ALT

By Jon Chandler (UCL) and Jamie Wood (University of Lincoln)

Much of the debate about generative AI in higher education has focused on the “death of the essay” and whether machines will make independent research and deep reading redundant. These concerns are particularly strong in the Humanities and Social Sciences, where essay writing has long been a central part of the learning process. But the real issue is not that AI has destroyed traditional forms of learning; it’s that we already lacked robust ways to teach students how to read and write effectively in digital spaces. 

Shortly before ChatGPT entered public consciousness in late 2022, we completed a QAA-funded project, Active Online Reading (AOR), that explored how students read online for their studies and how universities supported them to do so. We wanted to find out what students did when reading online and what pedagogies worked. We discovered that student practice varied greatly, that many struggled with reading online and that approaches to teaching students to read digitally in online spaces were not particularly well developed. 

Generative AI only intensifies these challenges. It increasingly mediates students’ encounters with texts by outsourcing processes of summarisation, annotation, and note-taking which are crucial stages of the “reading into writing” process. If students rely on AI to “read” for them, how can we assess genuine comprehension or critical engagement? As we argued in AOR, strategies such as collaborative annotation and structured scaffolding of digital reading can help develop students’ skills as online readers. These approaches foreground transparency, reflection, and peer interaction, which are the very qualities we need to develop among our students if they are to engage critically with AI.

Our AOR research also identified several worrying disjunctions. 

1. Academics recognised that online reading is vital for learning within their discipline, but few of them devoted much time to helping students learn how to do it effectively.
2. Support was available, but it tended to sit within study skills or library teams, often disconnected from core degree programmes.
3. Students reported that the move to university was accompanied by often unexpected difficulty in reading, but this was rarely acknowledged or addressed in transition modules.

We recommended closer collaboration between academics and skills development and library teams, more attention to transition, in particular a greater understanding of how students are taught to read before they arrive at university, and more sustained thinking about the specific skills that are necessary for reading online. This more integrated approach should, we believe, be adopted when we think about AI. Rather than focusing solely on preventing misuse, we should ask: Why do students turn to AI? How do they use it? What works and what doesn’t? And what specific skills do the need to use is more critically? 

Our research that we will be presenting at ALT-C 2025 suggests that students tend to over-rate their own skills as AI users while judging their peers as ineffective and uncritical. This suggests a potential mismatch between perception and practice, which can only be addressed by careful and transparent teaching.The core skills that degrees in the Humanities and Social Sciences have long cultivated – analytical thinking, deep reading, independent research, critical reflection, and problem-solving – remain crucial to informed engagement with (or disengagement from) AI. Neglecting these basics potentially undermines students’ ability to engage productively with a whole host of digital tools, of which generative AI is just the most prominent and recent example. The frameworks for cultivating reading practices that we identified in AOR are both human-centred and digitally literate, and can potentially help students navigate a world where reading is increasingly mediated by machines, but still fundamentally a social and intellectual act.

ALT’s Annual Conference is one of the UK’s largest conferences for learning technology and digital education professionals. The conference provides a valuable and practical forum for practitioners, researchers, managers and policy-makers from education and industry to solve problems, explore, reflect, influence and learn.

ALTC25 will take place in Glasgow on 23 and 24 October 2025.  Register closes 20 October 2025.

The 2nd annual UK Women in Tech Week is taking place on 13-17 October. This nationwide initiative celebrates the impact of women across the tech industry. Focused on career growth, networking, and innovation, this event continues to champion equality and empower women in the tech industry.

This #WomenInTechWeek, we’re celebrating three pioneering women whose contributions laid the foundation for modern computing and digital education. As AI reshapes the future of learning, members of the ALT community stand poised to become the next generation of trailblazers.

Here’s to the trailblazers!

Ada Lovelace (1815–1852)

Often regarded as one of the world’s first computer programmers, Ada Lovelace worked with Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine and wrote the first algorithm intended for machine processing. Her visionary thinking imagined computers as tools for creativity, not just calculation.

“The more I study, the more insatiable do I feel my genius for it to be.” – Ada Lovelace

Grace Hopper (1906–1992)

A pioneering computer scientist and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, Hopper developed the first compiler and played a key role in the creation of COBOL, one of the earliest high-level programming languages. She was a tireless advocate for making computing accessible and intuitive.

“The most dangerous phrase in the language is, ‘We’ve always done it this way’.” – Grace Hopper

Mary Allen Wilkes (b. 1937)

A software engineer and computer scientist, Wilkes is best known for her work on the LINC computer, considered one of the first personal computers. She was also the first person to use a PC in a home setting, challenging norms and expanding the possibilities of computing.

“I never thought of myself as a pioneer. I just did the work that was in front of me.” – Mary Allen Wilkes

Inspired by the remarkable legacies spotlighted during Women in Tech Week, we’re reminded of the trailblazers who continue to redefine what’s possible in digital education. Their journeys inspire us to imagine our own role in shaping a future where ethical AI, inclusive design, and creative pedagogy thrive.

In a world of rapid change and digital complexity, the ALT Annual Conference 2025 offers a space to take purposeful action. Join us in Glasgow next week to explore how strong digital foundations can unlock bold, inclusive, and imaginative possibilities for learning.

The highlight of the week? The announcement of the 2025 ALT Award winners on 23 October. Be there to celebrate the innovators who are lighting the way.

Let’s honour the past, shape the future, and celebrate together.

ALT is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for professionals in Further and Higher Education to deepen their understanding of digital accessibility.

By Dominic Pates

2025 marks the fifth anniversary of ALTc Radio as a unique fringe event that runs alongside the main annual conference.

The radio component was born in the first 2020 Covid lockdown, when ALT ran a version of the annual conference online and I donated a radio platform for after-hours entertainment (full origin story here). ALTc Radio continued as an online only broadcast add-on to the main event for a few more conferences. At Warwick in 2023, we experimented with adding a radio layer to the entire conference. This year in Glasgow will be the third consecutive year of running a full hybrid parallel programme from one of the conference venues. 

Basing the station at the conference venue fuses the music and chat with the buzz of the in-person event but also ensures that those nowhere near can still get a feeling of participation in ALTc from a distance. Starting with four new learning technologist DJs in 2020 over two hours for the 2020 Summer Summit, by 2024 ALTc Radio welcomed 20 new voices onto the air, racked up 43 hours of unique programming and gained over 1,500 unique listens. Over 40 members of the learning technology community have now made individual, collective and in some cases repeated contributions to ALTc via this novel medium.

At its core, ALTc Radio is a vehicle for sharing and reflecting on professional practice within and beyond the learning technology community, somewhat different from regular outlets like presentations, journal articles, workshops and social media posts. Since 2024, a 60-minute radio show has been included as part of the calls for proposals when ALT seeks contributions for the conference.

It is also a means of bringing a musical layer to this community and to provide a sense of what learning technology sounds like. Unsurprisingly, the learning technology community sounds highly eclectic! The hybrid format for the station at the in-person conferences mean that there is a physical booth at the conference and that the sessions are a mix of live in-person, live online and pre-recorded, with the whole programme being simulcast throughout the conference venue and live for free over the web.

Some of those that made their debuts with us on ALTc Radio have gone on to become regular presenters on The Thursday Night Show (TTNS), the show’s weekly parent platform. You can hear many of them, along with a host of familiar and new voices this year as ALTc Radio sends out our first signals from Scotland. 

Below are a few testimonials from those that were part of the programme in 2024:

I found using the music as a prompt for talking about people’s practice worked very well – not only did it give them a different lens to reflect on it through…but it also got them talking because they were enthused by their music.

It was a great way to share the research that we have been doing as a group, joining this up to careful music choices allowed to showcase our range of emotions in completing the research alongside the research itself, humanising the work that we have been doing.

I couldn’t make it to ALTc in person this year but being part of the radio programme allowed me to still feel part of the conference. I loved being able to tune into the other shows and hear the discussions there as well as being able to join the social media chats.

What’s happened with ALTc Radio since Manchester 2024? Plenty, it turns out. 

Aside from a month of rewinds of shows from that event to kick off 2025 with, we also branched out with another live event in February to bring a radio broadcast from a local chapter of the global Critical Studies in Educational Technology (CSET) series. CSET 2025 was a collection of over 50 events happening around the world based around the common theme of ‘problematising education and digital technology’, co-ordinated by Monash University’s Prof Neil Selwyn. ALTc Radio broadcast a show from University of the Arts London, live streaming the main event speakers and providing sets of related music in between.

We were delighted to be recipient of a Jisc Community Champion Award at Digifest in March, in the Community Pioneers category. And in May, ALTc Radio was the subject of an #LTHEchat, the weekly ‘speed CPD’ social media chat event that now runs on Bluesky (prompt blog post here). Following are summaries of the kinds of responses that people gave to some of the chat questions.

The event started by asking what music helps people to get in the zone for professional contexts such as teaching, training, presenting, or writing. Many opt for instrumental music when writing to avoid lyrical distraction, with popular choices including ambient or classical music, film soundtracks, and lo-fi beats. Jazz got several mentions, while others swore by liquid drum and bass or techno for maintaining concentration. Interestingly, some favoured high-energy options like northern soul or feel-good classics from the 60s and 70s, whilst marking work called for everything from Beethoven piano sonatas to hard trance. 

Another question asked for examples of music being used to effectively support or enhance teaching and learning. People shared stories of ‘walk-on’ tracks marking the start of lectures, playlists co-created with students, and songs used to teach language, rhythm, or mood. Subject-specific choices to enhance atmosphere were given, such as the Gladiator theme for Roman history lectures. Language teachers employed song lyrics to teach grammar and vocabulary, and make concepts stick memorably. Music was used to create atmosphere, aid focus, or simply make sessions more human. However, multiple voices also cautioned about accessibility and neurodivergent considerations, noting that background music can be overwhelming or distracting for some learners.

How did people feel about music being a component of CPD activities? Responses were cautiously positive and emphasised the importance of thoughtful implementation. When done well and placed strategically, people thought that music can enhance conferences and workshops – as entrance music, during breaks, or as part of icebreaker activities. Several appreciated music filling silence as participants join online events. There was noticeable concern about inclusivity too, such as background music during sessions creating barriers for those with hearing loss or auditory processing disorders.

We also asked what respondents thought radio could bring as a medium for CPD and the sharing of professional practice. People felt that radio offers a unique blend of immediacy, intimacy, and community. Unlike podcasts, there was a sense that live radio can foster a sense of shared experience and belonging. The audio-only format easily allows for simultaneous listening and note-taking. For others, it was seen as an accessible, low-barrier medium, ideal for multitasking and reflection.

So, come and find the radio booth and say hello if you’re in Glasgow or just join us in the chatroom if you’re online only. And if you can’t wait to get stuck in, here’s a playlist that was hurriedly put together during the #LTHEchat that reflects some of the broad range of what learning technology sounds like:

#LTHEchat playlist (music and radio)

ALT’s Annual Conference is one of the UK’s largest conferences for learning technology and digital education professionals. The conference provides a valuable and practical forum for practitioners, researchers, managers and policy-makers from education and industry to solve problems, explore, reflect, influence and learn.

ALTC25 will take place in Glasgow on 23 and 24 October 2025.  Register closes 20 October 2025.

Come along to our Unconference where you set the agenda!

This is your chance to bring along the topics - big or small - that you would like to discuss with the group. This will be an informal event but will be roughly along these lines:

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee and add your topics

11:00 -11:30 Welcome and scheduling

11:30 - 12:30 2 Attendee lead/chosen sessions

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 2:30 2 Attendee lead/chosen sessions

2:30 - 3:00 Summary

3:00 - Drinks and/or shopping!

We are excited to announce an upcoming interactive workshop that will delve into two critical lenses of reflection from the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model, developed by AbilityNet and McNaught Consultancy. This workshop is designed specifically for HE and FE institutions looking to enhance their digital accessibility strategies and practices.

The workshop will be facilitated by Amy Low from AbilityNet, Julian Tenney from University of Nottingham and Ben Watson from UCL. Julian will bring his experience of using the maturity model to develop and mature practices at Nottingham and Ben will provide insights on the robust procurement guidance developed by himself and George Rhodes from University of Westminster who is also Ben’s business partner at AllAble.

During the workshop, we will focus on the Strategy and Structure lens, where we will explore evidence points that support the development and implementation of effective digital accessibility strategies that align with your institution's goals and objectives. We will also discuss the importance of having a well-defined and resourced structure to support these strategies and ensure their successful execution.

In addition, we will examine the Governance and Accessibility Toolkit lens. This session will review initiatives and evidence points that signal robust governance frameworks are in place and practical tools being provided to manage and monitor your institution's digital accessibility efforts including implementing a robust procurement policy. By leveraging these resources, you can ensure compliance with accessibility standards and create an inclusive digital environment for all users.

The workshop will be highly interactive, with opportunities for participants to engage in discussions, share experiences, and collaborate on best practices. Whether you are just starting your digital accessibility journey or looking to refine your existing approaches, this workshop will offer valuable insights and actionable takeaways.

 

We’re delighted to announce the launch of the Online Programmes Special Interest Group (SIG). 

By Keith Smyth, Chair of ALT’s Board of Trustees

When the ALT Annual Conference was last held in Scotland, at the University of Edinburgh in September 2019, we were unknowingly a few short months away from the world suddenly becoming a more precarious place. For education, the challenges brought forth by the global pandemic included the emergency move to fully online learning and teaching, the strive for equity of support for students who were now studying at home, and the continued diversification of digitally enabled practices during and beyond the lockdown period.

ALT, our membership community, and the wider communities we represent were at the forefront of responding to and shaping effective, evidence-based approaches to digital education within and following the pandemic. This we achieved and continue to achieve collectively and creatively, through critical consideration and reflection on current and emergent factors and developments. This includes the advent and subsequent championing and corresponding concern with Generative Artificial Intelligence, and within which context ALT has sought to facilitate a critically-focused scrutiny of what GAI does and does not offer education, including though this year’s OER25 Conference in June – on the topic of ‘Speaking Truth to Power: Open Education and AI in the Age of Populism’ – and September’s online follow-up event Open Education, AI, and Populism – Revisited.

Given the developments of the past few years, how fitting and fantastic it is, then, that this year’s ALT Annual Conference 2025 is returning to Scotland under the theme of ‘Stronger Foundations, Broader Horizons’, and with key sub-themes including:

• Back to Basics: Reclaiming the Core
• Digital by Design: People, Empathy, and Experience
• Learning in Motion: Connecting Pathways, People, and Places 
• Critical Imagination: Questioning and Creating in Digital Spaces
• and the wildcard sub-theme, which for this year is ‘Innovation from the Margins’

In a continued time of uncertainty, the conference promises to explore the above themes with a focus on how robust digital foundations can empower more expansive, inclusive, and imaginative possibilities, to shape a more connected and equitable digital future. 

Helmed by three excellent co-chairs in Laura Milne, Emily Nordmann and Joe Wilson, and with invited keynote sessions by Charles Knight, Gabi Witthaus and our Student Panel – who will be tackling the topic of ‘Beyond the Myth of the Digital Native’ – it is clear that the conference programme will be delivering, and then some, on the above promise.

In returning to Scotland for the first time since 2019, the ALT Annual Conference is also coming to Glasgow for the very first time, and many will say (including this born and bred Edinburgher) that this is very long overdue. 

Glasgow is a vital, socially and culturally rich, politically active city that is not only recognised as a seat of higher and further education, but has also been at the forefront of progressing access to informal, lifelong and life-wide learning including in community and workers’ rights contexts. Glasgow has also long been a locus of activity and commitment in relation to the work of ALT, and the home city to many of ALT’s most active members, leaders and trustees past and present. This includes Joe Wilson, convenor of the ALT Scotland group and one of two Glasgow-based co-chairs for this year’s conference alongside Emily Nordmann, with Joe and Emily co-chairing alongside Laura Milne from the University of Chester. 

In his recent blog post about ALTC 2025, Joe observed how this year’s conference, in addition to coming to Glasgow for the first occasion, sees another first for the ALT annual conference. This is in scheduling the annual conference for a time that is friendlier for colleagues who work in our colleges in the Further Education sector. This marks one of a number of current directions in which ALT as a membership association and charity is moving to further diversify our activities, and be as inclusive as possible with respect to our membership and the wider learning technology and digital education practice community.

In welcoming learning technologists and those working in wider relevant roles from across and beyond the UK to the ALT Annual Conference 2025, we hope to also be welcoming yourself to what we know will be a brilliant two days in one of the world’s finest cities. A full Scottish and Glasgow welcome awaits, including music and dancing at the Ceilidh that will feature at the conference Awards dinner. Dancing is optional of course, but either way we’ll be doing all we can to ensure that everyone will go home with a wee spring in their step!

ALT’s Annual Conference is one of the UK’s largest conferences for learning technology and digital education professionals. The conference provides a valuable and practical forum for practitioners, researchers, managers and policy-makers from education and industry to solve problems, explore, reflect, influence and learn.

ALTC25 will take place in Glasgow on 23 and 24 October 2025.  Register closes 20 October 2025.

We’re delighted to mark the first anniversary of Susan Martin as CEO of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). With a fresh perspective and a streamlined staff team, Susan is leading the charge for change, redefining how ALT supports its members and stakeholders. Over the past 12 months, she has been working on overhauling the ALT strategy, bringing fresh insight into ALT’s future direction.

Through close collaboration with the Board of Trustees and a strong focus on community engagement, Susan is positioning ALT to embrace member-led change that responds to both grassroots priorities and the evolving landscape. In this blog profile, Susan reflects on her first year at the helm, her vision for the future, and what continues to inspire her leadership. 

How has your first year as CEO of ALT shaped your perspective on the sector?

The past 12 months have confirmed for me quite how dynamic, exciting and fast-moving (sometimes a little too fast) this sector can be. I’ve been involved in learning technology and digital education in one way or another since 2002, yet being in the ALT CEO role has given me a broader and richer perspective. I’m particularly excited about the diversity of careers that are opening up for people, and the increasing opportunity to move between organisations based in different sectors or have ‘squiggly’ careers.  There are still lots of us that are ‘accidental’ professionals in this space, but there is also an ever-growing body of colleagues who are able to plan out an interesting, enjoyable, productive career working with learning technologies.

What’s your vision for ALT in the years ahead?

We are seeing digital education professionals have an increasingly complex set of balls to juggle: rapidly engage with new or evolving technologies; deploy advanced digital infrastructure and tools to improve learner outcomes; advise senior leadership on the impact (both positive and negative) of learning technologies and the wider tech landscape; become senior leaders of their organisations, and collaborate with a raft of commercial stakeholders in the education and training sectors.  ALT has a mission to support people in all of those roles, and the ongoing work on our new 2025-2030 Strategy (due to be launched towards the end of the year) is focused on ensuring that ALT is well-positioned to continue to be the go-to community for new and existing members. Being a community is our biggest strength and, along with the Board of Trustees, I’m looking at ways to enhance how we work together, communicate with each other and collaborate with those outside of ALT.

How do you see ALT’s role evolving in the wider education and technology landscape?

I think that the greater breadth of adoption of learning tech and increased engagement in digital education means that ALT’s role is becoming more important to a wider group of people, and we’ve seen ALT’s membership broaden to reflect that change.  Our members come from many different types of organisations, and ALT must further develop to support not only its existing members and their organisations, but also ensure that it is an association that can effectively support people who join us from beyond our majority sector of higher education.  We actively embrace members from further education, charities, schools, commercial education and training providers, and those based in the learning and development departments of a whole range of organisations (…and more besides). In fact, anyone who engages professionally with learning technology and digital education. The diversity and richness of membership raises exciting opportunities for collaborative projects, learning from each other and opening up unexpected career paths. 

How do you ensure that member and stakeholder voices are reflected in decision-making?

This is absolutely critical to ensuring that ALT is supporting members now and into the future.  I’m currently working on our new 2025-2030 Strategy with the Board, and engaging members and other stakeholders comes up in all of our conversations.  There are already loads of channels available to us, such as the Assembly,  informal discussions with our networks, social media, sector events and JiscMail groups.  However, I do think it is one of those aspirations where you continually feel that you could do better and always want to dedicate more time to understanding what members and other stakeholders need from the organisation.  I’m always open to ideas and feedback.  Even if we can’t act on member input immediately, we are actively revisiting suggestions as the new strategy develops.

What have been some highlights of your first year?

There are a few that stand out: attending ALTC24 about a week after joining ALT – it was certainly a way of meeting a lot of our members very quickly and left me hoping that a good chunk of my job would involve choosing my favourite music for the Thursday Night Show; introducing ‘The Coffee Break’ sessions, both online and in-person, as an innovation space for members to share their challenges and successes when seeking engagement in new initiatives, and a very recent one is launching the website redevelopment project, something that I hope will start to address many of the issues that members and non-members have with searching out information on our website.  

If you were on a deserted island, what’s the one thing you’d take?

This is such a difficult question.  Lots of very practical things come to mind.  However, the biggest challenge that I’d face is a lack of company. So, although this might be cheating (as the ‘thing’ is living), I’d take my dog, Fenna. She’d be able to practice her hunting and fishing skills, as well as feed me – although she is very likely to eat everything she catches herself.  She always makes me laugh, so that will help make the experience much more enjoyable.

Susan’s first year at ALT has laid important groundwork for what’s to come, and we look forward to seeing how her vision continues to shape the organisation’s future. Her leadership is helping to mould an inclusive and forward-looking future for ALT and the wider learning technology community. If you’ve been inspired by Susan’s journey and want to get more involved with ALT, explore our membership opportunities or reach out to us at enquiries@alt.ac.uk.

Future profiles will feature colleagues involved with Special Interest and Members Groups, CMALT holders, ALT Members, Trustees, assessors, apprentices and ALT staff. If you are a current member of ALT and would be interested in featuring in an upcoming post or want to recommend someone members would be interested in hearing from, please contact us at blog@alt.ac.uk.

 

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ALTC25 - MEET OUR SPONSORS

 

As we get ready to welcome you to ALTC25 [3], we’d like to take a moment
to thank the generous sponsors who are helping make this year’s
conference possible.

Each of our sponsors is bringing their own expertise and energy to ALTC25,
and we encourage you to visit their stands, join their sessions, and
connect with them during the event. They play an important part in shaping
the conversations and innovations happening across our community. [...]

On 17 July 2025, colleagues from across the sector gathered at Chancellors Hall, Senate House, for the ALT M25 Learning Technology Group (LTG) Summer Meeting — our first in-person only event in quite some time. With the theme “Making Digital Life Better for International Students”, the afternoon focused on how learning technologies can create more inclusive, responsive, and culturally aware experiences for students arriving from across the globe.

Here’s a look back at the day’s highlights:

International Students: Digital Access and Experiences in Social & Historical Sciences
(Dr Fiona Harvey, UCL)
Fiona opened the event with a thoughtful exploration of digital access through the lens of UCL’s Social & Historical Sciences faculty. She reminded us that access isn’t just about infrastructure — it’s also about confidence, familiarity with academic and cultural norms, and students’ emotional comfort in digital spaces. She invited attendees to work through real student cases to challenge common assumptions, prompting us to reflect on the more subtle, often overlooked barriers that international students face.

Applying Learning Technology Innovations for Global Online Programmes at Scale
(Dionysis Dimakopoulos, UCL)
Dionysis took us into the design decisions behind UCL’s global online programmes, such as the MSc in Public Health. His session showed how backend systems, visual consistency, and pedagogical clarity come together to support diverse international cohorts. He emphasised that scaling isn’t about “one size fits all” — it’s about designing from the start with flexibility and inclusion in mind.

See Dionysis’ blogpost which includes an expanded version of his talk.

FACILE: Faculty AI Conversation, Investigation and Learning Exchange
(Dr Tim Neumann, UCL, with student co-presenter Nick Wong and Fengyun Tang)
Tim, Nick and Fengyun introduced FACILE, an innovative initiative that brings staff and students together to explore the role of generative AI in learning. Their presentation and panel discussion invited participants to reflect on the appropriate use of AI, transparency, and co-creation in using AI for learning and teaching. You can read more about the student perspective in Fengyun’s LinkedIn post. This was a lively and open session that captured the spirit of co-creation.

Onboarding: Preparing Students for Success
(Samuel Catterall-Young, RCA)
Samuel’s session took the form of an interactive group discussion, where participants explored key challenges international students face during their transition into UK higher education. Rather than presenting a fixed model, he encouraged attendees to collaboratively identify pain points — from VLE access to social disconnection — and suggest strategies to help mitigate them. The session surfaced practical ideas, such as more personalised communications, low-stakes onboarding modules, and early peer support. It was a powerful reminder that co-creating solutions with staff and students can lead to more engaging and meaningful onboarding experiences.

Throughout the day, we heard directly from international students, who generously shared reflections on their digital learning experiences. Their honest insights reminded us why it’s so important to build with — not just for — students.

We closed the event with a heartfelt moment, presenting a thank-you gift to Dr Julie Voce, who stepped down from the steering committee of the Association for Learning Technology M25 Learning Technology Group after 17 years. Julie’s leadership has been a driving force in creating the collaborative, open space we all value. Her contribution has left a lasting legacy, and she will be greatly missed.

Thank you to everyone who joined us. We look forward to continuing the conversation at the Autumn Meeting!

As we get ready to welcome you to ALTC25, we’d like to take a moment to thank the generous sponsors who are helping make this year’s conference possible.

Each of our sponsors is bringing their own expertise and energy to ALTC25, and we encourage you to visit their stands, join their sessions, and connect with them during the event. They play an important part in shaping the conversations and innovations happening across our community.

Hear from Leeds Beckett University’s Digital Learning Service about a project to upgrade the University’s virtual learning environment (MyBeckett) to Blackboard Ultra by the end of summer 2026.

Schools, Subject Areas and Course Teams were invited to register for their preferred upgrade window following an ‘early adoption’ scheme, which enabled the team to gather experiences on supporting the transition and learn how best to facilitate the process at scale. This has enabled us to tailor our support and staff development, building a bank of reusable resources.

With partnership at the heart of this project, this webinar will celebrate and share the collaborative approach taken to balance the need to upgrade against colleagues’ capacity to engage positively with change. We will consider project management, communications, risk, teamwork and lessons learned.

The Digital Learning Service is part of Library and Learning Services at Leeds Beckett University. The team provides phone and email support, colleague development and in-curriculum student sessions, and maintains / enhances digital learning platforms.

CPD Webinar Host: 

   Rianne MacArthur, Digital Learning Service Manager, Leeds Beckett University

 

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MONTHLY ALT NEWS - ISSUE 050, OCTOBER 2025

 

WELCOME TO YOUR MONTHLY NEWS UPDATE FROM THE LEADING PROFESSIONAL BODY FOR
LEARNING TECHNOLOGY IN THE UK.

We support a collaborative community for individuals and organisations from
all sectors, and provide professional recognition and development. Each
month, we will update you on latest news and publications, events,
jobs, and calls for proposals from across the learning technology
community.   [...]

As this is a busy time of year for many colleagues, we are extending the deadline to submit Expressions of Interest for the roles of Vice-Chair or Trustee on ALT’s Board to Monday 3 November 2025 at 9:00 AM. We hope this additional time allows members to fully consider this exciting opportunity to contribute to ALT’s strategic leadership.

By Laura Milne, ALTC25 Co-chair

(especially for conference newcomers) 

When first I heard about ALT, I was amazed – a whole community of people like me, who geek out about the kinds of things I geek out about, and who get excited about the best way to deliver meaningful learning experiences enhanced by technology? These were my people! I had been working as a learning designer for several years in South Africa before relocating to the UK for work, and suddenly my LinkedIn page and twitter feed were filling up with colleagues from other institutions and other sectors sharing their passions, their projects and often their intractable challenges for group input. 

I felt, however, that I was somewhat on the outside of this magical space – unable to quite tap into the community spirit that I could see. That is, until I started being a contributor myself, and building my own network by participating in webinars and attending conferences like ALTc. 

Conferences bring people together 

Conferences are a really powerful way to meet lots of people and dispel some of the awkwardness you  might feel about connecting with others. I like meeting new people, but at times get stuck on the small-talk aspect of it. Conferences help this – you’re co-located (so less awkward than setting up a call with a stranger), you’ve got topics in common – “what did you think about Professor Naidoo’s keynote? I am just buzzing with ideas on how to integrate escape rooms into our induction process!” – and if you’re speaking or presenting your work, you will find some really excellent interlocuters and possible future collaborative partners! 

I admit that I had to overcome my worry that somehow I might be intruding or bothering other delegates, so if this is you, please don’t worry. People will generally be welcoming, and are usually glad that someone else was brave and broke the ice! Remember, people come to conferences intentionally to meet others and network. Though if someone is clearly sitting in a corner with headphones on, it might be best to give them some space; we all need down-time, and some have shorter social batteries than others. 

Sector networks: action groups, spaces to share problems 

Now, what about the rest of the year, when we aren’t all co-located at Warwick or Manchester or Glasgow? Well, some of my best collaborative and supportive relationships have developed out of the sector networks I am involved in, including ALT North West England Members’ Group, the Generative AI Network, Heads of eLearning Forum, and others. These spaces are intentionally created, usually around a special interest or shared feature (location, role or challenge). In some cases, they run webinars for teams to learn from. I can heartily recommend volunteering to present a project at these webinars – such a good way to get external feedback. 

Here are some sector networks and special interest groups that you might be interested in joining: Anti-racism and Learning Technology SIG, Digital Accessibility SIG, ELESIG or Digital Assessment SIG (full list of other SIGs available here); Generative AI Network; Ucisa’s Digital Education Group. It might also be valuable to join some jiscmail listservs, which will give you an insight into some particularly active communities of practice. 

The power of collaboration to bring about meaningful change 

Aside from feeling the warm-fuzzy of community all around you, there are some significant potential benefits to developing your network across the sector. The power of these groups is you will meet people who may be future collaborative partners on exciting projects. These might include funded opportunities (e.g. the QAA Collaborative Development Fund), research, or sector-wide evaluation efforts that help us benchmark our activities, improve our services, and strive for better student experiences with learning technology.  

In some cases, these collaborative relationships can be almost therapeutic – all of us experience the similar start of term stress, or assessment week chaos, or the challenge of a tool behaving in an unexpected way. The vent sessions can be just as important as webinars to keep one another encouraged and moving in the right direction. Perspective is easier to find when you aren’t staring into a chaotic inbox. 

For a digital education leader, sector benchmarking that arises from this kind of collaborative sharing can provide leverage and negotiating power for internal change. While it won’t magically grow budgets, it provides context to senior leadership for impact and efficiency of your own team. It can also help you identify excellent practices in your home context, that you might be taking for granted. I love hearing about colleagues’ innovations where they may not realise how groundbreaking their work actually is – it’s a chance to encourage them to shout about their success, and to set an example for the rest of us. 

Without meaning to be cheesy about it, the ALT community and the broader sector network I am part of has been one of the best aspects of my career so far. I look forward to joining you all at ALTc in a few weeks’ time to share success, hold each other through the challenging times, and celebrate the power of sector networks to make meaningful change. 

ALT’s Annual Conference is one of the UK’s largest conferences for learning technology and digital education professionals. The conference provides a valuable and practical forum for practitioners, researchers, managers and policy-makers from education and industry to solve problems, explore, reflect, influence and learn.

ALTC25 will take place in Glasgow on 23 and 24 October 2025.  Register closes 20 October 2025.

In October 2025, the ALT Annual Conference returns to Scotland for the first time since 2019.

 

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ALTC25 KEYNOTES REVEALED

 

The countdown is on, ALTC25 [4] is just around the corner, and we’re
thrilled to unveil our keynote line-up for the conference on 23–24
October 2025. These sessions bring together bold thinkers and changemakers
in education, technology, inclusion, and leadership, and they promise to
challenge, inspire, and energise. [...]

The countdown is on, ALTC25 is just around the corner, and we’re thrilled to unveil our keynote line-up for the conference on 23–24 October 2025.

Person-centred care (PCC) has become an integral part of health education with many incorporating this into curricula (McCormack et al., 2022). However, PCC can require whole scale revisions of programmes of study, which can lead to difficulties in time and navigating quality processes (Moore et al., 2023). In the UK, continued workforce shortages have led to pressure on health care educators to increase student numbers (NHS England, 2023). This has exacerbated challenges with learning spaces and equipment availability (Powers, 2020) often leading to the introduction of small-scale interventions to increase coverage of PCC without whole scale changes. Digital technology offers potential solutions to these challenges with increasing numbers in health education turning to these approaches (Knudsen Oddvang et al., 2021; Liao et al., 2022).

This article sought to explore the impact of one such small-scale digital toolkit on student confidence and awareness of PCC. Although limited in nature, results indicated positive changes in confidence levels related to PCC overall with a mixed picture when looking at specific aspects. The digital toolkit helped to facilitate discussion related to delivering of PCC and overall provided students with easy access to these resources. A similar intervention may be used for the education of a variety of health care professionals and in support of interprofessional learning (Malone et al., 2022).