Author: Anna Ruff

19th January 202219th January 2022

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

26th October 202111th May 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.

25th May 202111th January 2022

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'

30th July 202024th November 2020

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

11th June 202031st May 2023

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

10th June 202024th November 2020

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.

29th April 202015th May 2020

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

20th February 202020th February 2020

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

17th February 202017th February 2020

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

7th January 202013th January 2020

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

25th November 201913th March 2020

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

9th August 20199th August 2019

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

12th July 201915th July 2019

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

7th May 20193rd January 2020

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

26th March 201927th March 2019

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.

26th March 201912th July 2019

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

17th December 20182nd 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

13th December 20182nd May 2019

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

28th November 201831st 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.

5th November 201831st May 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

26th July 201812th July 2019

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

10th May 201825th July 2019

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

10th May 201816th May 2020

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

30th March 201816th May 2020

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.

27th March 20182nd May 2019

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