...........Experimental Blog

From Ideas to Apps: Rediscovering Creativity Through AI and Vibe Coding

2026-02-24T16:22:00.001+00:00

For most of my working life, I’ve been fascinated by how ideas become real. In the last century, when I taught mass communications and videography, the creative process was equal part excitement and endurance. We storyboarded ambitious scenes, imagined sweeping camera moves, and dreamed complex scenes. But we then we spent hours in the editing suite wrestling with sync, sound, and timing. The gap between what we envisioned and what we produced was often wide, and closing it required patience, skill, and a fair bit of stubbornness. That has since changed has technology moved on.

I followed a similar path with early computing. Tools like WordStar, HyperCard, and QuarkXPress opened new creative possibilities, but they also demanded a working knowledge of code. I spent a lot of time getting to a working if not optimum solution.

When the web arrived in the 1990s, I used those skills to build simple pages for students. But as blogging platforms and user‑friendly tools emerged, the need to hand‑craft everything faded. Even when I later managed large coding projects, I left the actual code to the coders.

Today, that landscape around coding has shifted again and dramatically.

The Rise of Vibe Coding

We are now in an era where AI allows us to be more ambitious than ever. “Vibe coding”, using natural language to shape an application into existence, it represents a genuine paradigm shift. Instead of wrestling with boilerplate or scaffolding, we can focus on the logic, the user experience, and the problem we’re trying to solve. The AI does a lot of the magic and handles the heavy lifting.

If you are automating a manual workflow, prototyping a weekend idea, or simply tidying up a webpage, vibe coding lets you move from concept to working prototype with unbelievable speed. It’s powerful even if you never intend to write a line of code yourself. You can test ideas, explore possibilities, and hand a validated proof‑of‑concept to professional developers when you’re ready. Anyone really can have a go at this.

I’ve been experimenting with this through the Glasgow No Code Initiative, which has taken me “back to college” in the best possible way. While the classes use Replit, I’ve tried a range of tools, and the experience has been both a refresher and a revelation. It's been good too to catch up with some fellow like minds from Glasgow's digital community who have signed up for the course.

Interesting that course has been bought in by Glasgow region - I hope lots of academic and support staff have signed up and are able to deliver future iterations.

I’ve built a simple app that checks a community hall’s availability via Google Calendar and allows users to make a booking, something that would once have required a small team, a long timeline and/or would have cost money if we'd bought an off the shelf tool.

The Golden Rules of Prompting

Regardless of the tool, your results depend on the clarity of your instructions. There are four principles that consistently produce better outputs from tools like Replit , Claude or ChatGPT:

1. Be Clear and Concise

Avoid unnecessary detail. Tell the model exactly what it needs to know.

2. Prioritise Requirements

Put the most important constraints at the top of your prompt. Structure matters.

3. Frame Requests Positively

Tell the AI what to do, not just what to avoid. Positive instructions reduce ambiguity.

4. Use Precise Language

Specificity narrows the “hallucination gap” and leads to more reliable results.

And if the model gets it wrong? Refine your prompt. Iteration is part of the process, just as it always was in the editing suite.

A New Creative Cycle

What excites me most is how familiar this all feels. The tools have changed, but the creative impulse hasn’t. We’re once again at a moment where the imagination leads, and technology follows. The difference now is the speed: the distance between idea and prototype has collapsed.

If I was back in the classroom I'd be showing all learners how to use these tools to develop apps for themselves.

At a very simple level it quickly unpacks how a full stack app is built and how the different files and folders interact. I'd use it as a way to get learners to start understanding coding.

For educators, community builders, and anyone with a spark of curiosity, this is an extraordinary opportunity. If you have an idea, even a small one, give it a go. You might be surprised by how quickly it becomes something real.

And if the Glasgow No Code Initiative runs again, it’s well worth signing up.

TeachmeetBETT26: Twenty Years On and Still the Best Thing in the Room #TeachmeetBett26 #BettUK2026 #ALT #OpenEducation #openscot

2026-02-10T13:43:00.011+00:00

Twenty years. That's how long the Teachmeet movement has been rattling around in classrooms, conference halls, and the odd beermeet event and it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.

The Teachmeet movement started in Scotland in 2006. A group of Scottish teachers who wanted to share practice without the formality and expense of traditional CPD. No budgets, no keynotes charging four figures, no hotel conference suites. Just people who cared about learning, talking to other people who cared about learning.

It spawned from a community around early Scottish Educational bloggers - Scotedublogs ( still going strong). Over years I offered sponsorship and venues when I could - though I did speak at a few and the teachmeet format moved around the world.

But I do think we have stalled a bit in Scotland would be good to see much more grass roots activity.

At the time and now, it is refreshing to hear - fresh voices sharing their challenges and solutions.

For anyone who hasn't come across Teachmeet before, where have you been? The concept is beautifully simple.

Practitioners suggest they will share something useful, interesting or half-baked in two minutes or seven minutes.
These are added to the pot and then selected at random.
No PowerPoint decks full of bullet points.
Perhaps an illustration or something to demo.
They stand up and use their allotted time.
Generally a safe space not usually live streaming.
If you take too long you get a cuddly toy hurled at you.
Audience gets a useful link or idea to take away and look at later.

No consultants selling you something. Just real people doing real things in real classrooms and colleagues, sharing what works and what doesn't.

It's bottom-up professional development at its very best, and in an age where we are drowning in AI-generated content and slick vendor presentations, that authenticity matters more than ever.

What genuinely lifted my spirits at Teachmeet Bett 2026 was seeing new faces embracing the Teachmeet methodology. The audience was a good mix ; teachers, lecturers, learning technologists, people from schools, colleges and universities and the energy in the room was real. That's the thing about Teachmeet. You can't manufacture that energy. It either happens or it doesn't, and on that Wednesday night it absolutely did.

It is simply great staff development.
The presentations are all available here and there's also a lovely tribute to Teachmeet's twenty-year history worth exploring if you want to understand just how far this grassroots movement has come.

I used my two minutes to plug learning design, Open Education #openscot , and membership of ALT. I make no apologies for that. These are things I genuinely believe every college professional working with technology should know about. CMALT in particular remains one of the most underused professional development tools in Scottish further education, and events like Teachmeet are exactly the right place to spread the word.

A challenge

At the end of the night, the challenge went out: organise one. Your college, your school, your academic team , your local authority, your professional network. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be slick. It just has to happen.

I genuinely believe every college in Scotland — every college anywhere — should be running at least one Teachmeet a year. The cost is minimal it can be zero . The return in terms of practitioner confidence, professional community and shared ideas is enormous.

To Scottish teachers and lecturers it is hard making your voices heard but you need to be brave for your learners. Teachmeets and Scotedublogs are great vehicles to share open practice. There is a community you can be part of.

In the background there is some work underway to restate some Teachmeet assets like original wiki to help keep global momentum going.

Hat doffed to all teachmeeters past and present. I am looking forward to meeting future generations.

Twenty years of Teachmeet. Here's to twenty more. Hope to see you at #teachmeetBett27 #tmbett2027

Shaking Up the System: Reflections on the #Edufuturists Roadshow February 2026

2026-02-03T18:41:00.004+00:00

It was fantastic to finally meet the Edufuturists team in person during their UK Roadshow stop in Glasgow on February 2, 2026. The event was held in the pleasant, local surroundings of the Everyman Cinema , it's an excellent, intimate venue for conferences and discussions.

I've followed Edufuturists' rise from afar, and it's genuinely refreshing to see a fresh team challenging the status quo in UK education. Co-hosted by Ben Whitaker (former teacher, IDEAS Guy, podcast host) and Steve Hope (former PE teacher and EdTech CEO), the group is pushing for real revolution in how we support learners and society. Always nice to see some bottom up change makers - we seem to be in a period when we have run out of these in Scotland.
The Highlight: "The Real" David CameronThe standout moment was hearing from "The Real" David Cameron, In my view, still the most realistic and inspirational voice on the state of school education in Scotland. His provocation drew striking parallels between schools and colleges: an ongoing obsession with data measurement at the expense of genuine human relationships and connections at all levels.
I am sure he has done a few, but would be a great speaker for a College Learning and Teaching conference.

The Reality CheckWhile David's analysis of the system's struggles is compelling, it's also deeply depressing. The core message is one of bureaucracy over people, metrics trumping relationships and it's just got worse over my 39 years in education. We know the problems well, yet we're still circling the same discussions.

Networking & TakeawaysThe audience was a fascinating mix of change-makers from public and private sectors, including at least one former HMIE inspector. This created excellent networking opportunities and rich conversations. Great to catch up with some old friends like David and make many new ones.
My key takeaways: Even though Scotland's school system is far less fractured than England's, the deep-rooted challenges remain depressingly similar; the profound impact of poverty and persistently stalling learner satisfaction/engagement while teaching staff increasingly feel under siege.
Rehashed statistics everyone should know - lots of teachers being trained in Scotland but few full time jobs - at same time lots of current teachers and schools leaders want to leave the profession.
Overall, events like this Roadshow (themed "Funding & Efficiency," with free tickets thanks to sponsors like ParentPay Group) are a welcome spark for disruption.
But the persistence of these systemic issues after so many years leaves a sobering reminder that meaningful change is still elusive. Perhaps new agencies etc in Scotland will swiftly solve all of our challenges ? It would be great to see some clearer agendas for actual change.
Cross political parties politicians still really don't get learning and or are unwilling to really change up the offer available in schools and colleges and or in David's thesis empower schools to make more local decisions.
I did a bit to promote CMALT and ALT generally. Teachers need to know that there are structured ways to develop their professional recognition in the learning technology space.
Would be good too to welcome more of these folks in to the ALT community.
For more on the series: Get along to one of their next stops !

Edufuturists Roadshow page (Glasgow details and upcoming stops like Belfast, Cardiff, etc.)
Get an entry in to competition and/or get along to Uprising Conference in Liverpool.

A Week in London #bettuk2026 #bett26 Part Three BETT

2026-01-27T00:25:00.018+00:00

#Bettuk2026 Wed -Friday 21st-23rd January 2026

Here is my usual summary and observations

2nd year at BETT when there were no feet on the ground from Education Scotland. A travel ban apparently. Shame when the biggest educational technology event in the UK is on and senior folks from all major IT companies are in London and not least the UK and international educational community.

It is a bit of a scandal really. Scotland should be on the map at this event. I spotted Wales and Northern Ireland on the UK stands. Great to see EdTech's from schools, colleges, universities and local authorities found the ways and means to get down from Scotland. Education Scotland's sponsoring department please note.

Queen Elizabeth line to Excel continues to be a revelation for travelling to and from venue and opens up possibility of accommodation across London. I stayed initially with my daughter in her student flat over in Deptford and then moved for two nights to an amazing hotel hostel in Rotherhithe. Really brilliant value and proof that you can do BETT on a budget. Made for an interesting free short ferry commute in morning.

It was very much AI every where - some pretty random and some very focused on the challenges discussed over the previous two days. AI can write your essay and mark it. Message really is that assessment has to change and that centres really need to learn about CASE and MCP servers to make most of their data and content.

Bridget Phillipson Secretary of State for Education's address picked up on much I had heard on the two preceding days with OECD and 1Edtech. Good to see her back ( see last year's BETT post) . Highlighting the transformative potential of AI and EdTech to make learning more inclusive, support teachers, and improve outcomes for all learners. Announces new safety standards, new digital skills pathways for teacher training, and a £23 million expansion of the EdTech Testbeds programme to build a strong evidence base for effective tools.

I achieved everything in my original plan and then some.

Squeezed into a smaller area of Excel this year but having spoken to the organisers, more exhibitors and certainly high footfall. Great to have themed stages with keynotes distributed around exhibitors. I spent most of my time in and around FE/HE zone. Still think could do with a bit more from ALT, Jisc , QAA and perhaps some more focus on Colleges and vocational learning.

Great to see many of the Scots who made it down at the Scottish gathering kindly supported by SmartBoards. Good too to get great update on their products. The training and support they give users is first class- liked new mike through smartboard- and still like smartboard mini.

Nice to see more thought on design and layout of the start up zone. Though apologies nothing really fired me up this year.

TeachmeetBett26 on Teachmeet's 20th Anniversary. Many thanks to BETT organisers for super on site support.

I did a two minute plug for learning design , Open Education and for membership of ALT. Thanks too Everway/Texthelp for sponsoring cracking social at 02 Battle Bar and for old pal Dawn Holly-Bone from 2Simple for chairing so well. Was great to see new faces embracing Teachmeet methodology. Presentations here and tribute to Teachmeet history. Every College should hold one at least once a year. Challenge is out to all attendees to organise one.

Here is very quick run down of what caught my eye and attention and some of my chats .

Microsoft - sat through a few sessions to be up to speed with their new roll outs. I didn't go to all of their sessions mainly the What is new session. But you can get all of their sessions here.
Google - Similarly spent some time getting on inside track . Some great sessions on using Notebook LM for research.

I am still really amazed that every College does not have tenancies on both Microsoft and Google platforms. It can be done at no cost, if you know how. Both are promoting a range of new tools within existing licensing costs and the best way to prevent any shadow IT developing.

In main auditorium, teaching and learning theatre and Higher Education theatre - some practical workshops particularly around how AI is changing up operational areas of Colleges and Universities - from data to track skills and employment opportunities , answering phones and even students using vibe coding to create their own booking systems. Had quick coffee and catch up with Paul Mckean and Sue Attewell on Jisc AI work.

Lots of AI with everything sat through presentations and visited some of these stands. Last year Teachermatic was out in the lead for teacher content creation, now everyone is at that game , including Microsoft and Google. More significantly emergence of tools using CASE and MCP.

Many amazing stands - big budget items. The Egyptian Education Authority had built a pyramid.

Lots too on esports - which I still don't quite get. I do get it as a gateway to games development and programming.

VR and AR it is still ClassVR leader of pack and interesting new tools for simulating interviews. Metaverse learning and Body Swaps territory . Think every College should have a class set of VR head sets for appropriate activities.

Liked this juice bar vending machine as an alternative to fizzy drinks.

A few stands that I thought were selling Vapes - were really selling Vape detector systems. A sign of the times.

Great conversations with ClickView , Cisco Training Academies and BodySwaps - it is great to hear they are going from strength to strength. Met some old Spanish friends who do lot around improving data and learning material flows for Colleges and Universities. I spent some time too revisiting C-Learning and their Merlyn Mind product.

Useful conversation with Newcastle College group who are doing the right thing and rolling out CMALT to all of their educational technologists. Follow up conversation with their Rob Wraith on how they manage access and costs around tokenisation in Microsoft Co-Pilot. Basically how they set up permissions and controls so that the institution does not get additional bills. ( this is issue for many institutions moving ahead into this space) So critical that learning technologists and IT work together around this.

Only spotted one awarding body - which may also be sign of times - assessment and certification really need to change.

But back to my theme of week it was really AI with everything - have a look at BrainFreeze stand useful to see they are explaining how their tool uses CASE and MCP.

Sorry to miss a sit down and proper catch up with Vic Boyd and Scott Renton from City of Glasgow College who were around too and many more colleagues from across vocational learning. We will catch up soon.

On way down I spotted a very negative post about BETT from a 'leading' Scottish educational academic who I think has attended one BETT in the past- it was very down on the technological hegemony - but on all technology really.

Yes, lots of selling of fantasies but some really useful learning for all. People make BETT not the technology. Everyone working in learning really needs an understanding of technologies - it is the only way to actually move classroom, institutional and global learning forward. We all need a bit more #openscot.

And a final big thanks for all the hospitality and good company I enjoyed.

My week in London Reports

I miss Wakelet as my tool of choice for summarising events like this.

A Week in London #bettuk2026 #bett26 Part Two 1Edtech Why AI in Learning Needs Standards: Shared Context, Shared Trust , Westminster Hall.

2026-01-26T13:47:00.003+00:00

Tuesday 20th January

1Edtech Why AI in Learning Needs Standards: Shared Context, Shared Trust , Westminster Hall.

It was really useful to get high level OECD view on Monday and technical deep dive from 1Edtech on following day. Open technical standards still drive most of the global developments in technology and learning.

I was a guest of 1Edtech last year too. The event last year had a specific focus on the open badge and other relevant standards. This year the focus was on AI and the place of open standards in the technical stack. I've a book chapter just published on this area. ( more in a later post)

Great presentations and discussion showing how AI can bridge different educational lexicons when it has been trained. The challenge is being confident enough to start this process.

Japan, Korea and France identified as world leaders in adoption of open standards - in terms of national data.
Korea - using AI already to map national competency standards to national qualifications. ( accelerates development process)
Japan - Using the one roster standard to streamline the exchange of educational data between School Information Systems (SIS) and Learning Management Systems (LMS) across the country.
France - Whole sale adoption of open standards to improve learning and data flows across their educational system.

The discussion and debate was unavoidably technical. A lot focussing on what needs to be done to pre-existing content and data to give it context to work well with AI systems.

Useful metaphor - example - the same ingredients can make a Pancake or a Yorkshire pudding. Currently a large language model with no context would not know which one you want.

When you have context. You can do more

You can use an MCP Server - MCP servers are essential for building AI agents that can actually "do" things, rather than just talk about them. It allows multi agentic workflows. MCP is a protocol and a standard , it acts as a "USB-C" connector for AI, allowing models to securely access local files, databases, and third-party services without requiring custom, one-off integrations.

These systems use CASE

A data standard that allows educational institutions, employers, and edtech platforms to exchange competency data in machine-readable formats (JSON).
Purpose: It replaces static, inefficient documents like PDFs or spreadsheets with standardized, digital frameworks that can be easily mapped, searched, and updated.

Key Components:

Frameworks: Digital versions of academic standards or professional competencies.
Items: Machine-readable statements of what a learner should know or be able to do.
GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers):Every standard, skill, or competency is given a unique identifier, ensuring it can be recognized globally across different systems.
Associations: Links that define how competencies relate to each other, such as aligning a local school curriculum with national or international standard.

Why is this useful

In the context of global learning (interconnected education,, sustainability, and international skills), CASE serves several critical functions:
Interoperability for Global Education: As educational institutions operate internationally, CASE allows them to map their curricula, learning outcomes, and assessment rubrics to common global frameworks, facilitating easier student transfer and recognition of skills.
Workforce Competency Mapping: CASE helps define and exchange skills needed for the global economy. It is used in higher education and corporate training to ensure that digital credentials and competency-based learning modules are recognized across different borders and platforms.
Digital Credentialing: It enables the alignment of learning outcomes with micro-credentials and digital badges, allowing a skill earned in one country to be verified and understood by an employer in another.
Reducing Inefficiency: By providing a common, machine-readable language, CASE eliminates the need for manual, error-prone, or time-consuming mapping of learning standards across different systems.

Example used Campus Mind - system can identify where student potentially needs some additional support and can build a personalised course from materials that institution already has across range of repositories including the virtual learning environment.

Microsoft and Google are both building integrations. Jisc standards group moving ahead in UK.

Some examples

Otus - taking data and learning materials from multiple sources.
French Teacher training Moodle platform - AI was used to - re-engineered with standards and context to allow individual training pathways - personalised for teachers. The MCP server can now be used with any learner management system.

Overall and ties in well with OECD work.

Call to move away from general models of AI to local models of AI that capture context etc ( what OECD said)
To move forward all players need increased awareness of the open standards that are already available and ones in development.

To move forward here data needs context added ( AI could help with that). It was great to catch up with Dominik Lukes and a number of like minded old friends.

So what does all this mean at national level.

We really need SQA - Qualifications Scotland to get a move on here. This is much more than end of paper based certification.
More Scottish organisations should have appropriate membership of 1Edtech and I am going to see if I can help with that.
And a final plug anyone interested in these open standards should get along and or get a paper into their upcoming European Conference in Salonika.

At institutional level

AI and MCP services can start bringing your data together securely. You will be using local engine rather than opening up anything. Get a move on.
Make sure you and or any suppliers you use are making most of open standards. Some of this should be hard wired into procurement guidance.

All of the above set up BETT Conference very well, Part 3 to follow.

A Week in London #bettuk2026 #bett26 Part One Pre Bett OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026

2026-01-26T12:55:00.005+00:00

As ever, a very busy week, as the world's clans of educational technologists gather in London in and around BETT.

What was one post has become three posts as each event I attended really worth digging into.

Monday

OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026: Exploring Effective Uses of Generative AI in Education , The Law Society Hall Chancery Lane

The event was to launch the OECD recent research paper. It was good to meet some old chums from the European policy landscape.

It was great too to have an update from the Education Department's Susan Acland-Hood, who was confident and on the ball , reporting on the AI test beds happening in English schools that are all exploring the possible.

This including a content store, a repository of documents, such as curriculum guidance and anonymized pupil assessments, to train AI models for better educational outputs.

The key bit of all of this is criticality of developing local models

"Launched in May 2025 with £3 million in funding, pools and encodes curriculum guidance, lesson plans and anonymised pupil work, to train AI tools that generate accurate, high quality educational content. Training on the content store increases accuracy of feedback on students’ work to 92%, up from 67%, meaning safer and more reliable use of AI in the classroom"

She also pointed out the refreshed English standards launched to coincide with BETT week. She also keyed up well the Education ministers speech on day one of BETT.

Key messages are much more than cautious optimism and much more than a narrow focus on teaching and learning.

There is always a danger that the AI industry like IT industry before sells education fantasies and that is why it is so critical that education takes technology and uses it to build it's own closed models.

Education needs to develop specialist tools to amplify learning. We do need to redesign practice in ways that continues to support teacher agency.

Other work highlighted over day

The work of Harvard's Bok Centre
Open AI work around AI Schema to improve reliability of services for education and other areas. Would allow education to customise their own models.
The emergence of Gemini for Education and Co-Pilot tools that can match and create content against available competency frameworks.

This was a useful paper to take to my second meeting of the week which was more technical about the standards needed to support ethical application of AI.

Pre conference I caught up with Joseph Jones CEO Saige Qualifications an Ofqual approved awarding body in England rolling out AI awards and training for pupils and teachers.

Main takeaways -

Education needs to start making more use of AI in a customised way to support learning and operations.
At a national level this means system change as well as policy and guidance. I think we have latter but not former in Scotland.
At institutional level requires operations , IT , learning technology and whole community to work more effectively together. Start building local agents now.
As an institution you need that local data store and you need to start making effective use of your data
For schools in Scotland - local authorities need switched on to this and there is probably a role for Education Scotland but certainly Scottish Education Department in creating something similar to English content store.

Part Two to follow -

Visiting #BettUK2026 #Bett2026 #tmBett26 #teachmeet20

2026-01-14T15:35:00.006+00:00

It's that time again and I'm packing bags this weekend for a series of meetings in London while in and around #BettUK2026 #Bett2026

Monday I am with OECD Exploring Effective Uses of Generative AI in Education.
Tuesday I am with 1Edtech Why AI in Learning Needs Standards: Shared Context, Shared Trust.
Wednesday I am @Bett - if you are down from Scotland please sign up for Scottish Clan gathering at 2pm . Many thanks to Smart Technologies for facilitating this - click logo for signup

Thursday I am @Bett and attending Bett Teachmeet which is also a celebration of 20 years of teachmeets - Click Logo for signup - you don't have to present you can just come along.

Friday - I am trying to keep free for a general prowl around the exhibition area.

Over days at Bett I will catch up with latest developments from Microsoft , Google and the other big players and attend sessions around digital transformation in further and higher education. I'm not presenting this year.

If you are about and fancy a chat about UK educational market place then please get in touch. I am looking forward to catching up with old friends and new.

You can catch up with my previous BETT adventures here.

As ever, I will summarise any useful leads here and I will bring opportunities back to relevant colleagues in colleges and Scottish education.

A look back at 2025

2026-01-02T17:23:00.004+00:00

It's been a busy 2025. I keep pinching myself . I am so lucky to have escaped the trenches of 9-5 and I am so enjoying the move back to interesting consultancy work. I did a bit of a reflective piece at one year out mark.

Mindful too that my freedom gives me scope and responsibility to flag up many of the challenges still facing great colleagues in Scottish College landscape - still under siege. There are a few more folks who have escaped and know exactly what is happening would be great to see them chipping in to discussions too rather than simply watching the sector being stifled.

I started 2025 with a post about sectoral challenges - I think things have got worse over the past year. I also framed my resolutions for year - which mostly I've achieved.

Quite a year. Started 2025 in a new TQER role at QAA and it's been busy since ,#bett25 , supporting open badges ( new book chapter about to arrive ) - keynoting at #oer25, visiting schools across Calgary and Edmonton for the #ScotlandEducationSummit, and co-chairing #ALTC25 in Glasgow and hosting many international visitors and supporting Royal Society of Arts in Glasgow.

Some highlights that mattered:

The #oer25 keynote was a real privilege - had a great day exploring the intersection of Open Education and AI. Open education is so much more than free resources - it's about systems, approaches, and making practice sustainable. Slides with extras here: https://lnkd.in/eASCiSqp

The week in Canada with SMART Technologies was amazing - super to spend time with innovative Scottish education colleagues visiting schools and building connections between our systems. Report here: https://lnkd.in/emiwjpCW

Refreshingly joined up - Edinburgh University's openly licensed AI advice for Scottish teachers, co-created with multiple national agencies. This is what good collaboration looks like: https://lnkd.in/eMNcYgCY

Co-chairing #ALTC25 in October was a real pleasure - fantastic to have the learning technology clans gathering in Glasgow for the first time: https://lnkd.in/eYNTsP9d and a privilege to launch #AmplifyFE impact report https://lnkd.in/ePuBWn86

Supported RSA in Glasgow helping with both a Civic Reception at Glasgow City
Chambers and a fun event at newly refurbished Citizens Theatre.

Found time for some great travel adventures to Morocco, Italy, France and Jordan.

Enjoying popping in and out of London to see our daughter too and we had a great family wedding in Leeds.

What struck me across 2025: we're adopting AI faster than we're adopting open licences. Still a long journey in Scotland to achieve a place where Open Educational Practice is standard. But there's momentum - and the new Scottish Govt Digital Strategy gives room for optimism.

Grateful to everyone who engaged in conversations this year - at conferences, online, and over coffee in Glasgow. Love to all !

Looking forward to continuing the push in 2026. If your institution is experimenting with open badges or local LLMs I'd love to hear about it.

I'll be around #Bett26 and heading down for a pre conference session with 1EdTech - If you are in London let me know and we can catch up.

This year I am looking forward to joining in 20th anniversary celebration of #Teachmeet #Teachmeet26 on the Thursday evening. You can sign up and run a session here https://lnkd.in/e6YRAiM5

If you are Scottish based and not coming down for #Bett check out City of Glasgow College's Learning and Teaching Conference - open to all https://lnkd.in/e-W3ArfT . Great to see a former Cardonald College student keynoting.

As always you can follow my journey on my blog https://lnkd.in/eDP_bMsu
I've some more big news to come.

Next a post on what I'm looking forward too in 2026

#openscot #OpenEducation #OER #AIinEducation #ALTC25

Old Experiment with Manus AI https://manus.im/app

2025-10-29T15:23:00.007+00:00

Tidying up desktop and found this deck created last year in a workshop with lecturing staff. Using tools they may not have encountered yet. In this case Manus a useful tool with some strengths over ChatGPT and Co-Pilot etc.

Prompt was simple, to create an outline presentation on "Using AI Ethically in Education: A Guide for Students."

Led to some really useful discussions around AI use by teaching staff and students.

If used in real world I would have added references to institutional policy and would have sourced better graphics and as I have done in header I would have acknowledged use of AI in creation of this deck and would have made it much more accessible in terms of colour , text and labelling etc.

But useful as illustration of what AI can do - in seconds.

And information on the engine -

Manus AI was developed and trained by the Chinese startup Monica.im, which has since rebranded and is now known as Butterfly Effect Pte. Ltd. The company was founded by entrepreneurs Xiao Hong (also known as "Red") and Yichao "Peak" Ji.

The development team was a relatively small group within the parent company, which moved its headquarters from China to Singapore in 2025.

Underlying models: Manus operates as a multi-agent system built on and fine-tuned from existing large language models. It uses Anthropic's Claude and Alibaba's Qwen models as a core part of its architecture. This distinguishes Manus from companies that develop their own base model from scratch.

Manus is an autonomous AI agent designed to perform complex, real-world tasks with minimal human guidance, as opposed to simply generating text like a chatbot.

#altc25 Glasgow Conference Reflections

2025-10-27T17:14:00.002+00:00

Decompressing from some excellent days at the Association for Learning Technology's annual conference in Glasgow. Here are some quick reflections on what I picked up. Programme was great (as co-chair some bias in that) and I probably missed many other useful nuggets. Thought venue and catering etc all excellent. Company as ever was splendid. I even managed to appear on ALTC Radio.

Great to work with team at ALT and my co chairs to pull things together. I hope everyone had a great time

Preconference Evening in NQ64

Looked inspired had a previous engagement but what a fun place. Made me think about Reclaim Hosting folks and other edtechs I know who collect, repair and build gaming machines as a hobby.

Day One

Charles Knight

Great keynote and call to action. Learning Technologists do , do magic - but they do need the right context. Good institutions succeed by giving staff and students agency and confidence and this is still possible in period of massive change. Good advice too though if magic is not achievable where you are move on to the next gig and light up another room.

Publication of New Jisc Beyond Blended Report and Assets

An open set of resources and report to improve learning design across the sector. These can be repurposed and made your own. So well done on creative commons licence. Would be great to see QAA, SFC , HMIE were directing centres to resources like this. Blended is about taking a whole institutional approach including working on co-creation with learners to improve the learning experience. All directors of teaching and learning, faculty heads and quality managers etc should know their way around this.

Mark Bush - Inspera

Mainly a session around how to trust suppliers. An old chestnut. But sensing a market maturity in lots of discussions with suppliers and exhibitors over the two days of the conference. New entrants need to have a better solution to displace incumbents. As there is less money about, the sector generally tends to be much more risk adverse and not as willing to pilot new things and there is a constant concern about lock in (once you are on board, will tolls , licence fees simply climb with no clear escape route) or perhaps this is just a timely awareness.

Where in Scotland APUC, in UK UCISA and organisations like ALT come in. We do all talk to each other about suppliers and possible technical solutions.

Online assessment systems like Inspera now handling 18.2 million submissions a year and operating in 26 countries globally.

Student Panel

Was interesting as ever to hear level headed students taking a measured approach to AI adoption and mainly asking for more support around academic writing. And not really having clear answer on what is best way to communicate with them.

Edgehill University

Attended interesting sessions on blended learning and costings. The current ABC model struggles with spiral curriculums that exist in medicine and some other disciplines so does need different approach while keeping a laser like focus on not overloading students with content. Edge Hill University has some useful resources to support collaborative development.

University of Southampton

The University of Southampton have created a useful tool for helping with very vague faculty requests to create digital learning materials. Looks great it creates resource allocations. costs and realistic delivery timelines. I do hope academics take time to fill in the forms in properly.

University of Leeds

Good story where learning technology was pulled back from faculties to become more centralised service- became design led strategic partners with much better focus on educational enhancement framework using institutional data to target academic teams that needed support.

Did a quick change and had great fun at dinner, awards ceremony and Ceilidh - band were great and still home by 11pm. Congratulations to all winners and nominees.

Day Two

Launch of AmplifyFE Impact Report

It was a privilege to get to say a few words and launch the #AmplifyFE impact report. Led in partnership with ALT and the UFI Vocational Trust it now embraces a community of around 3700 practitioners from across the UK. A few more FE folks in Scotland should tune into this network.

Gabbi Witthaus

So grounded and so human. I do wonder that system still can seem so rigid, remote and hostile to learners. Four dimensions work is really useful way to help teachers and students manage life and learning loads. Gabbi has kindly shared her keynote.

Edinburgh Napier and Sciaten Partners

Great work around ethical use of AI with academics and students. Great too to see Open Scotland referenced in influences here. Some really useful resources to open up discussions about AI in curriculum and assessment here.

Would be good to see more Scottish Colleges visible in supporting this work.

Paul Basich

Great session focussing on efficient ways of delivering blended learning. It is mostly common sense - but staggering to hear that some large institutions are just beginning to think about institutional templates in virtual learning environments etc. In some respects HE has a lot to learn about course design, teaching and learning from Colleges. In feedback highlighted that West Lancashire College has delivered to 10,000 online learners in last 5 years - part of Newcastle College Group.

ALT Strategy Session

Sort of what it said on the tin - in a world where everyone is now an 'expert on digital learning' ALT needs to keep ahead of the pack.

University of Glasgow - Jenny Crow

A nice bit of work echoing the mornings keynote and some of the themes from the student panel around experiments using whatsapp and other platforms to give learners a solid sense of belonging

Manchester Met - Andrew Larner

Great tool for suggesting new assessment designs using generative AI from Manchester Metropolitan University. Really worth exploring.

Exhibitors etc

Great to see many established players and a number of new potential suppliers for Education sector - I did get around and say hello.

Good to have lots of proper dialogues around sectoral challenges that were way beyond the 'sales patter' of old. Among the VLE suppliers still some frustration that institutions are not 'sweating' the assets and doing more with the great platforms that are available.

Good to meet the team from Brickfield and hear about their tools for monitoring the accessibility of learning content.

Interested in Edina's new walled garden for trying out AI tools.

A shout out to Vevox their polling solution worked very well throughout the conference.

Nice to meet Estendio, Eduface, and Study Stash all harnessing AI to improve teaching and learning.

Endnotes

It was great to have a number of colleagues along from City of Glasgow College but I do think Colleges generally should be more engaged with ALT and communities of practice. I'll keep pushing through ALT Scotland , CDN and the work with Jisc that is already in place.

I miss social media Discord was ok but needs everyone on board. Remember you are all agents of change. Find each other on social media @joecar80.bsky.social

I listed seven things for delegates

(Beyond) Blended Learning is the future !
Is your own practice open ? (Discover Open Scotland )
I hope you are all blogging and aggregating (ScotEdublogs)
It ain’t a microcredential without a digital badge ( using 1Edtech open standards) and a platform that supports these.
Hope you have figured out how to allow learners and staff to use AI ethically. Local models are the way ahead for many.
In a world where everyone is now an expert on educational technology – ALT continues to be beacon in the darkness.
I hope you enjoyed Glasgow and haste ye back.

An Unofficial Glance at things to get up to in Glasgow #ALTC25

2025-10-16T13:41:00.008+01:00

I am co-chairing ALTC25. Conference for UK Association for Learning Technology. I promised a Glasgow post on other attractions.

There are loads of ways you can find out what is on in Glasgow while you are about for the ALTC Conference. But I thought I'd add my own wee list of places that I like. Remember I am now a 60 something Glaswegian but I think the fun here can be pretty intergenerational. Whatever your thing is, you will find it in Glasgow.

Here is a wee very Glasgow playlist of Glaswegian musicians over the years to speed you on way.

I do hope if you are arriving early on Wednesday you are coming along to Riverside Campus of City of Glasgow College. To see the ships simulators.

I am big into cultural activities art, theatre and drinking coffee etc too, but you will get these from the internet. I do recommend the hop on hop off Glasgow City Tour bus as a way to get your bearings. If you are about on Saturday have a look around the Barrows Market in Glasgow's east end.

Here are a list of eating and drinking spots that I think are really worth finding and all within range of the conference hotel. You can look them up. I'd catch the subway if going to west end , get on in city centre and get off at Hillhead. You can't get lost, one big circle.

You can combine visits to these places with more cultural activities.

City Centre Drinks

Sloans - Old coaching house - old intercity coach terminal.

Mono and Stereo - Two related bars Vegan and Good music

Potstill - Best Whisky Bar

Horseshoe Bar - Authentic Victorian Glasgow Bar

Lauriston Bar - Just across the river - best Guiness and frequented by Indie bands.

McChuills - live music

Clutha Vaults - live music

Scotia Bar - live music

Del Monicas - live music and dancing

Buff Club - dancing and new Jazz club

City Centre Eats

Brutti Compadres - a bit of eats and drinks in nice old courtyard

Cafe Gandolfi - Up market Glasgow classic for arty folks

Pisano - best pizza in town and great value

Sugo - great pasta dishes and great value

Margot - up market posh nosh

Dhabba and Dhakin - North and South Indian restaurants near each other

Finnieston and Around - lots of wee bars mainly great eats

Craab Shakk - tiny atmospheric fish and sea food straight from west highlands.

Mother India and Mother India Cafe - best Currys in Glasgow - second one is tapas style.

Ox and Finch - very posh nosh and hard to get booking

The Gannet - posh michelin type but good food.

West End/ Byres Road - near Glasgow University so loads of places to eat and drink

Oran Mhor - old converted church always lots going on

Tennents Bar - classic Glasgow bar

Ubiquitous Chip - nice bar and posh nosh

Craab Shakk West End - larger sister restaurant of Finnieston one

There are lots of great places South Side Glasgow too - you can discover them next trip

#Scotedublogs #openscot - Why you should blog and Why you should join this Aggregator

2025-10-16T12:37:00.002+01:00

If you dig back in this blog you will see that one way or another I have been blogging since the turn of the century. It's never without its challenges but for me it is a key part of open practice. It is a positive way of moving things forward.

There was a sudden flowering of the Scottish Educational Blogosphere around 2005. In this context mainly school based folks. One of the great platforms that emerged from that period was and is #Scotedublogs a simple aggregator of Scottish Educational blogs.

As an educational blogger it was great to have some company along the way, at least for a short for a while.

At one point I even managed find some sponsorship to help it grow.

Championed by John Johnston one of the many unsung heroes in Scottish Education.

It is probably needed again more than ever. In time of enshittification etc It is good to have something that anchors the disparate but very authentic voices of those working across or around Scottish Education. We are doing a wee bit of a push to re-build this 'community' of Scottish Edubloggers.

This sits well with lots of other things I support around Open Education. #openscot

All you need is a blog or similar with an RSS feed.

And then all you need to do is make sure your blog is listed.

Here are some suggestions.

I could go on a bit of a rant

If you work in and or around Scottish Education you should have a blog or similar. A critical part of professional development review in my view.
If you train teachers or have a role in developing staff - you should be showing students and staff all how to blog and or create a shareable professional journal.
If you work for General Teaching Council in Scotland you should have made this part of registration a very long time ago.
I am an old hand and still use Blogger - it serves it's purpose. But if I was to start again I would start by using free wordpress and then migrate to A domain of my own from Reclaim Hosting. ( I have my own domain already).
Colleges and College staff have been particularly absent from the blogosphere. This currently means the sector is pretty much stifled as there are very few established voices talking about current College challenges in a sensible extended way.

All I do is publish this blog - as it is listed in Scotedublogs it will appear on feed and be syndicated to Mastodon and Bluesky.

Reflections on AI, Open Policy, and Educational Practice #oer25

2025-09-16T13:48:00.012+01:00

An AI Created Logo

I had an opportunity to revisit my keynote from June in this online conference. Rather than repeating my presentation from the #OER25 conference, I’m provided a link to it in the session. My aim was to highlight my ongoing concern that our current focus on artificial intelligence may overshadow more meaningful discussions about collaboration, open policy and practice.

Great as ever to interact with passionate folks across UK education.

Recent Developments Since OER 25

Since the OER 25 conference, there have been several notable updates:

The Jisc Centre for Artificial Intelligence has continued to release valuable resources for the sector.
However, recent data from Jisc and other surveys reveal worrying trends, including a lack of formal digital skills training for learners and persistent fatigue among academic staff regarding the rapid changes in the digital landscape.
Possible game changer in Really Simple Licensing – see deck and news about substantial settlements for copyright breaches.
I’ve highlighted what I think are useful updates from across the education sector in slides.

Perspectives on AI Use in Education

I recognised during my last session that not everyone shared my optimism about the role of AI. However, I do not believe that the use of AI results in catastrophic cognitive offloading. I do believe we need to navigate it to get the best for learners, teachers and our institutions,

I strongly support the need to guide learners in the responsible and ethical adoption of AI tools. From Jisc surveys it looks as though this is still not happening.

Looking Ahead: A Challenge

Here is one challenge I want to leave you with—not focused on AI, but on the importance of ensuring that your institution has both a policy and a platform that actively supports open practice, as well as the creation and sharing of open educational resources.

I covered this at end of last keynote – we need to refocus on how we open up , how our institutions open and how we support our colleagues to work in the open.

It seems crazy that UK is now recognised in top 5 countries for adoption of AI when the educational establishment has hardly moved on adoption of UN principles around open practice and open educational practice. Though I know what a struggle it was latterly within an institution to get systems and people to support open practice. Closed mindsets are not conducive to learning, sharing and collaborating.

How do we open up

Ensure your institution has a clear policy supporting open practice and use and sharing of open educational resources. Including clear guidelines on creative commons and open licence.
Resist AI hysteria and manage your way through this.
Make sure staff at all levels and all students are digitally literate and can manage their digital footprints.
Ensure that your institution has an open repository , that your virtual learning environment supports the open sharing of courses, that staff and students have a publishing space to share their reflections and academic practice.
For learners that should be a place of their own, a blog or similar – not simply an institutional e-portfolio. The best place that will support them professionally and as lifelong learners.
Model these behaviours be an open practitioner

Last goodie arrived as I was writing this up here is feedback from from UK Department of Business and Trade who trialled Co-Pilot across the department.

#OER25 Reflections : Open Practice and AI

2025-09-02T01:18:00.008+01:00

OER25 Reflections: Open Practice and AI

Since 2010, I’ve only missed a handful of the #OER conferences. Over the years, I’ve chaired, curated, and presented, but this year was different. I had the privilege of delivering a keynote, and with it, the chance to speak up for the vocational college sector. It’s a world of practical solutions, limited resources, and a different focus on learning. Perhaps a world less threatened by AI - we do things, demonstrate skills and create things - we don't write essays about how we might do things.

A Keynote in Good Company

It was great to share the keynote stage with my friend and colleague Helen Beetham. Helen’s keynote was a masterclass in critical thinking, measured, cautious, and deeply principled. Her stance on AI in education was almost a full rejection, grounded in ethical concerns, systemic critique, and a call to resist the current trajectory of big tech. Focusing on the darker undercurrents of AI: copyright violations, exploitative labour practices, environmental degradation, and surveillance.

Her outrage over AI systems targeting Wikipedia contributors was particularly horrifying. She advocates a boycott of current AI models and recommends the AI Now Institute’s 2025 Landscape Report as a roadmap for resistance.

Helen’s own writing, especially her piece on “Marking the Government’s Homework,” is essential reading for anyone grappling with the ethics of AI in public services. Her Substack is loaded with thoughtful critique.

You can explore both of our jumping off points here.

I hope I offered a useful counterpoint: someone who’s on the AI train, but still mindful of the price of the ticket. I really think we still have a lot more to do around equity, sharing and empowering learners.

My slides including additional support materials are included at end of this blog post. I really don't think AI will damage the human brain - but it was interesting that someone suggested that untested and unsound it could create a scandal on scale of thalidomide. I remember being told that too much TV would rot my brain too.

That is the level of contention around adoption of AI in education. At least there is discussion and policy movement here. My presentation reflects a lack of movement around Open Education policies in Scotland specifically but around the UK too.

Missing My Sense Filter

I have to mention the absence of my Open Scotland co-founder, Lorna Campbell. Lorna is a fixture at these events and serves as my sense filter. She was unfortunately laid low this year, but her blog post, “Stepping Back and Speaking Truth to Power,” offers a moving reflection on the conference and her own journey.

AI: The New Scary Kid on the Block

Artificial Intelligence is undeniably the new disruptive force in education. But there’s a real danger that open education and open practice will be bullied further into the margins. We across the UK lag behind global peers in adopting coherent policies around open educational resources (OER) and open practice.

The challenge is that AI’s shiny allure and/or toxicity distracts us from the deficits in our current system.

In higher education, the model was broken long ago. I had hoped that the arrival of the internet and search engines would revolutionise assessment and pedagogy. Instead, we’re still clinging to outdated frameworks while fearing that AI might “eat our content.”

Here is a summary of other sessions I got along to

One of the most inspiring initiatives I encountered was the Learning with AI PressBook project, where students create resources to help peers and faculty navigate AI tools. It’s a brilliant example of co-creation and learner-led innovation.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands continues to lead the way in open education. The NPULS platform encourages content sharing across tertiary institutions, a model that Scottish agencies like the SFC and QAA Scotland are only beginning to consider. We’re still stuck at shared services, never mind shared learning content.

The Open Textbook Library workshop was another highlight. Years ago, we worked to ingest open textbooks into our college library catalogue, and it’s heartening to see that momentum continue. The emerging Community of Practice for the UK and Ireland is a promising space for collaboration.

A standout session from Catherine Cronin, Louise Drumm, and Helen Beetham explored alternatives to AI through their “Generating AI Alternatives” workshop. It is a thoughtful and provocative way to spark debate around AI and OER. As is the Scottish Tertiary Education statement on the use of generative artificial intelligence

David Callaghan's illustration summed up nicely some of audiences fears around AI

Kate Molloy and Claire Thompson ran a super session on Adapt/Resist and Go Rogue Out on the edge demoed https://www.napkin.ai/ and other tools to help us reimagine the future.

A wonderful over view of EDM122: Digital Literacies and Open Practice an open course. For teachers to reflect on their practice and become open practitioners https://blogs.city.ac.uk/dilop/sample-page/

Amazing and a very practical workshop from Tim Fransen looking at how much energy and what the processes are that Stable Diffusion uses to generate an image output and tips for teachers and students on how to use these tools efficiently.

To quote Tim ' the workshop invites educators to move beyond binary narratives of ‘AI as threat’ or ‘AI as saviour’ and toward a more nuanced, informed, and open educational approach to understanding and engaging with these technologies responsibly'

Really gave an accessible and reflective entry point into the inner workings of generative AI systems and how it works to create images not just text. I can see graphics , gaming and even computer lecturers interested in this deep dive. Also great use of https://mmm.page/ a useful tool for OER creation.

Reminded again of all the great work that Global OER Graduate Network does https://go-gn.net/

Attended two thought provoking sessions from Dominik Luks - one around how AI is supporting minority languages around the world and one seriously debunking some of the AI myths around its use of energy and water. He even quickly used AI to create a more flexible programme App for #oer25 on the fly.

An amazing Ukrainian librarian Dr Tetiana Kolesnykova spoke from the Scientific Library and the network supporting the University libraries of Ukraine with OER. The University library has been bombed flat but learning carries on. Truly humbling. If you have a moment send Tetiana a message of support. Slava Ukraine !

Gratitude and Grounding

As ever, there were too many great sessions, great chats and too little time. Hats off to co-chairs Sheila MacNeil and Louise Drumm and the entire organising committee for curating such a rich programme. Well done too to ALT for continuing to keep the fires of open education burning in the UK. This community of change makers remains one of the most inspiring in UK around innovation in learning and teaching.

Someone called me a “legend” on social media, caused much hilarity at home, but for now, I’m just grateful to have shared space, ideas, and optimism with so many passionate advocates for openness.

Looking Ahead

I’ll post my slides here , and I hope others will share theirs too. The conversations we started at OER25 need to continue, especially as AI reshapes the landscape of education. We must ensure that open practice doesn’t get pushed into the shadows. Instead, let’s use this moment to reimagine what openness can mean in an AI-driven world. I am looking forward to pushing the discussion on later in September and at OERGlobal Camp in November.

There are some other great blogs from #oer25 that capture much more than I can here. Love to all old friends and new.

We do really need to take back the commons we are missing better use of social media all round. To change things and have a common front we need better solidarity.

It is the start of session. How will your institution lead out an open educational initiative this year ? and how will you support and encourage teaching staff to become open practitioners ?

https://catherinecronin.net/conferences/oer25-speaking-truth-to-power/

https://howsheilaseesit.net/oer/oer25-our-silence-will-not-save-us/

One Year Over the Top ; Reflections. The Joy of Not Being There: A September Without the Start of Term

2025-09-01T13:02:00.006+01:00

I've been feeling a bit guilty. I've done a bit of work over summer but mainly I've just chilled. It was strange coming back from a foreign holiday and not having to check lots of work emails - but it is a really nice sensation.

This September, for the first time in thirty nine years , I am not preparing for the start of term. No staff briefings. No last-minute system tweaks. No wondering whether staff will be more engaged, more challenging, more everything - and what budget cuts are coming down the line etc and mainly wondering if the students will cope and will staff actually step them through induction or leave them to sink or swim. And or the dreaded moment when we discover that something promised to support induction hasn't actually happened - but it's included in all our start of session materials.

As I push on I am bringing opportunities back to the College sector and the folks I know will be receptive to new ideas.

Time to for a quick reflection on what I said I would do and what I've actually achieved and what I have to catch up on - I am due a post both on ALT Scotland SIG meeting at end of June and on #OER25 which I keynoted at before heading off on leave. That will be my next tasks.

When I said my farewells I promised I would keep pushing on a number of fronts. Here is a potted update and a report card.

UNESCO - Continue shaping bid for project around better understanding of the open source code available for creation and management of Open Badges in support of Micro credentials. Bid completed and I anticipate publication appearing before Christmas. This from work in Bilbao
Continue work with UK Digital Badging Commission - input completed and work now published. Tied in well with UNESCO work and my fellowship with RSA. Led to some comms and work with 1Edtech. Scottish education seems miles away from adopting these approaches.
Hopefully continue to support work of QAA around Scottish Tertiary Quality framework. Delighted to say I now have a part-time role as a Quality Assurance Specialist for QAA.
Champion Teachermatic and other AI approaches to changing learning paradigm. This is still work in progress have delivered a number of sessions and keynotes.
Champion Canvas by Instructure . I am still due to do a bigger deeper blog on Canvas and why it should be platform of choice. But enjoyed working with Martin Bean in Scotland and enjoyed my time in Barcelona at #CanvasCon
Continue to support Open Scotland following Dubai Summit to encourage more Open practice in Scotland. I keynoted #oer25 in London in June ( post to follow) I've presented to Once for Scotland to see if we can re-engage policy makers across Scotland and hoping to pick up conversation with Lee Dunn in the current administration. I am presenting OERGlobal25 in November.
Encourage better understanding of Adaptive Comparative Judgement - this probably one area where I haven't really pushed on.
Offer informed input on shape and future of tertiary sector in Scotland. I keep knocking on relevant doors. There really needs to be a wholesale change in approach.
Continue as Chair of Association of Learning Technology special interest group in Scotland and do a bit more community building for ALT. Held two meetings this year. Summary of online conference April - report on June Stirling Conference to come and I am co-chair of UK ALTC Conference coming to Glasgow for first time in October.
Continue to offer support to suppliers , institutions and staff who want to digitally transform their practice and the experience of learners. Some notable successes with Smart Technologies really down to quality of product and support available in Scotland and in dialogue with a number of other suppliers. I continue to work with lots of old friends from @Bett Conferences and my network.
I've run a couple of College sessions but sector could do with a few more - still not really seeing blended learning to the fore. I think I could do more on that front. (if anyone wants a short workshop on digital transformation for managers or teaching staff - please just reach out)
FRSA - Support Glasgow branch around organising a series of events this and next year. Making progress civic reception at City Chambers and event at Citizens Theatre in planning - reaching out to Education contacts for RSA.
Continue as Chair of IWasGonnae and Old Hall Scout Group. - both organisations thriving - really down to the energy and skills of the teams there.

I've done lots of travelling over the year for business and fun and hosted some guests in Glasgow.

Here are two happy snaps of

Kim William Gordon, PhD from EdTech Research Labs St Louis USA

Maria Soledad Ramirez Montoya, UNESCO Chair Open Educational Movement for Latin America

Just Once for Scotland and busy week

2025-06-09T15:49:00.010+01:00

It was great to have an opportunity to talk to peers across the public sector in Scotland about Open Scotland to the Just Once for Scotland forum.

Though we have communicated with all the main educational agencies over the years and corresponded directly at cabinet level. It was interesting to hear an almost complete lack of awareness of UNESCO's mandate around Open Educational Resources.

Feedback on session was immediate. Collaboration and sharing and approaches like this are just what is needed particularly at a time of limited resource. I'd argue that adoption of the UNESCO principles are sensible in any event and so long over due. I hope I've made some impressions this time.

Anyway I attach slides from session - borrowing heavily on 10th anniversary session of Open Scotland ( It is now the 12th anniversary) delivered to local authorities and agencies across Scotland. This is an interesting and useful forum and worth signing up for.

For a country that makes big claims on Education as a public good. We are still too introspective and generally in the very slow lane when it comes to changes like this.

I'll reflect on that when I talk at #oer25 in London next month.

This one of the sessions or activities I was involved in last week.

Chaired a great quarterly review of IWasGonnae charity making great progress and getting super plaudits. Well done to Stuart and team - for making Chair job easy.
Finalised speakers and arrangements for Association of Learning Technology gathering at Stirling University on 16th of June.
Had first chairs meeting for ALT UK conference that is coming to Glasgow in October 2025
Had final meeting too of organising committee for #oer25 looking forward to seeing old friends and new in London at the end of the month.
Attended RSA gathering at Glasgow Art Club - planning event for FRSA members for Glasgow 350 anniversary in October

A short history of the development of a College based AI policy

2025-05-27T22:07:00.020+01:00

A colleague got in touch with me to ask.

" When the college was creating the guidance for GenAI use what informed this? I’m trying to collect some policy documents for my dissertation on GenAI policy and wondered if you might have any suggestions. I assume SQAs policy was considered but did you use any policies from the Scottish Government, EU, other governing bodies etc "

I thought it was worth sharing the response. I am still watching education asking some of the correct questions but still mainly circling the wagons.

This story starts in April 2021 pre Chat GPT and being asked to respond and shape a College response to the assumed incidence of the rise of contract cheating across the College. At the time we knew and worked with colleagues in Scottish HE where contract cheating was a thing and we knew how it generally manifested itself.

In short what prompted the initial guidance on artificial intelligence - the first College in the UK to offer some, was in part some frustration with a new member of SMT from HE who was insistent that a large number of students at City of Glasgow College were buying essays from essay mills at £50 and more a pop. While we had the knowledge that something else was actually going on. The College at this point kept no central records on instances of academic misconduct.

We had data to show that this was not happening. We knew from HE that most of the bought in essays raised at least a few flags in plagiarism detection. We knew too that staff teaching generally smaller classes in FE were reasonably vigilant and knew their students.

However, we did know learners were starting to use Microsoft, Google , Grammarly and other tools to ‘improve’ their essay writing. We wanted to do some work around this to support teachers and students.

For students this would be around when and how to acknowledge that they had used tools to support their essay writing. For teaching staff to raise staff awareness that these tools were in use, it was manageable, permissible and actually supported learners' accessibility needs. We were rolling out Canvas a new VLE in this time frame too and we were very focused on accessibility.

We spoke to students through the students' association who confirmed that students used a range of tools. There was actually a very low awareness of essay farms. The students highlighted that while there were free tools they were very unlikely to pay for essay creation. They had legitimate fears too that the existing plagiarism software would catch out learners who commissioned essays in this way.

But more concerningly they were worried about using some of the assistive tools to support their additional learning needs.

It was clear that the institution and the staff were being blind sided by some of these developments.

We wanted to change the focus from simply tackling

'academic misconduct' to one where we could promote academic integrity through changing learner and lecturers' practice. I think we achieved this in the end, but only to some degree. In medium term this will only come with improved digital skills for lecturers and students and fundamental changes in the overall approach to assessment.

At that point Chat GPT appeared, things accelerated, and a form of hysteria started.

UCL in London had early guidance on using and referencing AI but it was framed in very Higher Education, University language. It has been refined but still on their website. We took this and clarified it for College staff and students, discussing this with learners, as we moved along, giving UCL due attribution.

We then shared this internally and externally on the Learning and Teaching Academy website. The LTA website has since been updated and the supporting documents have disappeared onto the College intranet. I hope they have been refined to support this ever dynamic landscape.

The original guidance for students that was created with input from staff and students based on the UCL model is linked here.

In the background we met some turbulence. A small but vocal number of staff wanted the college to ban any use of AI tools and or wished for a fool proof AI detection engine.

We spent a year testing the Turnitin AI detection tool and found it to be generating too many false positives and switched it off before Turnitin came back asking for another fee for this 'service'. We also highlighted that on occasions when Turnitin 'failed' it was indicating that the same assessment had been used for more than five years and required updating.

On occasion we were asked to investigate a claim by academic staff that AI had been used in the creation of some work and not attributed. In some cases we were able to show an academic how the history and tracking of changes works in word. It was all the learner's own work and/or whoever spent several days and hours authoring.

We worked with Jisc and were the only College to run a Jisc focus group with students around their use of AI. This helped further refine our guidance. The stats in the slide deck below reflect what students said they were already using in September 2023. It went through a number of iterations and versions but sums up the College's overall approach at the time.

This led to our materials being shared more widely and I was involved with helping SQA create their initial policy and guidance. We shared our work too with the QAA , at the BETT Conference, EdTech Europe and at other conferences. We were indebted to colleagues in these organisations and to Donald Clark who appreciated what we were doing and who we were doing it for - the learners.

We led 'delivery not delay', was a College mantra. We ran lots of workshops for staff and students around digital skills and literacy including the use of AI, these supported by the LT and Library teams.

At the time of creation of this guidance, while UAL had some guidance, the work of SQA , Scottish Govt was just starting and in many cases we were involved in shaping policy there.

The approach was informed by the work of Jisc and the research coming out of the Association of Learning Technology and from European policy documents. The EU work on AI is relatively new. At the time it was around making our AI work align with European Digital Literacy standards for education. Through the LTA teams work on Open Educational Resources we also had the opportunity to see drafts of UNESCO work in the AI space and that helped inform what we were doing.

I think around this time, the College worked out that we knew what we were doing and we ran a workshop for the College Board around defining an appropriate risk for the College risk register. This in turn led to some workshops and specific support for the Colleges professional services staff.

The guidance was also shaped by a concern to make sure that learners and teaching staff followed college guidance around using tools that were accessible and met GDPR standards.

One regret, is that while we were the first college to pilot Teachermatic I could not get the internal support to roll it out across the College, as for instance Clyde College did later.

There is still heavier lifting required. The advent of AI needs some deeper changes to assessment. If anything it highlights that assessment of competence should be a more practical demonstration of a particular skill and not judged on a candidate's essay writing skill.

This not to demean the skill of communication. The system simply needs to rethink the context in which it values and supports effective communication. Learners still need to learn to craft communications for a variety of audiences, including academic writing.

Where are things now - with focus on AI and education.

There is some quite mature guidance recently published by Edinburgh University shaped with Education Scotland and SQA guidance.

Jisc continues to offer excellent support through AI

There are some excellent policy papers from Europe around AI literacy

UNESCO has a growing set of policy and guidance on AI and teachers

The College Learning and Teaching Academy website on AI has some further links.

From the ALT Scotland latest gathering in April 2025 some useful links too. Specifically on AI and ethical use.

The College Development Network are running practical rather than policy workshops in May and June 25.

ALT Scotland 24th April Catch Up - Meeting Summary

2025-05-01T14:09:00.005+01:00

Here is a quick summary of what the Scottish ALT Special Interest Group Discussed on 24th of April 2025.

It's the curse of living in interesting times across the tertiary education sector. So many opportunities yet so much threatened. Our conversation covered a mix of personal updates, reflections on education, and ongoing challenges.

But mainly some really useful insights from folks working across the Education sector with focus on learning technology.

Much excitement that ALT Conference coming to Glasgow in October 2025.

In all a rich mix of policy concerns, educational debates, and technology insights

Padlet below here has relevant links we discussed and I highlight some of our discussion below.

Key discussion points:
- Our key themes are reflected in the embedded padlet. We discussed in the round and I'll single some specific things out here
- Policy background of cuts across sector and reforms to Education Scotland, HMIE, SQA , SFC but clearer guidance from QAA etc and routes to improved learning and teaching. By a range of definitions we are all working towards blended learning through learning design but all feeling pinch of less funding and less staff.
- Concerns about new UKVI regulations causing confusion. There is a useful summary from WONKE included in the padlet - this is impacting on blend of learning and more fundamentally viability and access of international students to UK HE.
- The conversation around learning design and the tendency for it to be more intuitive rather than methodically pedagogically planned. Staff are still reluctant to embrace digital skills and or accept new approaches to delivery. Some useful past work from QAA on multi modality was highlighted - see padlet.
- The rapidly changing trends in AI, Including its use in digital art and Facebook-based AI-generated content and on going sustainability and intellectual property right issues. Specifically large-scale AI-trained book databases and impact on copyright.
- Challenges of open and AI - is this simply eshittification ? is it inevitable that our content will be exploited ?. We are assuming that AI is always the answer. We need to challenge this. Individuals and institutions need to make more informed decisions. Will using these tools really lead to personalisation or to a dull homogenous approach to learning and teaching ?. There is a lot to question.
- ALT are about to revisit their ethical framework and hopefully some of these concerns will be addressed in latest review.
- There is a lot happening in space from AI Alliance and others in Scotland but does not appear to be strong connection with Education. Highlighted recent AI playbook with number of commercial and or public sector examples of AI in action but none at moment from Education.
- On open education specifically - more threatened by institutional systems which favour closed rather than open and in a competitive environment fears and concerns around sharing are amplified. The latest concern that AI could eat our content is simply the latest barrier to supporting open practice. Focus tends to be on commercialisation rather than collaboration and sharing, Telling that even with learning technology few Scottish institutions are sharing their training offers across the sector. Though all run online webinars etc for their own staff.
- There is also a trend to move staff support guides from the open web onto closed SharePoint etc
- Roll out of AI tools at institutional level Lack of clarity around even simple things like what bits of co-pilot are switched on or off at institutional level and how under 18s are managed in terms of access. ( my interpretation I think this is ok and part of an institutions Acceptable Use Policy) . Issues here around how IT and LT teams and wider organisation navigate things like local agents and Co-Pilot studio ( what are GDPR risks , hidden costs ) This moved to a discussion on productivity as a concept, with noted tensions and frictions.
- VLE etc Jisc are offering VLE reviews to help institutions and staff make most of their virtual learning environments. Increasingly VLE offers come with embedded AI capabilities. Main challenge though still around learning design and making effective sensible use of the VLE for learners.
- Staff Digital Skills It is an old chestnut. We talked around use and or lack of use of excellent surveys from Jisc. The College sector (CDN) has started a bit of work to find out what real barriers are to using these excellent benchmarking tools. This both for Digital Capabilities and Digital Insights Surveys. CDN and Jisc Scotland are going to bring back Virtual Bridge Sessions as Inside Sessions to support innovative practice in College sector. There is a list of useful training sites on Padlet.
- Scottish AI Alliance is worth reaching out to with suggestions to raise educational pointers for their playbook.
- AR and VR noted this still has a way to go to make real learner impact. VR content is still very expensive both to create and to access. AR is probably way forward. Centres still generally reluctant to procure class head sets and still slow to make their own AR content even for use on flat screens. Still a big fan of ThingLink in this space.
And some final ALT related plugs

ALT Scotland SIG
Save the date: Monday, June 16th, 10 AM - 3 PM
Face-to-face event at Jisc's interactive classroom, University of Stirling.
Booking arrangements and agenda to follow

New online community for ALT Scotland
Jisc is supporting a Microsoft Team to sit alongside the Jiscmail list please sign up here.
ALT Scotland Community Teams site registration request

We will also retire the Alt Scotland twitter account and a new BlueSky account and LinkedIn presence will appear in due course.

#OER25
Share your ideas on "Speaking Truth to Power: Open Education and AI in the Age of Populism" at #OER25 in London, 23-24 June. Spread the word to inspire more voices to join this critical conversation and or simply get along. Learn more: #altc #openscot

#ALT-C Glasgow October 2025
ALT-C is coming to Glasgow please reach out to all those who work in learning technology across institutions and into the public and private sectors. Collaboration is key.

Smart Technologies: Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, March 2025

2025-03-26T17:07:00.004+00:00

It was a great opportunity to be a guest, enjoy Canadian hospitality and share insights on blended learning and active classrooms with Smart Technologies. It was good too to share the experience and learn from an informed squad of Scottish Educators. This post will reflect on what I learned from Smart and what I learned from my colleagues and some things I will follow up on.

It was a privilege to meet the Smart Technologies team and tour their operations in Calgary. The term “smart board” has become synonymous with interactive panels globally and in terms of product development they are still top of the class and deserve to be the generic name for interactive panels.

However, in large tech exhibitions like BETT, where many screens and competitors are showcased, this can be lost and there still can be a general scepticism from the educational technology community about interactive boards and their impact on learning and teaching. This scepticism is often related to whether such panels support outdated models of learning if all learners and teachers have individual devices.

It's important to reassess this role, as interactive panels are crucial in learning spaces, facilitating blended learning and fostering collaboration and new approaches to learning and teaching. It was good to hear how the panels are used in new ways across schools in Scotland from the delegates and great too to visit the Edmonton School district to hear how smart boards are deployed and used across the district. It was great to meet and hear from real teachers on how they used their smartboards and associated software. It was interesting too to hear they had moved to Smart Boards from Epson data projectors.

Key takeaways include:

Smart Technologies demonstrates a profound understanding of pedagogy and the role of their interactive panels in supporting active and blended learning.
Their products are sustainable, reliable, and robust, as observed in the product development process.
The software notebook is easy to use and Lumio supports a range of interactive activities.
It is easy for teachers to have multiple windows and applications open and to move across these and autosave they or the students’ annotations with smart ink
Lumio offers great tools for whole class activities that learners can engage with from their own devices and/or on the smartboard.
Credit to Smart they do a lot to track globally the digital landscape in education. It is worth accessing their free bench marking tool. (See how our group did below)
They do some exemplary work too around neurodiversity and learning.
IT teams will like new easier ways to manage an estate of SmartBoards.

I had several questions and challenges, which were all addressed.

Smart Technologies excels in sustainability and performance metrics, and they now offer plugins like the AM60 to update older panels and give them longer operational lives. The panels integrate well with OneDrive, Google Apps, and virtual learning environments like Canvas , D2L and Moodle.

With multi-point touch capabilities, learners can engage in collaborative activities, making it easy and accessible for both teachers and students.

Hearing about the impact of Smart Boards in Midlothian, combined with the rollout of Chromebooks to all learners, was impressive and very similar to what we saw in action in Edmonton schools.

Unlike other panels that require being on the same network for full feature use, Smart Technologies has solved this securely. They demonstrated effective screen sharing and shared activities, allowing users to bring their own devices. I’ve battled that challenge in the past, for lots of security reasons IT teams don’t like unmanaged devices coming on to their networks.

While I initially thought from a college perspective, innovations like pre-programmed MFC chipped objects showed clear applications for primary and secondary classrooms. These could also fit into college delivery with some adjustments.

Their new interactive podium is ideal for lecture theatres or hybrid teaching, and the range of upcoming developments embracing Android 15, were very impressive and if I was still in a College I would be getting colleagues to check out Lumio as a potential improvement on Kahoot and some of the other solutions we have in the class activity space. I’d be exploring purchase of an interactive podium for our theatre too.

My takeaways from Scottish presenters: Meeting the next generation of educational innovators was inspiring. Mid Lothian shared a story on inclusive digital transformation using Chromebooks and smartboards, while others discussed Smartboards with learner’s own devices, open learning initiatives, curriculum innovations for all school years, and VR headsets to understand neurodiversity. Collectively they are seeking solutions for digital credentials and better community support in educational technology and curriculum development. These concerns echo current uncertainties at Education Scotland and SQA.

The Gangs All Here

I plan to introduce them to the Association of Learning Technology. This post can't reflect all the fun we had in what is an anxious time in Canada. Perhaps never a better time to do business there. Smartboards and their associated product range are all available on relevant Scottish procurement frameworks and there are experienced channel partners and installers available.

I have to include one image of the breath taking Rockies. Last time I was in Canada was 30 years ago on the east coast on a Rugby Tour - so first time seeing the mountains - truly awesome.

Open Badges , Digital Credentials and Open Standards #Bett2024 #Bett24 Digital Badging Commission #openscot

2025-02-04T13:48:00.005+00:00

Surely time for all qualifications to be digital !

This post reflects on a London 1Edtech gathering and the work of the UK Digital Badging Commission.

Pre #Bett24 I was kindly invited to contribute to cross sectoral meeting with 1Edtech along with delegates from across the UK University and College landscape. Thanks to Gill Ferrell who now leads for 1Edtech in Europe for kind invitation.

As an aside, I was amazed by transformation of StErmins Hotel a far cry when it was a run down hotel and the cheapest option for Westminster meetings.

The meeting in London was excellent for highlighting the adoption of open standards around the world and the relative intransigence of the UK as a whole. It is worth having a dig into these slides from CEO of 1Edtech Curtis Barnes. There were some other really excellent presentations and great discussion on day. If you really don't know what I am talking about here have a look at the standards themselves. Open standards are important - what allows you for instance to get emails on lots of devices.

I led some national policy developments here from 2013 and I carried the lessons forward into my practice. In a College setting we adopted Canvas partly as Canvas Credentials (formerly Badgr) brings open recognition for all learners. Having awarded badges to students and lecturing staff for two years I moved on just as our curriculum team were rolling out badges for meta-skills to the students.

It will be interesting to see how this approach develops and what reception this has from our learners. There is huge scope here, if the College can push this on. Interesting too to see that Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities have adopted Canvas to support their micro-credential initiatives.

It is concerning to see how slow progress has been around adoption of open standards for digital certification. I am glad to be a contributor to the UK Digital Badging Commission. Being well led out by Patrina Law.

In a global first, Ufi VocTech Trust and The RSA have launched the Digital Badging Commission to broaden the understanding, development and adoption of digital badges by accrediting organisations and employers.

Have a look at work to date of the UK Digital Badging Commission and you will see some green shoots.

I was surprised and pleased to see developments here between SQA and Skills Development Scotland around ways to display credentials in MyWorldofWork. But perhaps more impressed by the nascent Department for Education record of Post 16 learning. The vision is that a learner can enroll on a course simply by a scanned QR code and can maintain their own record of achievements. See presentation above for details on these projects in development.

I think biggest blocker here are the policy makers. A special shout out to City and Guilds and NCFE in England who have pushed on with developments in this space and as a Scottish Employer SCCC for pushing on badges for workforce accreditation. It would be good to see a fresh vision piece in this space from Scottish Government.

The Digital Badging Commission includes representatives from educational organisations, awarding bodies, tech companies, and others interested in the future of learning and skills recognition.

Key themes and points discussed recently -

Opportunities for Acceleration: The group discussed policy developments that could accelerate the adoption of digital credentials, including the potential of a national digital learner record and linking it to work experience data. DfE's "Project Titan" and the "Digital Wallet" work by DSIT were mentioned as relevant initiatives.

Barriers to Adoption: Several barriers were identified, including:

Familiarity with paper-based credentials.
Lack of a centralized wallet/store - perhaps not needed.
Complexity and intelligibility for users.
Perception that the metaphor of badges is not useful and devalues qualifications. The need for clearer definitions and a unified taxonomy was emphasized
Confusion around terminology (badges vs. micro-credentials vs. qualifications).
Quality assurance challenges.
Employer scepticism and or lack of awareness.
Recruitment processes lagging behind in recognizing digital credentials.
And or many HR and OD systems don't use open standards.
Lack of joined-up thinking across the UK's different educational systems.

Driving Change: How things might change

Regulatory mandates for awarding bodies to provide digital certifications and wallet adopting open standards.
Starting with smaller-scale projects (e.g., Foundation Apprenticeships) to test and build infrastructure.
Focus on qualifications issued to schools, colleges, and work-based learning providers.
Developing case studies showcasing the real-life use of digital credentials.

The ongoing conversation highlights the potential of digital credentials to transform learning and skills recognition, but also captures the challenges that need to be addressed to achieve widespread adoption and ensure that these credentials are valuable for both learners and employers.

I know Patrina and team are keen to talk to employers large and small about their view of digital certification. If you are a Scottish employer please reach out to Patrina using LinkedIn contact above.

My own view it should be digital qualifications supported by open standards for all. You don't need a centralised store just verifiable credentials. Learners without digital access should always be able to access a paper or alternative format.

#Bett25 #Bett2025 How Was My Bett

2025-01-28T17:34:00.007+00:00

I think I say this most years. I am really lucky to have time to attend BETT and given that privilege it is important that I share my own reflections.

Will be remembered as year of big storm up north. I think everyone from Scotland will have a travel tale as all trains and planes cancelled at one point on Friday and trains on Saturday too. We made it home on Sunday.

Here is a quick summary of who I met and what I discovered at this year's BETT25 Conference . It was nice not presenting this year and just being able to move around. I missed last year as I was in Ankara with Turkish Qualifications Authority.

I was a guest and contributor at an excellent Tuesday pre conference event held by 1EdTech really around global intransigence to adopt open standards - I'll blog about that next.

This was the year when - shock horror - private consultants and private companies had to pay to attend BETT. I am chair of an educational charity and got my ticket that way. It seems fair enough that private sector folks pay for entry as a stand at Bett is a really expensive investment. Still lots of scope for meetings in an around London during event. I did notice that the World Education Forum has moved from the Monday and Tuesday of this week to a later date in April. I wonder if that will in time impact international policy makers attendance at BETT.

Here is my quick summary and observations

Queen Elizabeth line to Excel is a revelation for travelling to and from venue and opens up possibility of accommodation across London. ( though others will have spotted that last year)
I was staying between St Martins Kings Cross and Excel, to make it easier to catch up with daughter. Whitechapel was great fun, even managed a curry night with old city pal in his favourite spot. Tayyabs , the lamb chops amazing - I'll be back.
Ministerial address really excellent and on point - though I've heard a few good ones in past. Challenge is that the changes actually happen ( and also the education minister lasts more than a year) but sense that a vision is in place. But sense too from delegates that things on the technical front/blended learning agenda, have slowed down. I do think that the content is king rather than competency based models are winning the arguments at moment in terms of curriculum design. See too the anti-mobile phone lobby. Some bits of system are just so wilfully backward.
Probably less stands but still two halls full and busy on Wed and Thursday and a lot to get around.
Huge esports area, seems to have got bigger and large global area taking up one side of exhibition space. In centre a UK pavilion and lots of action from Department for International Trade ( will this lessen now world education forum not on as present ?) but no real Scottish exhibitor and or agency presence. The international stands made UK pavilion look puny.
Smartboards still everywhere but getting better and better , AI with everything and loads of programmable robots for every stage of learning.
Start Up areas kind of spread about - so not as easy to find and talk to new companies - did meet some Scottish edtech start ups - I hope they got value from BETT. If I can help them I will.
I attended some key notes and sessions. Perhaps just me but I found particularly those in HE Advance area to not be well enough organised or themed and/or well that relevant. Perhaps organisers need to work more closely with Jisc and Association of Learning Technology - but may just have been my timing. I know I missed some great sessions on assessment on day one and on AI on Friday. So may just have been sessions that I attended.
Apple Education seemed to have more of a presence than previous years - perhaps trying to play catch up with Microsoft and Google but while I heard about great developments on Apple classroom front - hard to see how they can make up lost ground.
The size of London Grid for Learning Stand almost as big as Canva and Kahoot. Figured out why and lessons to be learned. They run an Appstore for schools and vendors pay to get inside this. Sensible really and good model for GLOW. The London system supports more schools , teachers and learners than GLOW - I sense too eye on rest of England in terms of services for schools and academy trusts.
Well done Smartboards for facilitating a Scottish edtech gathering on Wednesday afternoon. Was amazed no one from Education Scotland along at this - and indeed at Bett25 - really not a good idea to have no feet on ground.
Panel session with English old guard Mary Bousted, Jim Knight , Robert Halfon - agree with one statement that English system has an obese curriculum thin on skills and competencies and weighed down with too much content.
TeachmeetBett25 I got to for a change and did a two minute plug for learning design and for membership of ALT - thanks too Everway/Texthelp for sponsoring cracking social at Millennium Dome and for old pal Dawn Holly-Bone from 2Simple for chairing so well.
Bonus additional day in London. We walked from Whitechapel across London to the West end, stopping for pie and mash in Smithfield and ending back at Aldgate - for excellent fresh pasta at Emilia's. ( a new chain to me)

As usual I targeted having 30 minute meetings with 10 minutes in between to get around conference. It made for a busy two days but best way to make most of BETT.

Useful bits and bobs with some plugs at end -

Adobe

Express is so good for education and now with more AI built in great for animation https://www.adobe.com/education/express/?

Microsoft - marching on on many fronts. Got along to some great sessions from Mike Tholfsen. He has helpfully blogged about these sessions and included his presentations. Here are some direct links. Liking particularly some of the new Canvas by Instructure integrations. Not sure about the Microsoft Designer plug by offering all attendees a chance to create our own badge avatar - but Microsoft designer is cool.

AI for Educators from Microsoft useful on line course https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/training/paths/ai-education/
More AI for Educators Resources https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/educator-center/topics/ai-for-education
AI classroom Toolkit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/educator-center/instructor-materials/classroom-toolkit-unlock-generative-ai-safely-responsibly
Overview of what is new https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/educationblog/whats-new-in-microsoft-edu-bett-2025-edition/4291951

Google - again moving on many fronts attended some excellent sessions AI and other developments all summarised in one place https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/bett-2025/

Really interesting stuff is Google integration of Gemini, Video, Sheets and Docs and on going development of Notebook LM.

You can find that in link above. You find 11 new ways Google can help you here https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/ai-tools-education-2025

IBM Interesting stuff from Justina Nixon Santil https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/ai-skills-you-need-for-2025

Intel

Still plugging their excellent Skills for Innovation programme

https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/education/intel4education/programs.html

Shameless Plugs

Great to see and chat to Teachermatic Team Bett Gold award winning solution.

Caught up with Louise Jones and Thinglink - an amazing platform and still not used widely enough in Colleges and schools.

Padlet , Canva and Wakelet still brilliant.

This for English composition looks interesting https://olex.ai/ and another competitor for Grammerly https://lex.page/

The Daiverse Project looks interesting for inclusion https://daiverse.eu/

On hunt for some funding - this potentially useful

Though Colleges and training providers should be looking at grant funding from https://ufi.co.uk/

Great to see

All the Scottish Edtechs who made journey and stayed the course and everyone else of course

- special mention to Graham Brown-Martin and Tony Parkin who I haven't seen at Bett for years and Mags Amond from Ireland doing her stuff at Teachmeet and Dawn Holly-Bone 2Simple and Charlie Love - Bett award winner.

Sorry to miss around conference arena

Dom Lukes , Vikki Liogier , Stuart Walker , Matt Wingfield , Elyan Ezekiel, Dan Fitzpatrick, Sara De Freitas, Debs Hill, ClickView team , Scott Renton from City of Glasgow who made decision to head north before storm hit.

And special shout out to Prof Stephen Heppell who is normally a fixture but laid low - still found time to offer advice on Brick Lane Curry spots. Get well soon.

For me funniest moment - International Teachmeet on immersive rooms - a really good session from Finland. Where Finnish colleague repeatedly asked us if we were "aroused" apparently we should always ask students how 'aroused' they feel. You must be 'aroused' to learn.

I'll not take that approach with Scottish staff ;-) . In fairness what was showcased was an immersive learning space - four walls of any image you want with suitable sound effects from forest to nightclub rave.

2024 In Review

2025-01-15T15:32:00.001+00:00

Graphic from Co Author Studio

Strange year, 2024. While Scottish education wrestled with AI's implications, I shifted back to consultancy after 7 years leading digital transformation at City of Glasgow College. The timing proved interesting - just as assessment anxiety peaked and international interest in Scottish vocational education grew and with the funding model for Colleges pretty much in crisis.

Some key developments from 2024:

In College -

• Supported Turkish Vocational Authority's education reform programme with workshops in Ankara.
• Led AI policy development at City of Glasgow College and continued to share this work internationally.
• Presented at QAA Conference on assessment in an AI world and delivered series of workshops on Active, Blended, Collaborative Learning for Tertiary Sector in Scotland and garnered welcome support too from SQA.
• Pushed on continued development of Canvas platform and staff digital skills against some interesting internal headwinds.
•Hosted ALT Scottish SIG - this time on-line from COGC.

Post College -

• Participated in UNESCO's Future of Education bootcamp in Bilbao and now authoring bid with international partnership around adoption of open badge framework to support micro-credentials.
• Continued pushing for open educational resources despite system inertia
• Supported hashtag#Canvascon in Barcelona and facilitated a tertiary sector workshop back in Scotland.
• Ran series of workshops for HE and Colleges on blended learning for QAA including online workshops - deploying model developed @cityofglasgowcollege. Active, Blended and Connected.
• Supported an enjoyable workshop on Future of Learning with Prof Martin Bean.

These posts from LinkedIn capture pivotal moments:

"It's not the end of learning design and blended learning - it is just the beginning." Moving back to consultancy while reflecting on 7 years of institutional change.
https://lnkd.in/eb4anc2y

"It was an amazing privilege to be invited to make presentations and chair workshops in Ankara." Supporting vocational education reform internationally while Scottish reforms continue.
https://lnkd.in/em6K23C8

"Scotland is still not even partly on the bus despite best efforts of hashtag#openscot. Yet we are a country proud of education as a public good." The perpetual challenge of advancing open education.
https://lnkd.in/evGZVnrJ

" It was great to have opportunity to be part of cross sectoral expert team to develop this resource for QAA and associated workshops"
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joerwilson_planning-and-delivery-of-active-blended-learning-activity-7252070604621631488-6Uyb

Grateful to colleagues at City of Glasgow College and the team at Instructure Canvas who helped deliver real change, and to the broader Scottish education community still working to embrace open educational practices despite the obstacles.

Looking ahead to 2025: ready to help more institutions navigate AI integration thoughtfully while continuing to advocate for open education. The challenges around transferable skills and digital capabilities remain much the same as 20 years ago - but the positive relationships between learners and teachers still drive meaningful change.

Broadly I anticipate working with;

UNESCO - Continue shaping bid for project around better understanding of the open source code available for creation and management of Open Badges in support of Micro credentials.
Continue work with UK Digital Badging Commission
Champion - Teachermatic and other AI platforms , Adaptive Comparative Judgement and Canvas by Instructure as means of changing the learning paradigm.
Hopefully continue to support work of QAA around Scottish Tertiary Quality framework.
Continue supporting sensible policy and practice around adoption of AI in vocational system.
Following recent Dubai Summit working with Open Scotland to encourage more open educational practice in Scotland.
Supporting institutions and staff who want to digitally transform their practice and their learners’ experience
Continue as chair of ALT Scotland SIG and have a bit more time for community building - perhaps exploring new community platform.
Where I can, offer informed input on shape of tertiary sector and future of vocational landscape including qualifications.
Continue having more me time - great trips since great escape to London, Berlin, Bologna, Viareggio, Lucca and France - along with business trips been a busy end of year.

To everyone working to make education more open and accessible: it is always the people who make the difference. Be as optimistic and cheerful as your learners.

Here's to more progress in 2025.

Off the Fence: How Should Colleges in Scotland be Funded.

2024-12-31T15:00:00.008+00:00

Perhaps fittingly, I'm authoring this as my ham cooks for New Year.

I count myself fortunate to have been one of the 700 staff who left the Scottish Further Education (FE) sector in recent years, following a fantastic 38-year career and better still, my skills are still in demand.

As I reflect on my time in this vital sector, it seems fitting to publish these thoughts at a time of hope and renewal. Ever the optimist, I believe in the potential for change.

Over the years, I’ve worked with national agencies responsible for awarding, funding, and staff development. I’ve collaborated with or worked for all the Glasgow colleges, including serving for 15 years on three college boards. Yet, I’ve never seen the sector in a more precarious position than it is today.

Scottish FE colleges are a cornerstone of the nation’s educational landscape. They provide vocational training, open pathways to higher education, and offer opportunities for lifelong learning. These institutions reflect Scotland’s historical commitment to accessible, practical education for all, evolving to meet the changing needs of society and the economy.

You won't find these stats in many places in terms of life long learning but most of the Scottish population are touched by a College at some point in their life. More so than say a university.

They are a critical community resource. Vocational or leisure all of my family and friends have benefitted from a College course. It is the same across the country.

Having stepped away from the system, I feel compelled to highlight its challenges. These issues run deep, and it’s disheartening to see no sensible solutions on the near horizon. Agencies that once offered support and guidance are now in disarray.

Despite this, college boards, principals, teaching, and support staff continue to innovate and deliver exceptional results for their learners. However, the system they operate within is inherently unfair, inequitable, and in dire need of reform.

Staff are overwhelmed by the dual expectations placed on colleges: to close the attainment gap and drive social mobility, while also addressing skills shortages. These ambitious goals are undermined by ever-diminishing resources. Colleges, which could be a powerful engine for economic renewal both locally and nationally, are starved of the sustained support they need. In some cases, poor workplace relationships—driven largely by a lack of resources or a clearly articulated and funded national strategy, exacerbate these struggles.

It is rare to see college principals or even Colleges Scotland publicly addressing these issues. Given that college chairs are government appointed and principals are employed by college boards, it’s a testament to the severity of the crisis when these leaders dare to speak out. It is tough speaking truth to power and we need much more of this.

It's perhaps simply better that the public are aware of the manifest imbalance in the system.

The challenges, are undeniable. Audit Scotland has been flagging the sector’s fiscal issues for years. We are now past the critical point.

If there is less money in the system, a fresh approach is essential. The tertiary sector needs rebalancing, and there must be an acknowledgment that “free” higher education comes at a cost to the system as a whole.

Colleges operate differently from universities. I began my career as a local authority employee, transitioned to working for incorporated colleges, and ultimately worked for a regional college. Throughout this journey, colleges have always been directly reliant on public funding. Today, they are controlled and funded by the Scottish Government via the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Unlike universities, which enjoy greater fiscal freedom, colleges are almost entirely instruments of government policy.

When a College gets into really deep challenges, the leadership team and even the College Board can be replaced, this is not how a University senate operates.

Recent history—particularly regionalisation—demonstrates that the system can be radically reshaped through direct intervention. Yet, what is lacking today is a clear vision, a direct steer, and mostly, appropriate funding.

Addressing these issues requires fundamental changes to how the education budget is allocated across the tertiary sector. There may not be more money but the resource needs to be distributed in a more equitable and focused way across life long learning.

While universities are also facing financial pressures, they have much more autonomy in managing their resources and have been more effective in lobbying.

Their stronger connections to senior politicians across the political divide, many of whom find posts in the university sector after public service, may partly explain the lack of collective political will to address these imbalances.

It is not simply that old chestnut that the policy makers and journalists move from school to university and they don't understand what Colleges do. It is much more pernicious. I think it may be some time before for instance the esteemed educational departments within our University sector speak out and or offer any solutions to the current College crisis. Their output on vocational learning is still scant.

The disparity is stark. Glasgow residents cannot fail to notice the large-scale campus developments across the university sector, as well as the booming private student accommodation market. While academics often face precarious short-term contracts, for some universities, this is a golden age of campus expansion. Others, however, face much bleaker prospects.

What Needs to Change

Within the current college policy framework, certain elements appear for the present to be immutable: regionalisation, national pay and conditions bargaining, lecturer membership of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), and “free” higher education.

Yet, there are areas ripe for reform. Here are some questions and suggestions—some more radical than others:

1. Regionalisation: What is the point of college regions if they aren’t connected to more regional funding?

2. Funding Integration: Break down siloed funding within the SFC for further and higher education. Include funding for work-based learning and ensure activities are funded at the same rate. This would mean reallocating some university funding to colleges and work-based learning. Yes, there are proposals here but things are simply moving far too slowly.

3. Differentiated University Funding: Recognize that universities are not all the same. Adjust funding formulas to reflect these differences and use public funding to shape what is available. Any course at a University should surely be based upon national occupational standards. This would support proper articulation links and save whole sector and learners a lot of money.

Some institutions may value global status over local delivery but let them make that strategic decision.

4. University Mergers: Encourage mergers within the university sector.

Perhaps make the old guard of research led universities have much closer partnerships with teaching led institutions and/or make newer institutions merge.

Any changes here are tough with current governance arrangements. For example, a merger between Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of the West of Scotland could create efficiencies and similarly in Edinburgh and Dundee regions.

UHI is a gordian knot - arguably Perth, Moray , Inverness and other partners need strong local College provision.

5. Inclusive Development: Ensure that any nationally funded development projects include colleges and work-based learning. How does the National Manufacting Institute for Scotland and Data Lab and other initiatives link deeply with Colleges, Training Providers and schools.

6. Open Education: Foster the adoption of UNESCO’s policies on open education across all sectors, including schools and local authorities. Let's make learning much more accessible to all.

Perhaps it’s even time to consider the unthinkable: university-college mergers. While this may seem radical, it could pave the way for a more integrated and equitable tertiary education system.

My caution against this would be that the very sector that that can be fleet of foot. That has short flexible courses and a vocational focus could easily be absolutely stifled by our slow ponderous and expensive higher education system.

The simplest solution is an equalised funding formula for every candidate for public contribution to tertiary education in Scotland.

In College, in University in work based learning the disparity in funding needs to stop and focus needs to be on learning and skills.

I better go a check my ham - Happy New Year to one and all.

Shaping The Future of Education Session with Martin Bean

2024-12-16T16:28:00.007+00:00

It was great to present alongside Professor Martin Bean To an audience of colleges and universities including some former colleagues. This was a busy session at City of Glasgow College around shaping the future of education.

Thanks to the team at canvas by Instructure for facilitating this session.

A summary below for folks who could not make it along.

Martin laid out well the challenges facing global education. Generally we are far too slow to embrace innovation and deal with disruption. This has been familiar cry over the 38 years I have worked in the sector but more critical now than ever.

We may not appreciate challenges like

"Today is the slowest day of the rest of your working life" But there is a truism here, change is becoming ever more rapid.

I summarise below some of Martin's gems but you really should get hold of his latest book ToolKit for Turbulance

There is a re-skilling emergency across the world

https://www.weforum.org/publications/putting-skills-first-a-framework-for-action/

While LinkedIn and others are busily mapping opportunities and candidates to skill descriptions and using AI to provide tailored learning solutions and microcredentials for learners. The established providers of learning are moving too slowly.

Knowledge and skills are a currency. The workforce need regular updates and current students need courses that are regularly reviewed, updated and delivered flexibly. Paper diplomas are old currency and current validation processes too slow.

Useful examples to have a look at

Australia developing a digital skills passport to be used across life long learning.

https://www.education.gov.au/national-skills-passport-consultation

https://www.mypassglobal.com/

Even tied into migration policies

https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/consultations/draft-core-skills-occupations-list

In Europe the Europass continues to be developed

https://europa.eu/europass/eportfolio/

These developments allow the true creation of learning pathways based on micro/meso and macro digital certifications than stack together. In Australia being built around digital competency national skills descriptors.

Digitally native Learners are moving to online platforms - examples 8 million Google professional certificates through Coursera , Salesforce and their Trailhead Academy Futurelearn in UK with 14million users

Institutions often spend to much time focusing on their physical estate and do not realise that investment in their digital estate can deliver real value to their learners.

The final challenge -

Surely, Scotland with a new tertiary system should be looking at a digitally enabled skills passport/digital wallet for learners in Colleges, Universities and work based learning. It would support employers and life long learners and make candidate search and opportunity discovery easier for all. ( I know a few Scottish innovators in this space who would agree)

My own reflection too much time and energy has been spent in changing the policy landscape and not enough time has been spent on looking at some of these system level changes in Scotland. It's easier to shuffle around agencies and lines of responsibility than to deliver real change in system.

I followed up with a session focussing on how these challenges could be picked up in Scotland and what solutions institutions should be putting in place. On the day I focused on challenges and vanilla solutions for broad audience. The presentation also covers how we used Canvas by Instructure to future proof our delivery. I've redacted delegates inputs on day - feedback was really positive.

I look forward to supporting future sessions.

Co-creating open solutions through interdisciplinary collaboration for the future of education

2024-12-09T18:15:00.001+00:00

It was a pleasure to attend the Open Solutions Workshop in Bilbao as a guest of #UNESCO and the University of Monterrey.

The eProjects Bootcamp is an initiative that focused on equipping participants with the skills and knowledge needed to develop and implement innovative projects using technology.

I am now working on a global education project around applications of the open badges framework. A number of the other projects have a focus on AI and teachers and learner skills and around Open Educational Resources.

It was great to work with focused colleagues from around the world and have a little time to see around Bilbao and enjoy Spanish hospitality.

In due course I will be in touch with relevant institutions and agencies in UK who will benefit from working with this collaborative.

It was well run, very focused, and a challenging couple of days. It was good to work with teams who were technically able and prepared to hit the ground running. We made full use of the tools that were available to us including https://grantedai.com/