News & Updates

MyAberdeen Enhancements – November 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online:

• Improvement to resizing blocks in documents
• Print tests with questions from question pools and other improvements
• Improved performance for assignment file submissions
• Batch edit: usability improvement
• Download option for student activity log
• Blackboard mobile app rebranding

MyAberdeen Enhancements – October 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen. Further information about the latest update is available online:

• Usability Improvements for Documents
• Improvement for Knowledge Checks
• Generate question banks
• Enhancements to student submission review page
• Email notifications for followed discussions
• Quickly access items that need grade reconciliation
• Show unavailable students in the gradebook
• Flexible Grading performance improvements

MyAberdeen Enhancements for September 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online:

• Knowledge checks in Ultra Documents
• Course Content page improvements
• Assignment Submission Review button for students
• Assignment Feedback no longer hidden by release conditions
• Exclude a submission attempt when grading
• Grading and posting grades overview tab for staff
• View late submissions that need grading
• View a student activity log in the Class Register

Is Your MyAberdeen Course Ready for the Start of Term? 

Our videos on the MyAberdeen Staff Toolkit have been updated to reflect recent updates to MyAberdeen.  If you are a Course Coordinator, please follow the guidance on how to add additional teaching staff to your course.  Additional teaching staff are usually enrolled with the role of “Lecturer”.  Our course readiness checklist is designed to help all staff prepare for the start of term.   

MyAberdeen Communication Guidance 

Responding to feedback from students around the volume of emails received, staff are encouraged to review our communication guidance and asked to only send emails from MyAberdeen when announcements and messages are important and urgent.  

Digital Accessibility 

You can learn about why digital accessibility is an important part of inclusion and what you should be aware of when preparing your learning materials by undertaking these online modules from AbilityNet.   

Staff are reminded that: 

• Automatic captions are enabled on new video by default on Panopto, but that efforts should be made to correct errors in captions where possible as per the Digital Accessibility Policy.  Review the video captioning guide, and captioning tips guide for further guidance and advice.
• Anthology Ally is integrated into MyAberdeen providing indicators of the accessibility of content and how to address this, as well as the ability for students to generate alternative formats for content in MyAberdeen. Review the Ally Help for Staff and Ally Help for Students for further guidance. Staff can access their Course Accessibility Report by going to Books & Course Tools in the Details & Action section.

Recap on other Enhancements & Support 

A record of the recent updates to MyAberdeen is available on our StaffNet page News and Updates.  For a full overview of the eLearning support, staff development and resources available to staff, please visit the Key Resources page on MyAberdeen. 

MyAberdeen Enhancements for July & August 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online for July and August.

• Print Answer Key for Assessments
• Needs Grading improvements for assessments allowing multiple attempts
• Send a copy to email when scheduling announcements
• Needs Grading improvements for Students and Questions tabs
• Recording audio and video when adding per question feedback
• Improved navigation when accessing feedback
• Content Designer: Enhanced Documents
• Multiple rules for release conditions
• Improvements to creating assignments
• Anonymous student responses for Forms
• Improved navigation between students in Flexible Grading
• Hide unenrolled students from the gradebook

Other updates:

• SafeAssign will be replaced with the similarity checking functionality provided by Turnitin
• Blackboard assessments (Tests, including written responses to free text questions) can be locked down using Respondus Lock Down Browser
• BuddyCheck is available to support grading fairness in group work, through peer evaluation
• Leganto Reading Lists will have a simpler and more intuitive user interface
• The MatLab Graider integration will be available upon request
• Vevox has been selected as the institutional polling tool going forward, replacing Ombea
• Collaborate will no longer be available in MyAberdeen.  All course coordinators will instead see a link in the Details and Actions menu to enable the MS Teams integration for their course
• Audio and video recordings on Panopto older than 6 years will be permanently deleted, unless they have been viewed in the last 4 years.  Further information is available on StaffNet and Toolkit.
• Students now have access to download a transcript document from Panopto, to help improve the accessibility of audio/video.  Staff are reminded that by default automatic captions are applied to all new content created on Panopto and should continue to correct errors in the captions to help improve understanding, wherever possible.
• A new drop-down menu has been added to folder headers in Panopto, in place of the Settings cog wheel icon. The Rename, Move, Share, Delete and Settings options are now accessed via the ellipsis icon.

Award for Laura

Congratulations to Laura, one of our eLearning Support Assistants, who has received the Student Partnership Impact Award acknowledging her outstanding efforts in promoting digital accessibility at the university. 

Reminder – Panopto Content Retention

From 1st August 2024, audio and video recordings on Panopto older than 6 years will be permanently deleted, unless they have been viewed in the last 4 years.  This rule, which will be applied in an ongoing basis, includes content recorded directly into Panopto and any files uploaded to Panopto.  No action is required by users.  You can prevent an audio or video recording being permanently deleted by opening the content.  The University generates 13,000 hours of content each year on Panopto and we must remain within our storage limits to avoid additional costs.  Further information is available on StaffNet and Toolkit.

MyAberdeen Enhancements – May 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest updates for May and June are available online:

• Supporting multiple performance criteria in release conditions
• Reuse questions in Forms
• Multiple attempts for Forms assigned to groups
• Improved Gradebook navigation
• Add question feedback when grading a test by question
• Weighted Calculation Improvements
• Reduced motion setting
• Printing for Assessments
• Prevent auto-assigning members in self-enrolment groups
• Post immediately when creating announcements
• AI Design Assistant – Language Selector
• Group members list available within the selected group
• Grader Notes on student grades

Ombea Licence Expiring Soon

The licence for Ombea (polling software) is coming to an end soon.  The University is currently reviewing alternative polling software with the aim of providing a better user experience going forward.  Further details will be circulated once this process is complete.  In the meantime, if staff planned to use Ombea over the summer, please contact elearning@abdn.ac.uk to discuss support for alternative arrangements.

Panopto Transcripts – New Feature

From 1st July 2024, students will have access to download a transcript document from Panopto, to help improve accessibility.  This much requested feature uses the same text as the closed captions and makes it easier for the student to use.  The new feature can be found on Panopto in the left-hand panel, by clicking on Captions and selecting the small download icon at the top.  Staff are reminded that by default automatic captions are applied to all new content created on Panopto.  Staff should continue to correct errors in the captions to help improve understanding, wherever possible.  Guidance will be posted to Toolkit and circulated to students.

MyAberdeen Enhancements – April 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen. Further information about the latest update is available online:

• AI Design Assistant – Context Picker for Learning Modules, Assignments, Discussions, and Journals
• Anonymous Posts for Discussions
• Add question feedback when grading by student
• Student Feedback Remains Visible to Students Regardless of Release Condition Settings
• Default Question Points Value Changed From 10 to 1
• Duplicate Questions in Assessments, Forms, and Question Banks
• Likert Answer Options Expanded to Include 4 and 6
• Auto-Submitted Indicator in Attempt Logs
• Usability Improvements for Flexible Grading

MyAberdeen Enhancements

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online:

• AI Design Assistant – Context picker for test question generation
• No Due Date assessment option
• Announcement indicators and mark announcements as read/unread
• Gradebook item statistics

Generative AI Beyond Assessment

CAD has been successful in securing funding from Advance HE in collaboration with three other Scottish universities, to further investigate student and staff perceptions of the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in education. As a result of this funding we were able to recruit two post graduate students, Rebecca Baxter and Autumn Pinto, who will be with us two days a week from now until mid-July.

Removal of Test course and organisation areas from MyAberdeen

To clear up old course and organisation areas that are no longer in use from MyAberdeen, we will delete all Test and Sandpit areas from MyAberdeen on Monday 25th of March. These are areas that have been created in MyAberdeen for staff either on request or were provided during the transition to Ultra for staff to try out new Ultra course functionality. None of these Test or Sandpit areas should be available for students and should not contain real student assessment submissions. If you have a Test course or organisation area (ID will start with TEST_) that you still actively use and want to keep, please email elearning@abdn.ac.uk and include the ID of the test course/organisation in the email. 

MyAberdeen Enhancements – February 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online.

• Staff can now create Forms
• New Likert question type
• Feedback on override and automatic zero grades for Tests and Assignments
• Rubrics performance level descriptions: Display choice persists
• Send reminders from the gradebook: Improved student count for staff
• Audio/Video Recording in feedback: Usability improvements
• Missed due dates included in the Course Activity Report

Automatic Captions on Panopto

To support staff with providing captions for video content created in Panopto, all lecture recordings and videos created from 9am on 15 January 2024 onwards will have automated machine generated captions applied by default.  Staff may switch this function off if required.  Further details may be found in the QuickGuide for staff on the Accessibility of Video.

Course Accessibility Statement

Staff should include an accessibility statement in their course guides, or add it as an Ultra document, in their course area in MyAberdeen such as:  “Please note: All captions are automatically generated on lecture recordings.  If you are struggling to understand the automatic captions, contact accessible-elearning@abdn.ac.uk stating which course and lectures you are referring to.”  Guidance about providing a more comprehensive course accessibility statement is available in our guide.

Course Readiness

Is your course area on MyAberdeen ready for the start of term?  If you are a Course Coordinator, please follow the guidance on how to add additional teaching staff to your course.  Additional teaching staff are usually enrolled with the role of “Lecturer”.  Our course readiness checklist is designed to help all teaching staff prepare for start of term.  A record of the recent updates to MyAberdeen is available on our StaffNet page News and Updates. For a full overview of the eLearning support and resources available to staff, please visit the Key Resources page on MyAberdeen.

MyAberdeen Enhancements – January 2024

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online.

• AI Design Assistant
• Assign Submissions to Graders improvements
• Total & Weighted Calculations
• Attempt logs for enhanced assessment integrity
• Grade visible to students in Gradebook when item is hidden by release conditions
• Batch Edit: Change to specific date and/or time
• Enhanced Grid View
• Category Information on the Gradable Items Page

MyAberdeen Enhancements for December 2023

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen. Further information about the latest update is available for December online.

• Additional image insertion options
• Group assessment due date exceptions
• Large rubric support
• Prevent students from earning full credit when selecting all answers choices on a multi-select question with partial credit
• Sorting controls on Students tab
• Grid view sorting controls
• Automatic zero gradebook improvement

MyAberdeen: Flexible Grading Interface

MyAberdeen User Group, you may have noticed that the grading interface has changed quite a bit over the last few months in MyAberdeen. Blackboard would love to hear your feedback, so if you could spare a few minutes of your time to share your experiences and thoughts, then do complete their New Grading Experience: Feedback Sign Up form.

MyAberdeen Enhancements - November 2023

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen. Further information about the latest update is available online.

• Option to Insert Images
• Matching Question
• Student Submission Receipt
• Anonymous Grading in Flexible Grading View
• File-Based Assignment Submissions

MyAberdeen Enhancements for October 2023

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available for October online.

• Unsplash Stock Images for Courses
• SafeAssign Direct Submit
• Assign Submissions to Graders
• Partial credit auto-distribution for correct answers for Multiple Choice questions
• Send Reminder from Gradebook list and grid views
• Last access course alert default set to 15 days

Respondus Lock Down Browser

Respondus Lock Down Browser was activated to allow tests/assignments to be delivered via a lockdown browser through MyAberdeen.

Buddycheck: Peer Evaluation of Group Work

Buddycheck allows a more equitable experience for students working within groups, as the software allows the evaluation of your fellow students in a group working scenario.

Leganto Reading Lists

As well as linking to the Leganto Reading List in MyAberdeen you can also embed links to specific items and sections of your reading list, using 'tools, reading list - embed an item from the list' on MyAberdeen.

Progress Tracking – enabled by default from Thursday 24 August

To provide students with a consistent user experience on MyAberdeen, Progress Tracking will be enabled by default in all courses going forward, including courses in AY 2023-24.  This will allow students to track their progress through the learning material. For example, students will see assignments marked as complete after submission and can manually mark documents as read. Staff can view students’ engagement with learning materials and activities (including assessments) by accessing the Progress tab in a student’s profile (via the class register) or by clicking on the ellipsis (3 dots) to the right of an item and selecting Student Progress.

Management of Panopto Content – in place from Tuesday 22 August

Following changes to Panopto’s business model, the University is now required to pay for the storage of Panopto content. Panopto now has two tiers of video storage - live video which can be viewed immediately, and archived videos where access can be requested by viewers clicking on the player. More details can be found on the How to Restore Archived Content page. This retrieval can take up to 48 hours.

Therefore, from this academic year going forward, the following automatic retention rules will be implemented within Panopto to manage the storage of older content.

• MyAberdeen Course Folders Policy - This will affect videos in MyAberdeen course folders:
  • Archive – videos older than 3 years, that have not been viewed in the last 1 year will be archived.  Content that has been archived is available to play but may take up to 48 hours.   
• Site Wide Policy - This is the default policy for all other videos:
  • Archive – videos older than 5 years, that have not been viewed in the last 1 year will be archived.  Content that has been archived is available to play but may take up to 48 hours.  

Archival policies will run automatically on the site. Retrieval from archive will occur based on request as indicated in the above link.

If you have old videos you want to retain, accessing and playing the video will prevent it from being archived.

MyAberdeen and OneDrive Files

Option to embed files from OneDrive and create collaborative documents, following the integration of OneDrive into MyAberdeen. A key feature of this integration is the ability to provide a Microsoft OneDrive collaborative document (Word, Excel or PowerPoint) in a course which students can participate and engage with online together.

MS Teams integration with MyAberdeen

In AY 2024-25 we plan on replacing Class Collaborate with MS Teams as the web conferencing tool within MyAberdeen course areas. We are therefore keen to work with early adopters of the integration between MS Teams and MyAberdeen. The integration creates a new Teams area, provides a link from your course area to the Teams environment, enrols your students and allows staff to easily invite users from your course area to a Teams meeting.  If you are interested in being involved, please email eLearning@abdn.ac.uk.

MyAberdeen Enhancements for July and August

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available for July and August online.

• Flexible Grading View - read about this new flexible grading interface or watch a 5 min video about it.
• Send reminders to non-submitters for anonymously graded assessments
• Formative label and Gradebook filter
• Partial and negative credit improvements for the Multiple Choice / Multiple Select question type
• Add exceptions for anonymously graded assessments
• Complete/incomplete grade schema
• Start, Continue, and View Assessment options and file submission update
• Progress Tracking and Start / Continue / Completed options for Learning Modules
• Learning Module image
• Unread Message indicator
• Students with alerts flags in the Course Activity Report
• Group Messaging improvements
• Groups in the top navigation bar and Group Spaces
• Ultra Accessibility Checker

Staff Update

Congratulations to our colleague Megan Buchanan for completing her two year Graduate Trainee programme.  Megan will continue working in CAD, but now as an eLearning Adviser.

Award for Designing and Tutoring Online Courses

eLearning team are extremely proud to achieve an Exemplary Course Progam (ECP) award for our Designing and Tutoring Online Course (DTOC).  The winners are selected by peers in the international education community and recognises instructors and course designers whose courses demonstrate best practice. The award recognises courses that demonstrate best practices in four major areas: Course Design, Interaction & Collaboration, Assessment and Learner Support.

Removal from MyAberdeen of Academic Year 2020/21 and Deletion of Collaborate Recordings for AY 2020/21

In accordance with University policy, course areas associated with the Academic Year 2020/21 will be removed from MyAberdeen at 5 pm on Tuesday 1 August 2023.  Please download any material from 2020/21 courses that you wish to retain.  Please note that Collaborate Recordings for AY 2020/21 will be deleted shortly after the courses are removed from MyAberdeen. If you wish to retain Collaborate recordings from AY 2020/21, please download the recording and upload it to Panopto.

Reviewing our Staff Development Offerings from the Centre for Academic Development

The Centre for Academic Development is reviewing their events and workshops and would really appreciate your input and suggestions about possible future sessions that could be offered to staff.  Please do complete the very short survey entitled ‘CAD Staff Development Review’ to help collate responses for future offerings.

MyAberdeen Enhancements for May and June

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available for May and June online.

• Grading Attempt Selector Improvements
• Prevent Backtracking in Tests with Page Breaks
• Add Exemptions via the Gradebook Grid View
• Rubrics Improvements
• Send Messages from the Submissions Page
• Add Exemptions for Anonymous Assessments
• Upload questions from a file to test and assignments
• Anonymous Grading of Tests
• Add Exceptions from the Gradebook Grid View and the Student Overview Page
• Course Links Improvements
• Announcements in the Top Navigation Bar

Staff Update

The eLearning team would like to pass on our thanks and best wishes for the future to Kristina Benedikova who leaves us after 2 years to further her studies. 

MyAberdeen Enhancements April 2023

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online.

• Submission Page Sorting Controls
• Gradable Items View Usability Improvements
• Hotspot Question – Circle Shape and Usability Improvements
• Discussion Navigation Improvements
• Accessibility Improvements to Course Activity Report
• Student Progress Reports Update
• New Access points for Student Overview
• Course Content Title Search
   

Deletion of Turnitin Papers

If staff need to remove a submission from the Turnitin inbox, there are two options available: to remove from the inbox – this is sufficient in most cases - or request permanent deletion.  The option to remove a submission from the inbox will allow a student to resubmit without a match in the similarity report, for example if a student has simply submitted the wrong file.  Their second submission will automatically be filtered out of the similarity report and not be listed as a match, provided it is submitted to the same assignment.  Removing from the inbox is quicker as the option to delete permanently from the Turnitin database requires approval from the eLearning team, taking up to one week.   Requests for submissions to be permanently would only normally be required where perhaps confidential data has been submitted in error.  More information is available on the Turnitin help pages.

Upcoming Staff Development Events

• Discussion Panel: AI, ChatGPT and Implications for HE and Assessment – Thursday 9th March 1pm
• Digitally Enhanced Education Webinar – Wednesday 15th March 2pm (External event)
  • If you are unable to attend the internal discussion on the 9th March or you would like to hear perspectives from another HEI, you may wish to join this session hosted by the University of Kent.

MyAberdeen Enhancements

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online.

• Switching Between Multiple Attempts in Assessments
• Sorting Anonymous Assignments
• GradeBook Sorting
• Data and Analytics
• PDF Version of the SafeAssign Originality Report
• Deactivate Discussion Post Activity

Panopto Automatic Captions at Folder Level

To enable greater efficiency when captioning multiple videos, staff can now set automatic captioning to be applied to new videos by default at folder level.  Any new video added to this folder will automatically have captions generated, ready for correcting.  Enabling this option will not affect videos already in the folder.  To enable this option, follow these steps:

1. Open the Panopto folder
2. Select Folder Settings (cog wheel icon top right)
3. Select Settings
4. Under Captions, choose Automatic Machine Captions from the drop down menu

MyAberdeen Enhancements

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online.

• Improvements to Hotspot Question – Polygon Shapes for Greater Accuracy
• Sort Gradable Items
• Student Gradebook Sorting
• Show Course Group Members
• Progress Tracking:  Hidden Content Now In Report
• Progress Tracking - Ally Alternative Formats Tracked
• Mobile App - Full Profile Now Visible
• Extra Credit Questions
• Exemptions

Staff Update

Congratulations to our colleague Craig Stewart for completing his two year Graduate Trainee programme.  Craig will continue working in CAD, but now as an eLearning Adviser.

Is Your Course Ready for the Start of Term? 

New staff might be interested in our videos on the MyAberdeen Staff Toolkit.  These have been updated to focus on the Ultra course view and to reflect recent updates. If you are a Course Coordinator, please follow the guidance on how to add additional teaching staff to your course and how to make your course available. Additional teaching staff are usually enrolled with the role of “Lecturer”. The “Course Coordinator” role should only be used by Course Coordinator(s). Our course readiness checklist has been updated to help all teaching staff prepare for start of term.   

Support Available for Improving MyAberdeen User Experience 

Do you need help with ensuring that your course materials are accessible to all students, including those with disabilities or specific learning differences? If so, the eLearning team are offering a new Course Accessibility Service for Course Coordinators, which will provide you with additional resource to enhance the accessibility of learning materials on MyAberdeen - both to improve the student experience and to aid compliance with digital accessibility regulations. More information about the Course Accessibility Service. 

Upcoming Workshops 

A range of workshops by eLearning are being offered for the start of term, see course booking for further information. 

Pilot of MS Teams integration with MyAberdeen 

We are piloting an integration between MS Teams and MyAberdeen. The integration creates a new Teams area, provides a link from your course area to the Teams environment, enrols your students and allows staff to easily invite users from your course area to a Teams meeting. If you are interested in being involved, please email eLearning@abdn.ac.uk marked for the attention of Gavin Innes.  

Feedback on the Inclusivity and Accessibility in Education Framework 

We are gathering feedback on the Inclusivity and Accessibility in Education Framework and its usefulness in terms of day-to-day practice. We would appreciate if you could fill out our feedback form to share your thoughts and any suggestions you have.  

MyAberdeen Enhancements 

Please find below some notable enhancements to MyAberdeen.  Further information about the latest update is available online. 

• View and edit grades for anonymous submissions prior to posting 
• Essay Question Model Answer 
• Non-posted grades included in Grade History 
• Test Question and Page Randomisation 
• Progress Tracking: Status and filters for group submissions 
• Bb Annotate: Create categories inside the content library 
• Show icons for Turnitin Gradebook and Grades 
• Discussions – No Activity After Due Date 
• Improvements to Messages recipient types by course role 
• Blackboard Collaborate is now known as Class Collaborate, still the same product, just under new ownership. 
• Mobile View: Expand and Collapse Course Faculty and Details & Actions sections