Latest posts from the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit blog
Blackboard User Group: Exemplary Course Award Presentation
We had the pleasure of recently presenting at the Blackboard User Group on the Exemplary Course Award that we run here at Aberystwyth University. Blackboard run their own Exemplary Course Programme which we use as the basis for our award. The session title, Celebrating Excellence, Shaping Practice: Aberystwyth University’s Exemplary Course Award Programme, charted the […]
What’s new in Blackboard February 2026
In the February update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements: Use automations to remind students to check their feedback Automations are a relatively new feature in Blackboard. The latest feature allows you to automatically send a reminder message to students who have unread feedback after an instructor-defined number of days. […]
Call for Proposals: Mini Conference: Neurodiversity Network Conference
We are pleased to announce our next Mini Conference taking place on Tuesday 14 April 2026. In collaboration with the Department of Psychology, Student Accessibility and Wellbeing, and the Digital Education Team (Student Journey), we are looking for 15-minute presentations on the following topics: Please fill out this form to submit your proposal. Please indicate […]
What’s new in Blackboard January 2026
Happy New Year! In the January update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements: Minor Update to the Blackboard Interface There is no downtime associated with this update, and Blackboard will continue to function normally during this period. These changes include: In addition to this, to maximise screen space, Blackboard will […]
Turnitin Scheduled Maintenance 07.02.2026
Turnitin will be unavailable between 16:00 and 22:00 on Saturday 7 February 2026 for scheduled maintenance. During this time, you will be unable to submit or grade any assessments. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Measuring Course Engagement with Blackboard Tools
Now that semester 1 teaching has finished and we are moving towards the assessment period, we wanted to write a blogpost to highlight the analytical reports that are available in Blackboard. These reports can be used to monitor Blackboard usage and engagement and help you to re-enforce messages to students. Progress Summary By default, the […]
Generative AI Mini Conference: Materials Available
Happy New Year! Just before the Christmas vacation period, we hosted our final event of the year: a mini conference on Generative AI. The materials from this Mini Conference are now available on our webpages. Thank you very much to our presenters from the Departments of Computer Science, Geography and Earth Sciences, and the School […]
Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year from the Digital Education Team
We’ve had some fantastic experiences and milestones this year. Back in March, we announced our 2025 Exemplary Course Award and highly commended recipients. In April, we hosted a Mini Conference on Employability and the Inclusive Curriculum in collaboration with colleagues in Careers and Employability. In July, we had our 13th Annual Education and Student Experience […]
What’s new in Blackboard December 2025
In the December update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements: Specify participation requirements for Discussions Instructors now have greater flexibility when managing student participation in graded Discussions. With this update, instructors can specify required student responses for a Discussion topic. Instructors Instructors can now make clear participation requirements to […]
Blackboard Interface Update, January 2026
On Thursday 8 January, there will be a minor update to the Blackboard interface. There is no downtime associated with this update, and Blackboard will continue to function normally during this period. These changes include: In addition to this, to maximise screen space, Blackboard will remove the nested folder view. If you have any issues, […]