Category: Welcome 2026

Making the most of Starting Block 2026 🥳

Author Student Communications | Posted on

You’re here – you did it! We get how daunting it can feel once you’ve waved your parents off and you’re all moved in, often on your own for the first time. But don’t worry, this next chapter is going to be a good one and we’ve got you! 

Feeling nervous or unsure about things during the first few weeks at university is expected and very common. Everyone’s heard of Freshers as a great way to meet your peers and celebrate the start of your uni adventure. At UWE Bristol, we also have Starting Block, a fortnight of events and activities during September to help you get settled and make sure you have the best start to university life. 

What to expect during Starting Block

Starting Block is tailored to your programme and gives you a chance to get to know your campus, meet the academic team and other students on the programme. It’s a time you’ll become part of the UWE Bristol community. And this year, we’re going BIG with a festival đźĄłđź™ŚđźŹĽ 

But before you get too excited, below are some things you still need to do before attending Starting Block: 

  • Log in to Blackboard
  • Complete enrolment in MYUWE and view your timetable to see where you need to be and when
  • Check your journey to campus and factor in travel time
  • Enjoy Starting Block!

Your programme team will provide you with an experience that is exciting, meaningful and completely tailored to your course. Throughout Starting Block, they will host activities and events to: 

  • Help you understand the structure of your programme, such as key course dates and assessment methods
  • Show you your programme-specific facilities, such as labs or studios
  • Provide a tour of campus spaces that are relevant to your studies
  • Make sure you understand all the digital tools you’ll be using as part of your programme
  • Take you through our foundation blocks – these are core elements to being a student at UWE Bristol.

Activity may include tours of Bristol, group challenges, taster events, quizzes, plus much more!

Hear from Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science graduate and UWE Bristol alumni, Laura, about her experience of Starting Block:

So, what’re you waiting for? Start strong and let’s go!

Get a head start using Microsoft Teams

Author Student Communications | Posted on

As part of your learning at UWE Bristol, you’ll be using a mixture of Microsoft Teams and Blackboard, and it will be up to the academic team to decide what works best for your programme.  

You’ll have programme and module pages on Blackboard, but you may be asked to use Teams either in class or in your own time for activities such as group work, discussion boards, presentations or quizzes. Teams will also be the platform for any virtual lectures or teaching sessions.

Don’t panic –there is plenty of support on how to use Teams and teaching staff can point you in the direction of appropriate support. You don’t need to create a new account to use Teams, you just use your UWE username and password. To get a head start, you can check out our Using Microsoft Teams on the Study Skills section of our website. There’s also some great online tutorials that walk you through step-by-step:

You’ll also have access to the LinkedIn Learning library of video courses, and if you have any technical issues, you can contact IT Services. If you have other questions such as how to download the Teams app, then you may find our Study Support pages useful. 

Benefits of using MS Teams

We’ve researched the best ways to help you learn and we believe that Teams has so many advantages over other platforms, including: 

  • It’s universal – Teams is used in so many workplaces across the world, so getting familiar with it now will allow you to gain useful experience for life after graduation.
  • It is designed for collaboration, and will help you work with your peers by sharing files, meeting online and sending chat messages.
  • It comes with a range of tools to help you manage your work, both individually and as a group, such as planners and notebooks.
  • You can use whiteboards, surveys and quizzes, and other apps that integrate with Teams, so you can learn in a way that works for you.
  • It has a number of accessibility features, including Immersive Reader, which is great tool for students with additional needs.

Important note if you go on placement

If you’re going to be heading out on placement, you may need to manage two Teams accounts at the same time – one for UWE and one for your employer. This is pretty straightforward. You just need to log into one site via the desktop app and the other through a browser window. You can read up on this closer to the time, but just something to bear in mind.

Playing by the rules

As always, there are a few ground rules we need you to follow when using Teams, just so we can make sure everyone is safe and happy online.

  • Be respectful to each other.
  • Don’t share other people’s photos or personal data without their consent.
  • Don’t try to pass others’ work off as your own. Even in an informal setting, it is good practice to reference where you have used other people’s work. See UWE guides to referencing and avoiding plagiarism.
  • Always act in accordance with the Student Conduct Policy.

If you find out that Teams is not being used in your programme and you would like it to be, then contact the module’s teaching staff for more information. 

And if, once your modules start, you’re not really sure what you’re supposed to be doing, then get in touch with your tutor or module leader who will be more than happy to support. 

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