Author: Anna Ruff

19 January 202223 August 2023

Our 10th Blackboard & VLE Awards gave us plenty to celebrate! In this post we reveal the winning courses and share some highlights from this year’s event.

Text: Blackboard & VLE Awards - Learner Support, with a cheerful female student working on a laptop in the background

26 October 202123 August 2023

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the University’s Blackboard & VLE Awards, we are offering awards in ten different categories this year. In the 10-minute video below, we delve into the Best Learner Support category.

25 May 202123 August 2023

In person, eCoffee@SGH provided opportunities not only for peer learning and support with TEL tools and techniques but also for forging connections. Since we’ve been meeting online, that opportunity has felt just as important – if not more so. Sharing

Close-up of Excellence in VLE Awards trophy with text 'Winner 2021' and 'University of Southampton'

30 July 202023 August 2023

Events, Innovation

In a year of many challenges, one common story is that students feel short-changed by their online learning experience. It’s therefore been both heartening and humbling to receive 1235 nominations from students for our 9th annual Blackboard & Virtual Learning

Sample storyboard with post-it notes for FLOW workshop

Case study

When we were asked to create an online version of our face-to-face workshop, aligned to the university’s Common Framework for Online Education, it presented an exciting opportunity to develop something new – and a challenge. The content of our workshop

11 June 202031 May 2023

10 June 202023 August 2023

News

This year, Blackboard’s Teaching and Learning Conference was held online, featuring a range of topical discussions. Further details of the programme can be found here: TLC Europe. Our colleague Matthew Deeprose contributed two well-received presentations, firstly explaining how custom changes

Close up shot of a woman using a laptop.

29 April 202018 August 2023

The university’s Virtual Learning Environment Awards were particularly virtual this year, with winners announced via a Twitter event and a Special Edition Newsletter. Students’ insight throughout the process is key, with student representatives taking time to select a shortlist from

20 February 202018 August 2023

At the point we launched this year’s search for examples of excellent use of virtual learning environments, we didn’t know we’d all be moving in! With learning shifted to virtual spaces, it’s useful to reflect on what this year’s nominations

Vevox graphic showing students participating in lecture on devices

17 February 202018 August 2023

Amie Fletcher and Isabel Whitley from Vevox joined us for February’s Connect event, to share some updates and suggestions for making the most of Vevox in teaching. The slides from the sesssion can be downloaded below. Vevox also ran a

7 January 202018 August 2023

Nominations for the university’s annual Blackboard & VLE Awards competition are now open, giving you the opportunity to feed back on what you find most helpful in a virtual learning environment, and to put forward examples of courses that do

25 November 201916 August 2023

December’s eCoffee involved an experimental live event: could we run a session about video meetings simultaneously as a face-to-face session and online for remote participants? While this sounds like something that potentially could involve specialist equipment and planning, we took

9 August 201916 August 2023

Ahead of this month’s eCoffee we asked colleagues for recommendations for tools that support organisation, planning and efficiency, and took the opportunity during the session to try some of these out. Office 365 and Microsoft Teams Office 365 includes various

12 July 201916 August 2023

Our guest contributors at July’s Digital Learning Connect event were well placed to offer insight into what makes a successful virtual learning environment, having both won university Blackboard & VLE Awards, as well as making it onto the shortlist each

Medicine has seen continuing success over the seven years of the university’s Blackboard & VLE Awards, so in July’s eCoffee we explored some features of winning courses, sharing some ideas and inspiration ahead of the next academic year. Blackboard upgrade

7 May 201916 August 2023

26 March 201916 August 2023

This year saw our seventh annual Blackboard & VLE Awards, with students putting forward an impressive array of modules that offer valuable online support for their learning. Students’ insightful comments about why a particular approach works, or the benefits of

Postcard saying 'Have you voted in the Blackboard & VLE Awards 2019? There is a graphic of a hand on a laptop next to a phone.

26 March 201916 August 2023

News

Nominations are open for our seventh annual Blackboard & VLE Awards. Students have the opportunity to feed back on what they’ve found particularly helpful to their learning and invite recognition of the staff who are supporting them in this way. A ‘virtual

17 December 20182 May 2019

February’s eCoffee saw attendees taken on a series of virtual adventures, using Oculus Go headsets. Recent university Virtual Reality (VR) projects include creating interactive 360 experiences from footage gathered on field trips. This supports students in getting the most out of the trip by preparing

13 December 201816 August 2023

News

As part of our Christmas Challenge this week, can you locate the Digital Learning ‘reindeer’ in the pictures below? Ten pictures are on Highfield Campus (let us know the location or building number) and two are elsewhere (let us know which

28 November 201831 May 2023

Panopto: not just lecture capture was our theme for December’s eCoffee, looking at the various ways Panopto can be used to support teaching, learning and assessment. The university help pages for Panopto at http://go.soton.ac.uk/panopto are a great source to help you get started, and

Conifer and presents on a black boarder with the caption Digital learning Christmas challenge.

5 November 201816 August 2023

Throughout December we would like to invite colleagues to take part in our Digital Learning Christmas Challenge. Each week there will be two challenges – one online, and one based in our Digital Learning office (35/2025). The challenges will give you an

26 July 201816 August 2023

News, Tech tips

In October’s eCoffee we looked at ways Microsoft Teams can support collaborative working and learning. Teams is part of Office 365 (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/365) and works in conjunction with Office 365’s SharePoint, helping build communication and context around documents stored here. Setting up After creating

10 May 201816 August 2023

News, Tech tips

We finished a year of exciting eCoffees with an inspiring session from Dr Siobhan Lynch. Siobhan shared the story of the creation and development of the Personal Professional Development module for final year undergraduates, which is delivered predominantly online, while students are on

10 May 201816 August 2023

News, Tech tips

Caspian Priest led May’s eCoffee, taking us on a fascinating journey through the development of an app for research and intervention. The Abreast of Health study delivers a brief electronic intervention to women attending breast clinics, taking the opportunity to highlight links

30 March 201816 August 2023

The 2018 Blackboard & VLE Awards bring the competition into its sixth year, showcasing some consistently good practice and some innovative approaches to delivering blended learning. Students had the opportunity to put forward course sites that made a real difference to

A plaque from from the VLE awards with a star in the left corner.

27 March 201816 August 2023

2018 has seen another substantial haul of nominations for our Blackboard & VLE Awards, with students sharing the numerous ways course sites have supported and inspired their learning. It’s evident that many courses do this well, and after careful consideration