What’s new in Blackboard August 2025

8th August 202511th August 2025 WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Diweddariadau Misol, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment

In the August update, we want to draw your attention to the table of contents feature being added to Learning Modules.

In addition to this, there are enhancements to documents with block styling options, and increased accessibility across student gradebook and student overview pages.

New: Adding Table of Contents to Learning Modules for students

We’ve redesigned the Learning Module experience for students by adding a collapsible Table of Contents. This update improves navigation, orientation, and progress tracking.

As part of this improvement, assessments now open in a full panel instead of a smaller panel.

Students now have a simplified way to navigate and track progress in Learning Modules. Updates include:

A table of contents for the items in a Learning Module. Select Contents to open and collapse the table of contents

Image 1: Learning Modules now contain a Table of Contents panel to orient students within Learning Modules for their courses. The panel can be collapsed with the arrow button at the top of the Table of Contents.

Screenshot of Table of Contents within Learning Modules

Easy navigation between items
Manual or automatic item completion tracking from within the Learning Module
Next and Previous buttons moved closer together at the top of the page for an improved experience.

Image 2: The navigation buttons Previous and Next now appear closer to each other in the user interface within Learning Modules to give an improved user experience.

Assessments within Learning Modules. Assessments now open in a full panel, providing a consistent and distraction-free experience.

Image 3: The Assessments pages within Learning Modules now appear as a full-sized panel.

Forced sequence in Learning Modules. When sequencing is enforced, students must use the Next and Previous buttons to move through content in order. Students can’t jump ahead using the table of contents unless they have already completed the item they are navigating to. Skipping ahead without completing a Learning Module item is disabled in this mode.

Enhance Documents with block styling options

We added block styling to Documents, giving instructors new ways to enhance visual appeal and guide student attention. The styling options feature both color and icons. The style options include:

Question
Tip
Key points
Next steps
Highlight

Image 1. Instructors can select styling options from a dropdown menu that appears in Edit mode on all block types.

Our forthcoming training session E-learning Enhanced: Become a Document Pro will explore this and other document functionality to help colleagues create dynamic content. You can book your place online.

Increased accessibility in the student gradebook

To improve accessibility, we updated the student Gradebook to use a semantic HTML table structure. This change replaces the previous layout, which relied on stacked <div> elements. The new structure improves screen reader support and keyboard navigation.

Increased accessibility in the student overview page

To improve accessibility, we updated the student Overview page to use a semantic HTML table structure. This change replaces the previous layout, which relied on stacked <div> elements. The new structure improves screen reader support and keyboard navigation.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.

How to make asynchronous recordings engaging and interactive

14th January 202128th April 2021 WordPress User [lak22] Online Teaching, Panopto, Training and Support Leave a comment

Pre-recorded asynchronous content has become a key factor in delivering courses and enabling the best learning experience for students at Aberystwyth University. There are several strategies that lecturers can use to make these recordings both engaging and interactive.

The benefits of asynchronous pre-recorded lectures are manifold, and most students – as the so-called YouTube generation – know this mode of learning extremely well (Scagnoli, Choo & Tian, 2019). Benefits include that students control their engagement with the content and value the convenience and flexibility that asynchronous recordings provide them with, in particular regarding the pace of their learning, and the repeatability of their engagement (Dale & Pymm, 2009; Ramlogan et al., 2014; Scagnoli, Choo & Tian, 2019). It is therefore essential that staff outline what is expected of students in terms of engaging with learning materials, both in pre-recorded videos and in-person sessions.

Weekly Resource Roundup 15/6/2020

15th June 202010th May 2021 WordPress User [mhj] Events and Networks, Online Teaching, Panopto, Resources and Webinars, Training and Support, Uncategorised, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) 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.

Calling @AberUni staff. Do you use short Panopto lectures or Panopto quizzes in your online teaching? We’re after examples to use in our new good practice module. Email lteu@aber.ac.uk if you’d like to share your materials with us.

18/6/2020 “TILE Network – Back To School: What Did We Do? What Did We Learn?” https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-back-to-school-what-did-we-do-what-did-we-learn-registration-109125816254
23/6/2020 “How to localise ABC Learning Design?” https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-4-abc-ld-localisation-tickets-108845020386 Twitter https://twitter.com/ABC_LD
24/6/2020 “ALT – Preparing for our ‘new normal’: how can effective student feedback help universities to survive and thrive in the next academic year? Student feedback webinar. Topics to be covered include; Is student evaluation still as important, and what does this look like in the ‘new normal’?; How are universities developing their student feedback mechanisms to reflect what the next academic year is really going to be like?; What are the new, and emerging opportunities, for capturing student feedback?; Is it possible to engage the dis-engaged and traditionally harder-to-reach groups?; How are academic and professional teams being supported to deliver this agenda?” https://go.alt.ac.uk/3e1Xvbe
24/6/2020 “Ucisa – Virtual Stratified Medicine Lab – intro to basic lab skills. (Designing a virtual lab tour to promote the learning and teaching of Stratified Medicine)” https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/Events/2020/June/Spotlight-on-Digital-capabilities-webinar-2
“Teaching Innovation & Learning Enhancement (TILE network)“ blog https://tile.psy.gla.ac.uk/blog/ Twitter https://twitter.com/TILEnetwork
Association for Learning Technology (ALT), “Call for chapters: Designing Courses with Digital Technologies: Evidence and Examples by and for Higher Education Instructors” Higher education is currently undergoing a digital transformation. As most higher education institutions are integrating digital technologies, instructors need guidance. In this book, to be published by Routledge, instructors from around the world, representing different subject disciplines, will write short chapters with concrete examples of how they use digital technologies to support teaching and learning informed by evidence. The book will be written by and for instructors. https://go.alt.ac.uk/30MLdQf
Educause Review, “Editor’s Picks”: “Can HyFlex Options Support Students in the Midst of Uncertainty?”, “Teaching during COVID-19: Why We’re Fortunate”, “Orienting Students to Online Learning: A Must for Student Success” https://er.educause.edu/editors-picks
Gierdowski, Dana and Joseph Galanek, “ECAR Study of the Technology Needs of Students with Disabilities, 2020 – building accessible infrastructure for all students with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)”, Educause Review, 1/6/2020 https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/6/ecar-study-of-the-technology-needs-of-students-with-disabilities-2020
Okpala, Jude, “COVID-19, Online Learning, and Beijing Jiaotong University, Weihai: Outbreak Narrative or Paradigm Shift?”, Educause Review, 28/5/2020 https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/5/covid-19-online-learning-and-beijing-jiaotong-university-weihai-outbreak-narrative-or-paradigm-shift
O’Toole, Robert, “Peer learning and breakout groups in live online lectures”, 20/5/2020 http://www.inspireslearning.com/journal/peer-learning-and-breakout-groups-in-live-online-lectures/
Rossi, Virna, “Inclusive Learning Design – a rich picture”, https://inclusivelearningdesign.com/inclusive-tree/

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

10th June 202010th May 2021 WordPress User [mhj] Events and Networks, Online Teaching, Resources and Webinars, Training and Support, Uncategorised Leave a comment

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.

17-18/6/2020 Media & Learning Online Conference “Scaling up and providing access to video based services in higher education” https://news.media-and-learning.eu/type/featured-articles/agenda-launched-for-media-learning-online-17-18-june-2020/
18/6/2020 Webinar Dr Thomas Lancaster – ‘Contract Cheating in the Context of Covid-19: Five Key Ideas to Consider’. “Dr Lancaster will be providing an overview of the contract cheating landscape in relation to Covid-19, with a focus on five key ideas for the academic community to consider” https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5006411100167100942
23/6/2020 Webinar “Jumping online: Sustaining quality learning. University of London Centre for Distance Education webinar, designed to support the move to online during the pandemic. The webinar will be led by two CDE fellows, J Simon Rofe, Academic Head of Digital Learning at SOAS University of London and Jonathan San Diego, Lecturer in Technology & Health Informatics Education and Director of the iTEL Hub at Kings College, London and by Diana Laurillard, Professor of Learning with Digital Technologies, UCL Knowledge Lab.” https://london.ac.uk/centre-distance-education/cde-activities/cde-events
26/6/2020 FutureTeacher Webinar “Self-assessment and Mastery learning – Reactivated” https://xot.futureteacher.eu/play.php?template_id=4#selfassessment
1/7/2020 UCISA Webinar “Webinar Design to Promote Quality Engagement: Towards a Transactional Model and Toolkit” “Webinars are now commonplace, but as with early eLearning pedagogy, a ‘talking head’ design falls short of meeting the potential of the media. Next-generation learners need to master virtual collaboration skills to construct solutions to higher-level problem solving using interactive webinars.” https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/Events/2020/July/Spotlight-on-Digital-capabilities-webinar-3 https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/Events
Virna Rossi “Inclusive Learning Design Webinar series“: “Inclusive Learning Design (post lockdown)”, “A menu of practical lesson activities (in e-learning mode)” http://inclusivelearningdesign.com/webinars/
Dustin Hosseini “Digital Education Practices Podcast Series” https://digitaleducationpractices.com/podcast/
Sarah Lambert, “A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID-19 Pandemic: Navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis”, Asian Journal of Distance Education, (15)1 (2020) http://asianjde.org/ojs/index.php/AsianJDE/article/view/462/307
Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal “RAISE is a network of staff and students in the higher education across the world who are working in and/or interested in researching and promoting student engagement.” https://sehej.raise-network.com/raise
Abby Sparrow et al, “Student autonomy of feedback format in higher education and perceived functional behaviours for academic development“, Journal of Pedagogical Research, 11 May 2020 https://www.ijopr.com/article/student-autonomy-of-feedback-format-in-higher-education-and-perceived-functional-behaviours-for-8256

Please see the Staff Training booking page for training offered by the LTEU and other Aberystwyth University staff.

Creating Accessible Learning Materials

22nd August 201913th May 2021 WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Training and Support, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

Accessibility icons showing 3 images: a checklist, a computer workstation, an image

New digital accessibility legislation came into effect in 2018. It covers all material on public sector websites as well as documents uploaded into VLEs, such as our Blackboard site. For details of the new law, please see Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. See the Accessible Virtual Learning Environments Report for information about how we can make our modules more accessible and inclusive.

Over the past few months, members of staff in the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit have been working with colleagues across the University to prepare for the introduction of the legislation. For details about how the university is responding to the legislation, please see the university’s Digital Accessibility Statement. From that page, click on Guidance for Staff (you will need to log in to view these materials). Guidance for Staff includes two sections – one for CMS users (website builders) and one for any staff who create learning materials or other documents for the web or Blackboard.

The Guidance on Creating Accessible Learning Materials page includes a checklist for making your Word documents, PowerPoint files, PDF documents, and embedded media clips more accessible for your students. You can also access the handout from the Creating Accessible Learning Materials training session that is run by the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit in collaboration with Student Support.

In addition to the Creating Accessible Materials training sessions (that can be booked online), the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is also happy to offer bespoke training for staff in departments. If you have any queries about creating accessible materials for your learning and teaching, or you’d like to book a bespoke session for yourself and colleagues in your Department, please contact us (lteu@aber.ac.uk).

Digital Education Group

Aberystwyth University

Tag: Accessibility