atkins, Dr Natasa Lackovic & Dr Run Wen
May
- 9/5/2025 Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool , Theme Park of Innovation 2025 (call for proposals open until 21/2/2025)
- 20/5/2025 Student Belonging Community of Practice, UEA Student Belonging Conference 2025 (hybrid in person and online), also see Student Belonging Community of Practice Sign Up
- 27/5/2025 (online) and 29/5/2025 (in person), Change Agents Network, Annual Conference: The impact of student-staff partnerships on learning in an ever changing higher-education environment
June
- 25/6/2025 De Montfort Education Academy, Awarding Gap Seminar series: Decolonising learning and assessment: insights from student and educator experiences
Resources and publications
- Abegglen, S., Burns, T. & Sinfield, S. (eds) (26/7/2023), Collaboration in Higher Education, Bloomsbury Academic (open access)
- Adragna, R. (20/2/2016), Be Your Own Teacher: How to Study with Flashcards, The Learning Scientists
- Bruff, D. (n.d.), Vanderbilt CFT Teaching Guides Archive, Agile Learning: Derek Bruff’s blog on teaching and learning
- Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning, Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University (n.d.), #TELresearchers & #HEresearchers webinar series (video playlist)
- Institution of Education Sciences, ERIC: Educational Resources Information Center, US Department of Education, “comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information”
- Foundation for Critical Thinking (n.d.), Defining Critical Thinking, The Foundation for Critical Thinking
- Glessmer, M. S. (17/2/2025), Ice watching and thinking about reflections — in the water, and in Harvey et al. (2025)’s article, Mirjam Sophia Glessmer
- Harvey, M., Walkerden, G., Semple, A., McLachlan, K., Lloyd, K., & Bosanquet, A. (16/2/2025), Reflecting on reflective practice: issues, possibilities and guidance principles, Higher Education Research & Development, 1–9
- Korpen, C. (n.d.), Self-Study for Teaching Documentation, University of Virginia Teaching Hub (resource collection) “How do you successfully document your teaching? In this collection, you will explore self-study approaches that provide you with an authentic representation of your teaching based on evidence of what you do in your teaching.”
- Kuepper-Tetzel, C. (n.d.), Why you might be using flashcards wrong, BBC Bitesize (blog post with 2-minute video)
- Lee, H., Sarkar, A. et al (4/2025), The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers, Proceedings of the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Lim, H. (2024), Future-Proofing Student Engagement in UK Higher Education, evasys.co.uk
- McKenzie, J. (12/2/2025), How can AI play a role in the development of OSCEs?, Teaching Matters, University of Edinburgh
- Matsumoto-Sturt, Y. (11/2/2025), Learning by Doing, Teaching Matters, University of Edinburgh
- RAISE Researching, Advancing, and Inspiring Student Engagement (2025), Mission and Principles, RAISE
- Riley, B., & Bruno, P. (2024), Education hazards of generative AI, Cognitive Resonance
- Riley, B. (24/1/2025), A challenge to the cognitive model of the mind, Cognitive Resonance Substack
- Watchman Smith, N., Naughton, C. & Garden, C. (2025), Student Belonging Good Practice Guide, RAISE Network, Focused on Research into Student Engagement
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.
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. Social media: X.com, BSky.
Call for Proposals: Learning and Teaching Conference 2025
We are now inviting proposals for the 13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Tuesday 8-Thursday 10 July 2025.
Submit and view the call for proposals online.
The theme for this year’s conference is:
Innovative Pathways to Empowering Learners: Adapting, Engaging, and Thriving
The main strands of this year’s conference are:
- Adaptable assessment design
- Student engagement and autonomous learning
- Community building
- Technologies to enhance learning
- Online learning
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 8 April 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk.
13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: Theme Announcement
We are pleased to announce the theme of the 13th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, taking place between 8 and 10 July 2025.
The theme is: “Innovative Pathways to Empowering Learners: Adapting, Engaging, and Thriving”.
The conference will have the following strands:
- Adaptable assessment design
- Student engagement and autonomous learning
- Community building
- Technologies to enhance learning
- Online learning
Each year, we speak to our stakeholder group and other members of the University to establish topics that colleagues will find useful.
The first strand of adaptable assessment design brings together a piece of work being undertaken by colleagues in Student Services, which foregrounds flexible approaches to assessment design, assessments with multiple formats, and authentic assessment design.
Student engagement and instilling autonomous learning remains to be a key challenge for colleagues. Under this strand, we’re interested in strategies for instilling autonomy in learning, ways in which learning can be scaffolded, and the embedding of skills for learning and the graduate workplace.
Our third strand of community building seeks to highlight the work of wellbeing in the curriculum and to consider more trauma-informed ways of working, how online learning communities are created, and the use of learning analytics. Central to all these themes is inclusive pedagogies.
Under the strand technologies to enhance learning we will be interested to hear about positive case studies and uses of incorporating AI into the classroom, advanced and exemplary uses of Blackboard Ultra, and good teaching practice in the digital age.
Our final strand speaks to online learning speaks to the work of the Aber Online Learning Project in partnership with HEP, transitioning on campus to online teaching, and engagement strategies for online learning.
We will be opening the Call for Proposals and conference booking shortly.
If you have got any questions, please contact the conference organisers on elearning@aber.ac.uk.