Training Resources
These are resources from some of the CPD sessions organised and run by the LTEU.
Academy Forum
The Aber Academy Forum is open to members of the university community: teaching staff, postgraduate tutors, administrative / support staff, and students are all welcome. The Forum provides a platform for sharing good practice in learning and teaching.
If you would like to be notified of upcoming sessions, email cpdstaff@aber.ac.uk to be added to our mailing list.
For announcements and more information you can also follow our Aberystwyth Academy Forum Blog
Academy Forum Handouts
You can find handouts from previous Academy Forum sessions here.
Sessions from 2022/2023
- Academy Forum 4: Digital Capabilities (Part 1) Handout
- Academy Forum 4: Digital Capabilities (Part 1) PowerPoint
- Academy Forum 3: Wellbeing in the Curriculum November 2022
- Academy Forum 2 Handout: How are students using Technology at Aberystwyth University? Oct 22/23
- Academy Forum 2 PowerPoint: How are students using Technology at Aberystwyth University? Oct 22/23
- Academy Forum 1: Student Induction Oct 22/23
Sessions from 2021/2022
Active Learning & Student Engagement
Active learning can help students engage with learning tasks, promote deeper learning, and foster higher order thinking. The result can be better retention of learning.
Many lecturers wonder what we can do besides ‘deliver content’. This session builds on a chapter in a forthcoming book about active learning. Synthesising early definitions and current research on active learning, I’ve come to consider active learning to be any activity where students carry out an Active Cognitive Task (ACT). It is not the content itself but what students do with it that matters.
This session explores why and how we might want to make lectures more active and interactive. While there is already a lot of good practice in active learning at our university, especially in seminars and practicals, it can be challenging to use active learning in a lecturing context. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Two common approaches are to break up lectures with short interactions or hold longer problem-solving activities that require students to prepare outside of class.
Aligned Teaching
After successful completion of this 4-part workshop series, participants should be able to:
- Apply models for aligned teaching when designing learning
- Write effective learning objectives based on Bloom’s taxonomy
- Plan and carry out appropriate learning activities to support the objectives
- Consider learning objectives appropriately when designing assessments
Aligned teaching is a core principle recognised across the HE sector and highlighted in the QAA Quality Code, Advice and Guidance: Assessment. When learning outcomes, activities, and assessment are well aligned, it can have a dramatic impact on student learning and make it easier for the teacher to design the learning experience.
It all starts with the student: what should they to be able to do after completing the lesson, module, or study scheme? In these interactive sessions, we explore the options for designing aligned teaching to create meaningful learning experiences that help students learn.
As with most aspects of informed teaching, there is no 'one right way' to design or assess student learning. The aim of these activities is to give you the tools to make informed choices for your own teaching context.
Please note that each workshop in this linked series requires a short preparation task. This allows us to spend time during the workshop on applying the principles to your real teaching contexts. The preparation task is based on the Aligned teaching handout.
- Well-written learning outcomes make it easy to plan teaching
- Tell what students will be able to do after the session
- Focus on concrete actions, not ‘demonstrate a knowledge of (topic)’
- Aim for the highest levels possible on Bloom’s taxonomy
Creating Accessible Learning Materials
Choices you make when creating learning materials can make a big difference for your students, especially those with a disability or specific learning difference. There is no one formula that is perfectly suited for all students, but you can easily make your documents as accessible as possible for as many students as possible. Moreover, accessible documents are simply easier to use, which helps all students learn better.
These recordings covers Word documents, PowerPoint, PDF, and media files that staff make available electronically through Blackboard or elsewhere. We work through the Digital Accessibility Checklist and explain how small changes can help your students.
After viewing these materials you should be able to
- Use the Accessibility Checker when creating MS Office documents
- Use Styles to make the structure of your material clear to students
- Use appropriate colour choices and contrast to make documents readable
- Use appropriate settings when creating PDF files from MS Office documents
Recordings
Introduction (3 minutes)
Why accessibility? (6 minutes)
Introducing the Accessibility Checklist (2 minutes)
Creating accessible Word documents (13 minutes)
Creating accessible PowerPoint presentations (6 minutes)
Creating an accessible PDF (4 minutes)
Accessible audio and video (2 minutes)
Additional Materials
Creating Accessible Learning Materials training session handout (DOCX)
Generative AI
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are having a significant impact on higher education because students can use them to generate content which is then submitted as the student’s own work. In response to this challenge, we have organised a Generative AI Working Group with representation from all three Faculties, Information Services, Registry, and the AberSU. Here we provide ideas staff can use this semester to explain your existing assessments to students and to handle common red flags when marking. The AberSU is organising guidance for students.
- AEC Update on Generative AI May 2023 from the Generative AI Working Group.
- Utilising AI in the Library: A Student's Guide: What is AI? from Academic Engagement Team, Information Services and Generative AI Working Group.
- Important Update on Generative Artificial Intelligence for Staff - 'As discussed at the Academic Board on 13th September 2023, the university has decided to turn off the Turnitin AI Detection tool as of 30th September 2023'.
Please note that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. The attached list is not exhaustive and the landscape is rapidly changing as these tools develop. We encourage teaching staff to discuss your own teaching context with colleagues in your department and devise a consistent shared approach.
Please use these documents in conjunction with QAA’s guidance on academic integrity and AI.
This field is developing rapidly with significant changes on short notice.
No detection tool can provide conclusive evidence. Students who want to evade detection can do so. Any tool may indicate likelihood that a student used AI when they didn’t, thus giving a 'false positive' result.
Unacceptable Academic Practice
The UAP Form and penalty table have been updated to include ‘Presenting work generated by AI as if it were your own’ (approved by Academic Board March 2023).
- Regulation on Unacceptable Academic Practice
- Template Form: See section 3.13
Selected list of external resources
- Jacob, Mary (12/2023), Developing Resilience in an Ever-changing AI Landscape - resource list
- Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education blog
- Mills, Anna (2/2/2023), What to do about AI text generators? Next steps for educators, National Academic Integrity Network, QQI
- National Academic Integrity Network (3/2/2023), What to do about AI text generators? Next steps for educators (1-hour video), Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
- Phipps, Lawrie (27/3/2023), Means. Motive, Opportunity: A Composite Narrative about Academic Misconduct, Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education
- QAA (22/3/2023), ChatGPT: To Ban or Not Ban? (1-hour video), QAAtube. We highly recommend watching Michael Webb’s 8-minute explanation in plain English about how AI detectors work, what they can and cannot do.
- UNESCO (4/2023), ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in higher education: Quick start guide
- University of Kent Digitally Enhanced Education Webinar series (16/3/2023), Teaching with ChatGPT: Examples of Practice (video playlist)
- Webb, Michael (17/3/2023), AI writing detectors – concepts and considerations, Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education. He notes: “AI detectors cannot prove conclusively that text was written by AI.”
Moving to Online Teaching
This session provides a basic introduction to teaching online. These videos provide information about various aspects of online teaching:
Introduction (7 minutes)
Using Blackboard (6 minutes)
Panopto and Teams (10 minutes)
Assessment (11 minutes)
Third Party Software (4 minutes)
We also have a set of short recordings on setting up interactive activities in Blackboard
- Overview: what interactive activities can I do in Blackboard? (5 minutes)
- Finding and using your practice module (2 minutes)
- Blogs (10 minutes)
- Discussion Boards (5 minutes)
- Wikis (4 minutes)
- Journals (3 minutes)
You can also view these as a single video (35 minutes)
Plagiarism Detection and Prevention
Plagiarism and unacceptable academic practice are challenging issues for anyone teaching in higher education. What are the red flags that indicate possible plagiarism, and how can we investigate a case of suspected plagiarism?
This is a 2-part workshop series.
Part 1 is about detecting and dealing with plagiarism. It is held in a combination presentation / discussion format based on the following questions:
- What is plagiarism?
- How do students plagiarise?
- Why do students plagiarise?
- How can we detect it?
Part 2 will give participants a chance to discuss how to develop assessments which ‘design out plagiarism’. We will look at different types of assessment which are harder for students to ‘cut and paste’ information from other sources. We will look at the use of formative assessment to highlight potential issues in advance of the final assignment. We will also look at strategies for embedding good academic practice in the curriculum.
Resources
- Plagiarism and contract cheating source list - This handout includes references mentioned in both workshops and further suggested reading.
- Plagiarism part 2 presentation - PDF of the presentation from Part 2
- Designing Out Plagiairism library information
- Contract cheating checklist - Created by London and South East Academic Integrity Network
Contract Cheating Working Group
For resources useful for students, please see the LibGuide on Referencing and Plagiarism Awareness created by the Academic Engagement Team in Information Services.
You may also wish to watch some of the video clips below:
- Higher Education Academy Avoiding Plagiarism
- Higher Education Academy Plagiarism - student view
- York St John University Understanding Plagiarism
- University of Canterbury Library Academic Plagiarism - and how to avoid it