Podcasts about Jisc

Digifest 2025 may be over but here's your chance to hear one of the podcasts recorded live at the event. Host Iwan Lehnert welcomes Mark Andrews, principal strategic development manager at Adobe and Jonathan Hofgartner, head of learning and teaching - licensing at Jisc to discuss how integrating Adobe Express into curriculum design and delivery aligns with key themes in Jisc's digital transformation framework for higher education. Discover how insights on digital culture and curriculum development are shaping the partnership between Jisc and Adobe to support institutions who have invested in Adobe Express via Jisc's software licensing. Watch a video version of the podcast. Show notes Sign up for Digifest 2026 updates Learn more about the Transforming Together: Leading and Learning programme Read about Jisc's framework for digital transformation in higher education Visit the Chest website to learn about the Jisc Adobe ETLA agreement with new Adobe Express option Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you.

Simon Birkett is joined by Professor Phil Hanna, Stefanie Savage-Campbell, and Dr. Aidan Deery from Queen's University Belfast to discuss embracing AI, digital transformation, and the evolving role of education.  The team share how Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is taking a proactive approach to AI, focusing on innovation and student success while balancing risks and opportunities.   They go on to highlight the university's focus on values, behaviours, and adaptability in digital education discussing how fostering a supportive culture enables students and staff to experiment with new technologies and approaches to learning.   Looking ahead, the team discusses the future of digital transformation in education. From curriculum design to the integration of AI in teaching and assessment, they explore the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for institutions adapting to an ever-changing digital landscape.   Listen to the full episode to hear insights on leadership in digital transformation, strategies for supporting staff and students, and predictions for the future of education in a rapidly evolving technological world.  Show Notes  Views shared by beyond the technology guests do not necessarily represent the views of Jisc  Subscribe to our Headlines newsletter, for all the latest news, guidance and events tailored to you  If you want to come on the show, or have any questions, get in touch with us by emailing podcast@jisc.ac.uk  Read the findings from our digital transformation research pilot.  Find out more about embracing AI with confidence at Jisc. 

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 5th March 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakmensah/Zak Mensah is the co-CEO of Birmingham Museums Trust. He is passionate about helping their service make an impact by focusing on the needs of over 1 million visitors. He is encouraging the organization to adopt a "digital by default" approach. Zak's mission is to ensure that their people, skills, and services remain adaptable to the rapidly changing landscape of the cultural sector. He is exploring new ways of doing things, including innovative business models, partnerships, and arts-related KPIs, while sharing as much as possible publicly.With a background in staff development and digital, Zak has been involved with the web since the late 90s and has seen its influence grow in all aspects of life. Prior to joining the arts sector in 2013, he helped small businesses, charities, Jisc, universities, and the Heritage Lottery Fund "do" digital well.Zak also runs his own consultancy to promote positive change and keep his skills sharp. His goal is to make a ruckus. https://www.vam.ac.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyakino-wittering/Amy Akino-Wittering is Head of Operations and Commercial at Young V&A, which opened July 2023 and recently won Art Fund Museum of the Year and Kids in Museums, Family Friendly Museum of the Year awardsResponsible for the general management of Young V&A she directly manages the visitor experience and teams, catering contract, volunteering and back of house operations, collaborating closely with central V&A colleagues to deliver operations and income for Young V&A. Previously Amy worked at V&A South Kensington as Senior Visitor Experience Manager-Sales and was on the opening project team leading on visitor experience and retail at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.She started her career at Imperial War Museums working across sites from assistant to management roles in Retail and Admissions and systems management.  https://www.hampshireculture.org.uk/​​https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-sapwell-b3b2a281/Paul Sapwell has been Chief Executive at independent arts and culture charity Hampshire Cultural Trust since 2018, having joined the trust in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer following an early career primarily in hospitality and leisure. Paul is a passionate believer in the transformative power that cultural experiences can have on the wellbeing of individuals and communities, and a prominent advocate for the role of commercial growth, underpinned by a flexible, entrepreneurial team culture, in sustaining museum and arts organisations. Transcription: Paul Marden: The museums and culture sector are facing unprecedented headwinds. Static or reducing funding from local government, fewer grants from trusts and foundations, all while dealing with increased people costs. The continued headwinds from cost of living crisis. But this sector continues to deliver more with less and support the cultural life of our country. Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue. I'm your host, Paul Marden and in today's episode recorded the Science Museum at the Association of Cultural Enterprises View from the Top event. I'm joined by Amy Akino-Wittering, Head of Operations and Commercial at Young V&A. Zak Mensah, Co CEO of Birmingham Museums Trust, and Paul Sapwell, CEO of Hampshire Cultural Trust. Paul Marden: And we're going to talk about how the cultural sector can innovate in order to thrive. Anyone that's listened to the podcast before will know. And this is the nervous bit. Paul Marden: We always start with an icebreaker question which my lovely guests victims have not been prepared for. So, Zak, I'm afraid you go first, my friends. So if you were a cartoon character, which cartoon character would you be? Zak Mensah: That's easy. I think I would be the thing that gets chased by the. Is it the wild Cody who runs around all his home? But I'd be the. What's the little, the stupid Roadrunner. Yeah, so I would be Roadrunner because you constantly are literally running 100 miles an hour and then a giant piano lands on you at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon, but you respawn on the Monday and you start all over again. Pretty much feels like me. Paul Marden: I love that. I love that. Amy, you're next. Let's think of all of the inventions over the last hundred years that were offered. Flying cars, those sorts of things. What is the one thing were promised that you really miss and think we really need in our lives? Amy Akino-Wittering: I think a Time Turner, which is basically from Harry Potter. Basically you can just go and do things like six. They do six days all at once. Paul Marden: You can be Hermione if you've got a Time Turner. Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, great. Paul Marden: Excellent. I love that, Amy. Thank you. Paul. Paul Sapwell: You said these were going to be under no pressure. I wouldn't have liked. I wouldn't have liked either of those. Paul Marden: Oh, well, you're not going to like this one then. I'm sorry, mate, I'm, I, I live in Hampshire. Paul runs Hampshire Cultural Trust. Paul. Paul Sapwell:  Oh, even better. Paul Marden: Saints or Pompey? Paul Sapwell:  Oh, blimey. Okay, well that's, I'm an Arsenal fan. Paul Marden: So there we go. Paul Sapwell: I couldn't possibly answer Saints or Pompey? I mean, we border both. So I would just be in so much trouble if I pick one or the other. So I can. I've got to get out. Paul Marden: Are you dodging that one? Paul Sapwell: Yeah. I thought you might watch Arsenal regularly. Paul Marden: I thought you might. So we are going to start with a question from somebody from the audience, a young man named Gordon. Apparently he might be a millennial. And he says, After 15 years of turmoil, financial crash, austerity, Brexit, Covid, we face continuing cost of living issues, rising national insurance and a Trump presidency. Are we doomed in 2025? Or to put it slightly better, what are the biggest risks for your organisation and the wider sector, and what are you each doing to thrive in the year ahead? And I'm going to start with you, Paul. Paul Sapwell: That's an easy question, isn't it? Paul Marden: You can thank young Gordon. Paul Sapwell: Brilliant Gordon, Yeah. I mean, I think 2025 is going to be an incredibly tricky year, but to sort of look further than that. I'm certainly an optimist, but I think we're in a time of transition, particularly in terms of our sector, in the cultural sector, in terms of what's going to fund us and what's going to sustain us going forward. You know, I think the years of the level. I think a lot of the speakers have touched on it, but the years of the level of public sector funding is, whatever happens with this government and next is going to be going down and we just have to face that. I run an organisation which we started out in 2019. We're about 85% publicly funded. Now we're 34% publicly funded with the same turnover, I hasten to add. Paul Sapwell: And so we've made a good go of it, but I think the headwinds this year are really difficult. That said, I think that we have to be confident investing for the longer term and particularly, obviously, in this conference in areas of commercial growth. I think that, okay, the growth projections have been downgraded. I am confident that we will, as the decade continues, move into a period of growth. And we've got to be looking at the long term rather than the short term. The trick is, of course, not running out of money in the short term. And that's a really difficult place to be. Paul Marden: In the water, just here. Paul Sapwell: I don't have an easy answer to that, but I think fundamentally, you've got to give the customer what they want and the customer is still there. Paul Sapwell: And we have a fantastic product. But we've got to certainly pivot much further towards what customers want commercially, in my view, than putting as much emphasis as probably we did 10 years ago on trying to find more and more public funding, because I think that's going down. Paul Marden: Zak, have you got any thoughts on that? Zak Mensah: Yeah, I mean, in terms of money, just generally people want to back winners. So I think one of the difficult things that internally we can all say it's doom and gloom, because it does feel that doom and gloom. There are definitely days, weeks and months. I think it's right to say that it's doom and gloom. Like you can be optimist but still understand it's difficult time. And I think a lot of our, you know, a lot of our workforces certainly feel that, it can feel very difficult because every year they ask, will they have their job? Right. And that's a really fair question to ask. And we sometimes as leaders kind of say, “Oh, if we can get through the next two years, but two years for normal staff are sometimes a very long time to try and say, “You or may have not have a job to make life through.”Zak Mensah: So I think that's something I always think back in back of my mind. I think a lot of the difficulties, whichever flavour of government is about understanding how to be more savvy, about understanding the trends, about things that are fundable. Because there are lots of things that were funded 10, 20 years ago, that money has dried up. And so we've all got to think about, for example, a lot of people now looking at, well, being a speaker this afternoon was talking about more on EDI, for example, and how younger people certainly are interested in having more of a purpose driven business. Is how for us, we can make sure we're focused on the, what I was called, the user need. So the needs that people use us. Zak Mensah: Because if you can concentrate and focus on what they want, whether it be money, otherwise that ultimately does lead to a business model. Because there's no point saying just because museums and galleries have been around for 100 to 200 years, they have an absolute right to exist. The only way they exist is because every decade or whatever there's another crisis comes along and a group of people, including ourselves here, live in this room, but also listening to this make it happen. Like, we've got to convince councillors, government, businesses to be part of that journey. Because the funny thing I will say is that, you know, at Birmingham Museums, the art gallery was founded in 1885 by industry people. It was industry people that founded it. It was industry people who wanted the city to have great arts. Zak Mensah: And so now we're turning back to those same people and saying, "We need you to now step up and contribute." It doesn't always have to be money. It could be in kind support, could be advocacy. That's the kind of thing that we need to do as leaders right now, in addition to the normal making the money work and stretch as far as we can. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Amy, what are you doing at Young V&A to thrive in the year ahead and face some of these challenges? Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, absolutely. So we've now been open for just over two years, so I feel kind of, well, coming up to two years. And so I feel we're kind of in that stage where we kind of opened and sort of just try to make sure that we are operationally savvy. And last year was very much about refining that. And I think this year is very much about what's next and how can we build upon kind of success of opening, looking at ways in which we can innovate through doing new kind of commercial opportunities, but also how can we develop our audiences. And as well as part of kind of the wider V&A, we've got two more sites opening as well. Amy Akino-Wittering: So how as an organisation are we going to work together to kind of be in this new family of sites and work together through there? So I think for us in the kind of coming year is all about, what's next? We've opened the door. We started with a really strong foundation and a really strong vision, but then how can we keep on innovating and keep iterating that to improve? Paul Marden: Excellent. I'm going touch on stuff that Lewis talked about a minute ago. One of his reflections I really liked was thinking about how do we create a space for colleagues to engage with some of these really important issues that have been on the PowerPoints. Zak, maybe you could start. What do you think your organisation can do to act as bottom up catalyst for change as opposed to trying to drive these changes from the top down? Zak Mensah: I think the first thing is about understanding that there are a lot of people who do want to be able to voice their hopes and fears around a whole host of subjects, whether it be specifically around, if you're ethnic minority, about your fear of living in the UK, if you have climate, lots of important subjects people want to talk about. You know, I think certainly internally, and I'll be very clear about this, I think there's a very different view sometimes about the difference between internal and the external voice of the organisation. So what we see a lot of is staff individually believe that as a service there are lots of things we could and should be talking about publicly that may or may not directly align with how as a leader we see it. Zak Mensah: So, you know, there are lots of fights we do get into. We can't get into every single fight. And sometimes there's a real fine balance around what we decide to go for. So if you take during Black Lives Matter example, me and Sarah Shropshire started in November 2020, there was an expectation that immediately we would be like the spokesperson for the whole museum sector about black and brown issues. And like, it's really hard to say, actually. I am not speaking on behalf of every single person in the whole country. I do take it seriously and we set up internally ways people to talk about it, but didn't always feel appropriate. Zak Mensah: And I'll give another example is around, for example, war. Any one time there's something like 15 global conflicts happening and, you know, we talk and go backwards and forwards internally sometimes about, you know, do we talk about them publicly? If we talk about them internally, how we talk about them, do we single one out or do we talk about them all? Are they equal? How do you equally talk about things are very horrific for a number of people?Zak Mensah: And knowing that we've got staff from dozens of countries who all have different views on how their homeland or area they're interested in is impacted. Things are very horrific for a number of people. But I do think that there's always. It's always really tricky because the best conversations and the best conversations need care and a lot of the conversations happen in like, pockets that we have no control over. Zak Mensah: And so it's again, how do you set an environment as a leader that is allowing the bottom up to do their own thing, but in a way that isn't going to be detrimental to the whole workforce? Because I think it is. Again, I mentioned it's been. It's really tricky and that's the simple truth. It is no easy answer to these things because if it was easy, we'd all solved it. Yeah. But acknowledging it there, it's the elephant in the room, I think is really important and growing to be more and more important for us as leaders. Paul Marden: I think Lewis was saying it's really important to know where you stand on issues and it is okay for you to have a stance on issues that says, I'm not going to make a stand on this one issue. I thought that was a really interesting perspective. Imy's talk. I think were talking a lot about the journey of Titanic Belfast, which I love as a museum, to go to a museum that emotionally moved me as much with so very few actual artefacts. I just think it's an amazing storytelling experience. But you talked a little bit about the team and what you do to be able to nurture that team. And one of the things that we're talking about is trying to get 110% out of everybody getting to more with less, getting them to innovate. Paul Marden: How do you balance all of those challenges and not break the people and maintain a 98% retention rate like Titanic does? Paul? Paul Sapwell: Well, maintaining a 98 retention rate, I think fairly unprecedented and huge congratulations. I mean, I think it follows on a bit from what Zak was saying, actually. You know, it's tough, isn't it, being leaders in terms of whether you're making that kind of external message or whether you've got a tough internal message. I mean, I've always taken a stance that you've got to be as transparent as you possibly can be and people will go a long way with you if it doesn't appear that things are being taken in a dark room somewhere. And I think for us, what we've tried to do is to put in the mechanisms for that to happen. I've been really fortunate to work with a fantastic people director, Hampshire Cultural Trust. Paul Sapwell: One of the first things, I think you've also got to make a stance, by the way, on people being important. One of the first things I did as CEO was say we need a people director. It's quite rare in the heritage sector. I came from hospitality, it was the norm. It's an odd thing that people and HR doesn't always sit at the top table. Sometimes it's sort of delegated down in operations or even finance. So I think that's really important and we needed a strategy and part of that is putting in place a lot of the stuff that you talked about of the Titanic, which I think is really impressive. And we're somewhere on that journey, but not quite as far along, but proper employee forums where you listen. Paul Sapwell: I meet with an employee elected employee forum quarterly and talk to them about all issues with nothing off the table. We also have an EDI group with a mix, again, senior leadership on there talking about these issues. And I think that, you know, if there was one thing I would say it's, you're not always going to be able to give easy answers, are you? This year we're being hit with an enormous national insurance hit to the staff costs and that is going to affect pay. I can't pretend that it isn't. And if we're going to not run out of money in the next few years, we're going to have to give less of a pay increase this year than we would like to. Paul Sapwell: But we've been talking about that openly since it hit and I hope that our team will go, will understand, but obviously that doesn't make it, make it easy. And I think the same is true with the issues that you're talking about. You can't take a stance on every single issue that comes through each of these forums every quarter, but you have a conversation about it. And I think that's the most important bit for me. Paul Marden: Amy, I'm going to segue wide away from today's talks. Regular listeners will know that I'm a Trustee of Kids in Museums and I was chatting with my fellow trustees about today's event and we wondered, given the impact of the cultural sector, on the impact that it has on the lives of young people and how there are so many challenges at the moment for disadvantaged young people to engage in the sector. You know, we all know that post Covid, many schools have cut their school visits into museums and galleries. I pick you because Young V&A was the winner of Kids in Museums Family Friendly Awards last year. So let's just start with you and talk about what are the innovative things that you've done to break down barriers to encourage children and families to engage in the museum. Amy Akino-Wittering: Yes, of course. So Young V&A when we kind of opened its entire purpose is about engaging children. It's all about kind of that creative confidence in Generation Alpha. And so the whole museum has been designed with and for young people. So its target audience is between naught to 14 year olds. We spoke with over 22,000 young people in the development of the museum to hear what do they want from it. I think there's a survey which said that 40% of children thought that museums were boring and it weren't places for them. So, well, what can we do as we've got this opportunity to redevelop, to make sure that it is a place that people want to go and enjoy and be themselves. Amy Akino-Wittering: And so that was kind of like the North Star in terms of what every kind of decision in the kind of opening and making and running of Young V&A is really centred around this as well. And so it goes from the aesthetic in terms of the height of things, the bright colours from this swirling staircase that we have at Young V&A, which came from an idea that someone wanted to helter skelter in the space to the tone of voice in our interpretation and also how the objects are displayed. We've got objects from across the V&A, we've got over 2,000 objects. But it's not just the museum as was the Museum of Childhood collection, it's from across all of the different departments of the V&A. And it's been curated with that kind of child centred and child focused way. Amy Akino-Wittering: Co design is also a really kind of core part of it as well. So we kind of co designed with local audiences and children for various design displays and also co curation. So each gallery was co curated between the learning team and the curatorial team as well. And then obviously we've kind of got to actually open the building and have a team to deliver that visitor experience. And again, that is all very much fed through that audience lens. And so we looked at our structures of, you know, what types of people do we want in the space? You know, our core audience are children. We need people who want to engage with that audience. It's a very specific kind of audience, but also we are a hyper local organisation as well and so how can we encourage applicants from the local boroughs? Amy Akino-Wittering: So we drove a very inclusive recruitment process where we basically did a behaviour led process for recruitment, we redid all the job descriptions, went out into our local community, did workshops and CV surgeries and basically just made it as easy as possible for people to apply and get interview. And the kind of core things that were looking at was behaviours. We can teach people how to go on a till or to learn how to do fire evacuations, but actually it's much harder to get people because that's what the job is. You know, the majority, you know, all your visitors will come to a touch point with the front of house team. They are your most important ambassadors. Amy Akino-Wittering: So we need to make sure that we've got the best kind of resources and time and structure in place to support them, to give the best possible experience that we can. So we spent a lot of time doing that. We spent a lot of time as well working Kids in Museums come in and do training about specific family engagement training as well, which has been really beneficial. And then also we really believe that, you know, the customer experience, the visitor experience is directly impacted by the employee experience. You can't expect the team to deliver this amazing, joyful visitor experience if actually they're pretty miserable behind the scenes. So how can we make sure that the structures that we have and the environment that we have is reflective of how we want them to be on the floor as well? Amy Akino-Wittering: So we make sure that we have forums to make sure that, you know, people can have their say. We make sure. So we did this team charter, which was this sort of collaborative effort to see, like, how do you want to feel in the workplace, but also how do you want your visitors to feel? And actually, it was all very similar in terms of the outcomes that came from that kind of exercise. And it's these kind of agreement that we have together to how we're going to work together and those kind of things which we do to ensure. It's that kind of frequent communication and making sure that we're on the same page and it kind of brings that joy which then comes out to the visitors. Amy Akino-Wittering: And that is kind of I think all those things together has all really helped in terms of when someone comes into the space, children, they're front and centre. They really feel like it's a place for them and they've got kind of people around them which really get them and that they will help facilitate their curiosity and things like that. So that's what we've done. Paul Marden: Amazing. Paul, have you got some thoughts? Paul Sapwell: Yeah. I love what you're saying about the visitor. The visitor services guys on the front desk. I mean, they are the most important people, essentially, and that's why I was nodding vigorously. I think that's part of what I was talking about earlier in terms of pivot into more of a commercial view, because a commercial company completely relies on their customer who comes in. And I think my experience of being in an organisation that's moved out of being run predominantly by a council to one that's independent now was, I've got to be honest, at the start, that wasn't how it felt. Paul Sapwell: And actually you could produce big lists of visitor figures, but ultimately, if they went up or down, it didn't really matter because the funding was going to stay the same, whatever, and there would be other metrics, and I think that's the big shift in mentality, because if you don't give the customer what they want, and that means really valuing people on your front line. And, you know, we've had conversations at the Museum Association about it, about how there's almost been that divide in museums between the people who talk to your customers and the museum staff. And I think that's a really. Or people who would see themselves doing proper museum work. And I think that, you know, that's something we've got to. We're moving in the right direction, but we've got to move quicker. Paul Marden: All of our best memories, aren't they, of going to these places are not necessarily about the amazing artefacts, it's the stories that your team tell people when they interact with them. You feel so happy as a result of it. I think of some amazing experiences. Zak, have you got any thoughts on this? Innovative ways in which we make museums family friendly, how we encourage make them more children friendly? Zak Mensah: Well, the first thing is it's something like 50% of people have children. And so knowing that is in the UK is a thing. Just knowing that as a fact. Right. Means that thinking then about families who will come, but also the staff workforce. Because again, like, you know, if your staff, you're your biggest advocates we just talked about is making it friendly for people to have children in the workforce means that most people recommend it and word of mouth is the biggest way that you can influence people and then from that when people come. So we've got nine venues overall pre pandemic, have a million visitors a year. Zak Mensah: We say we're family friendly, but I've got two young children and quite often the experience, not just my place, but other places doesn't actually say match up with that because like just saying to a seven year old, you must love art, doesn't really work, right, if it's Blue. Paul Marden: Can't tell them. You can't just make them like, yeah. Zak Mensah: I can't tell anything because anyone in my family anything. If you convince about bluey=, then you've got another chance. But you know, you've got to think about actually what is their experience going to be. So, you know, have you got picnic area? Have you got toilets? Lots of toilets. Do you allow your staff, for example, in previous roles? We allow people, if they want to do potty training, they could do potty training in the gallery. Because the reality was if they didn't use the potty that they had in their bag, it was going somewhere else. And so I remember watching in horror as someone literally tried to scoop up a child and move their parent out of a gallery to start to go to the toilet. Zak Mensah: And I was like, there was no way they were going to make it out that door. I would love to have that CCTV footage because I bet that was quite interesting. But, you know, it sounds, you know, some sort of flippant and fun. Zak Mensah: But that's the little thing because like all those little things about making it, you know, enjoyable. Because if you can make it enjoyable for the. For the parent or the guardian, you can make it fun for the, you know, for the kids. You know, you have to have sharp crayons and pencils. Whatever it is, like always things that's really kids don't want much. That's the little thing because like all those little things about making it, you know, enjoyable. Right. Like, if you can give them almost that version of experience to make people think it's good. Because I think we sometimes dissociate the child's experience with the fact they're with someone else. So actually you've got to make it good for the people that they're with. And quite often people do it, you know, who take. Zak Mensah: They might take the extended family. So they'll say like, you know, I'll take my niece or whatever, I'm there. And they don't usually actually have to have the children. So sometimes they need help as well, you know, to make sure the experience. Paul Marden: Extra needs to be able to solve the kids' problems. Zak Mensah: Absolutely. So for me it's about making it that friendly from that perspective. So often with school trips, for example, it's how can you make the school trips fun? Because I see quite a lot of kids on school trips that they sort of being marched through and forced to go. So then they're less likely to recommend it to their parents and their parents just like to come. So for me, it's kind of like trying to use that learning visit which often people's first. Most people tell me, I've been to museum as a child and they usually get towards school age, secondary school, and they don't go anymore. Paul Marden: Yes. Zak Mensah: So it's like, how do we make sure that. I don't think as a sector where family friendly enough, other than those people who already are super engaged, they make the kids have fun. I'm probably talking about my trauma now. Paul Marden: Let's return today's speakers. Let's just talk a little bit about Mike's discussion of using behavioural models to influence buying decisions. Yeah. What are the biggest behavioural barriers that you see within your organisation? In terms of visitor experience, from kind of awareness through to decision making, what could you do? What could you change? Zak Mensah: So the first obvious one is a lot of people are terrified of being in spaces because they're not sure how to behave. There's this weird secret code that doesn't. It's not actually written down anywhere that people think the museum experience has got to be quiet, that it's got to be. That you've got to know what you're looking at. It can't just be fun. And actually having. Just having fun is a really important part of what you want to do. So for us, I think the problem is, as well as once you work in the sector, those barriers are invisible because you just work there. You feel comfortable now coming. Yeah. And so the behaviour part is super interesting. And so, for example, it's a phrase I sometimes use around, like. Zak Mensah: It's around this idea of, like, “People like us do things like this”, which I stole from Seth Godin. So, you know, what we did, for example, is w e now don't have staff uniform because we've got quite a diverse. We're dividing diversity in Birmingham and we want people to feel comfortable and recognise people outside the building who then might be going, like, sure, I might. Hoodies, for example. If you wear a hoodie, you might own. The museum's. Not for me, the museums for other people who wear suits, etc. So actually, if they see staffing. Yeah, if they see staff in hoodies or whatever, in hijabs or niqab, whichever outfit they want to wear, then that is a signal about those people are welcome. Zak Mensah: That's one example where that idea came from the team about how we can show and tell and do what we say we're going to do, rather than just saying, “Oh, but we're really friendly museums are great and come in.” Because actually they are intimidating from the outside. They're often intimidating intellectually. Paul Marden: Yep. Zak Mensah: The train, the media, all the time is being really high brow all the time. So it's like actually we. We have to find ways to accept that those barriers exist. And that often means finding people who don't use you to actually tell you that. And we've just finished a citizen's jury, for example, which had almost 30 people who are representative of the city come in and 80% of them at the first meeting said they didn't think the museum is relevant to them. Those are ordinary people who live in the city who. That's 80% of those people. Four in five people don't think the museum is relevant for them, even though we know that we could make it relevant to them. And that was a really sad, shocking figure, but also is motivating. Zak Mensah: And I think our job, you know, as leaders is how do we help people feel inclusive, to be an inclusive space and then like. And go for it. Paul Marden: Excellent. Thank you, Amy. Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, I think a lot of what we have done as well is to try and go out of our four walls of Young V&A as well. So we do a lot of kind of community engagement as well through kind of the learning team as well as for volunteering programme. Like we rocked up at stores at Whitechapel Market and kind of saying, “This is our kind of programme”, just chatting with people where they haven't heard of Young V&A even though it's down the road. And so it's like, how can we, yeah, kind of go out and about and also kind of advocate across as well. And then also it's like when people do kind of take that step to actually go onto our site and then come into the building making sure that the visitor experience is as inclusive, as welcoming as possible. Similar. Amy Akino-Wittering: We also just have aprons and they can wear whatever they want underneath and just again, so as people feel relaxed and they feel when our audiences come in, they say, oh yeah, no, that's something that I might wear. Or you know, they just feel more kind of settled and at home. So that's something that's really important that we kind of do as well. Paul Marden: Lovely, Paul. Paul Sapwell: The biggest challenge for us, I mean being a smaller organisation and a brand that isn't known. As well as it could be, I think our biggest challenge now is that customer journey from online through to what you get when you arrive and we're not consistent enough. And I know we'd all talk about this forever but you know, big commercial organisations do this really well. You know, you're going to sell a ticket within a couple of clicks from a social media piece, you're going to get a follow up email that looks exciting and you know, then your product is either going to arrive or you're going to arrive at it and it will be like you thought you were buying. And I'm not sure that we always do that. Paul Sapwell: I've got to be honest and I think to do that you've got to put a lot of investment in it. And that's what we're part of the strategy that we've launched, we launched back in November is about that. Paul Sapwell: And again, that comes back to, you know, commercial mindsets that matters. It matters that we put the right image in whatever way that is to the right customer who we're trying to attract. We've got to understand those customers better and then make sure that's, that's seamless. And, you know, we run 20 venues. They're really different. We've got everything from the Great Hall, Mediaeval Hall in Winchester, which is full of people on from travel trade have come off of cruises and things. And then we've got Milestones Museum in Basingstoke, which is a sort of family living history museum. Paul Sapwell: They don't get any international tourists. So having a really limited pot of marketing to be able to go all these sort of areas is really difficult. But I think that would be the challenge. But thinking about it holistically, really, because it's the same person who clicks on the social media ad to the person who ends up arriving in your venue. And that needs to be really consistent. Yeah, it sounds like cash is the barrier. We're going to try and work with it. But that's the important bit for me. Paul Marden: I'm grinning like the village idiot because this is what I advocate all the time. I'm looking at my marketing friends in the audience who would also share. Share your thoughts on this. We know from the Rubber Cheese survey that it's eight to 10 steps it takes people to checkout. I tried to buy tickets for an aquarium last year and they made me enter a password along with the names and addresses of everybody that was joining me and then told me off three times for getting the password wrong in the checkout process. I had to be really to buy those tickets and. Paul Sapwell: Well, yeah, you touch on. Yeah. I mean, we could have a whole conversation, but no, I mean, we love a complicated ticketing system in the cultural sector, don't we? I mean, with all the right intentions. I mean, even the list in some places of different concessions. I mean, you don't want to go. I think I'm that or I'm that. You know, and it's done with the right intention. But it's an enormous barrier. Paul Marden: Yeah, completely. Paul Sapwell: And you know, we make things so complex and I don't have the fix, but I know we've got to fix it. And that means putting sort of. Again, learn from companies who do this really well rather than. Yeah. Looking for ideas ourselves. Lots of people do it really well out there. That's what we got to do. Paul Marden: Thinking of lots of my team who might think that this is something somebody should solve. Zak Mensah: The fix is simple, isn't it? Because you just said then that there are other people doing it well. What we're not really good at artists actually copying people. Zak Mensah: Like just copy someone else who's done it better than us. It's really. It really does annoy me. Let's just say that what always happens is that we make decisions by committee, don't we? So it would have been two steps, but then someone from marketing said, but you've got to have a newsletter. And someone from another team would say, “You've got to also ask for this. And then you've got to do this. Then you've got to try and get the kids to come for school trip.” Before you know it, people mean well and they've made it really complicated. I think sometimes it's like, actually, let's just do the simplest thing. Let's do all the hard work to remove those barriers and then we can try and flog them stuff when they get there. Paul Marden: So friend of mine, Andy talks a lot about you don't go to a fine dining restaurant and walk up to the maitre d and he says to you, “Would you like a table, by the way, are you going to have dessert? And would you like a coffee? And what are you going to have for your starter main course and dessert? Oh, right, I'll take you to your table.” You have a conversation with people and you lead them and you don't try and pack everything into the very first time you ever talk to the potential client. Zak Mensah: Which is why Greg's does so well. Paul Marden: Yeah, look guys, I could carry on about this conversation, but we are the barrier to everybody getting to their drinks and nibbles and so we've got. Paul Sapwell: Including us. Paul Marden: I know, sorry. We've got a couple of things that I must cover. So we always ask our guests for a book recommendation. It can be a novel, it can be work related. So Zak, would you like to go first with yours? Zak Mensah: Yeah. Turn the ship around! I think it's David Marquet. It's a book about a nuclear submarine commander who basically realises all these stupid rules. And so he just said to everyone, just tell me you intend to. So say to him, I intend to turn the ship left, I intend to take holiday, etc, because he realised that there were so many stupid rules and I think museum will have loads of stupid rules. It's a really good thing. And I know most of you won't read the book because most people say, “Yeah, I'll read it. They don't read it.” There's a 10 minute YouTube video. Surely you can spend 10 minutes of time if you can't be bothered to do that. There is literally a 30 second Wikipedia article about it. But please don't do it. Paul Marden: Zak feels very strongly about this. Paul, your book recommendation, please. Paul Sapwell: Well, last year I read Wild Swans by Jung Chang and I'm trying to find a way of getting into a business conversation. I think there's so much that comes out of that book, but I think, yeah, striving for Utopia is often, you know, the book. Right. Most people in terms of living under communist China and we know we could go on about utopian things that haven't worked, but I think there's, for this conversation, that's perhaps where we need to think, you know, going forward here. There isn't a sort of utopian way that things should be done for our sector. There is, you know, we're making our way here and yeah. Obviously it's a fantastic book. Paul Marden: Excellent. Thank you, Paul. Amy, your recommendation? Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, so mine isn't linked to like professional development at all. Mine. Paul Marden: Well, you did have one. Amy Akino-Wittering: Well, I did have one and you were like, no, just go for your favourite one. So I was like, Persuasion by Jane Austen. It's a classic. Paul Marden: We've got, we've got big anniversary at the moment, haven't we? In Chawton where Jane Austen lived has got big thing about 200 years, 250 years? Amy Akino-Wittering: Celebration for the whole year. So I'm gonna go in. Paul Sapwell: Yeah, everyone's trying to get in on this, by the way. I just have to put this out there. You know, she was born in Hampshire. Paul Marden: I know. Paul Sapwell: Born in Hampshire, actually. Born Basingstoke. Paul Marden: I know.Paul Sapwell: Yes. Paul Marden: There's a lot of celebrations for Jane this year. Paul Sapwell: Yeah, everyone's trying. I've seen so many angles for her. Oh, she was here and she went to the toilet. Fair enough. I mean, it's a big celebration. Paul Marden: If you'd like a copy of the book or any of these books, head over to Bluesky and like and repost the show announcement saying, I want Zak, Paul or Amy's book. And the first person to do that will get the book sent to them. Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this episode, then please leave us a five star review. It really does help more people to find us and remember to follow us on Bluesky , X or Instagram for your chance to win the book. Thank you very much, everybody. Paul Sapwell: Thank you. Amy Akino-Wittering: Thank you. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

In this episode of our further education and skills (FE) podcasts, host Andrew McFadyen talks to Phil Whitehead from DN Colleges Group. Throughout this series, hosts Andrew and Louisa are joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of Jisc tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. Phil starts by sharing his journey from secondary school teacher to Director of Academic Services and Digital Learning, and finding success with his YouTube channel, Teachblend. Next, Phil discusses his current project, immersive rooms, and how they can foster collaboration with other colleges as well as reducing travel for learners. Phil explains how he's used the Jisc building digital capability tool to underpin their DN Digital Skills program, building staff digital capability and resilience. Listen to the full episode to also hear how Phil connects with peers in the sector, advice for using digital technology in the classroom, and how he feels the role of the FE teacher might change over time. Show notes Visit the DN Colleges Group website Connect with Phil on LinkedIn View Phil's YouTube channel, Teachblend Follow Phil on Bluesky Read more about the immersive rooms Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you.

Exploring how we can bridge digital inequity for international and transnational students, with insights from experts across Nigeria, Pakistan, and the UK. We delve into the complexities of digital inequity faced by international and transnational education students, focusing on insights from experts and lived experiences in Nigeria, Pakistan, and the UK. We discuss the impact of infrastructure disparities, cultural shifts in digital learning, and the importance of preparing students for technological transitions before arriving in the UK.  Elizabeth Newall, senior sector specialist at Jisc, invites Doctor Rafael Escalon Reynoso, CEO at the  Portulans Institute, Doctor Sonia Saleem, founder and CEO of Socio Engineering Technologies, and Ikechukwu Okoye, secretary general for the Nigeria Esports Federation and the director of Afri Start Innovation Hub, to share their insights on bridging digital inequity.   The conversation highlights the growing investments in digital maturity, the challenges of integrating technology into education, and the pivotal role of public-private partnerships and collaboration in fostering equitable access to digital tools and resources for students worldwide. Show notes Views shared by beyond the technology guests do not necessarily represent the views of Jisc Subscribe to our Headlines newsletter, for all the latest news, guidance and events tailored to you If you want to come on the show, or have any questions,  get in touch with us by emailing podcast@jisc.ac.uk Find out more about the researching international students' digital experience project. Dive deeper into the Portulans institute reports Learn more about the Nigeria E-sports Federation Download Briefing paper - Portulans (BP 4) Digital country profiles: international students' digital experiences in relation to their home country's civil digital infrastructure (pdf)

Today's episode features guest host, Michael Upshall, Community and Outreach Manager at Core, who talks with Alicia Wise, Executive Director, CLOCKSS, and Lorraine Estelle, Director, COUNTER. Lorraine Estelle and Alicia Wise are two well-known figures in the scholarly landscape, having been involved with the industry for over 25 years. They both worked with JISC, as well as heading not-for-profit initiatives, Alicia with CLOCKSS, and Lorraine with COUNTER, as well as several other roles. Currently they work together as part of the consultancy Information Power. In this conversation, Alicia and Lorraine tell us about their careers in scholarly publishing. They reflect on their journeys, the evolution of digital access, the importance of negotiation skills, and the transformative projects they have been involved in, such as JISC Collections and historic book digitization. They discuss the challenges and progress of open access, their engagement in climate change initiatives, and the ongoing issues surrounding peer review in academic publishing. The conversation highlights their commitment to collaboration and innovation in the scholarly community. Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciawise/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraine-estelle-8a399b2/ Twitter: Keywords: #DigitalAccess, #DigitalLibraries, #OpenAcess, #OA, #clockss, #counter, #JISC, #InformationPower, #PeerReview, #ClimateChange, #knowledge,  #awareness, #efficiency, #innovation, #negotiation, #skills, #career, #partnerships, #collaboration, #scholcomm, #ScholarlyCommunication, #libraries, #librarianship, #LibraryNeeds, #LibraryLove, #ScholarlyPublishing, #AcademicPublishing, #publishing, #LibrariesAndPublishers, #podcasts

In this episode of our further education and skills (FE) podcasts, hosts Louisa Stamatelopoulos and Andrew McFadyen chat to Beth Snowden from Craven College. Throughout this series Andrew and Louisa are joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of our tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. Beth begins the discussion by sharing details of her dual operational and strategic role at the college, from investigating licenses to co-writing the digital learning strategy, as well as the scale and scope of Craven College. The conversation then turns to the college's focus on embedding digital further into the staff development system, and how their recently launched digital learning strategy has been instrumental in the developments and decisions that are being made. Beth highlights the success of the college's first ever staff development day on digital CPD, with 300 members of staff participating in workshops and even learning to fly drones. Listen to the full episode to also hear about Beth's experiences of Jisc's digital experience insights survey, learning from the digital accessibility community, and tips on getting started with AI. Show notes Visit Craven College's website View Beth's LinkedIn page Learn more about the college's commercial training division, Tyro Training Read about Evolve, Craven College's small college in the centre of Ripon and take a ThingLink tour Access the Aviation Academy, based at Leeds Bradford Airport Watch a 360 tour of Craven Arena, home to Craven Equine Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you.

In this episode of the Beyond the Technology podcast, Jisc's Chris Thomson is joined by Dr Miriam Firth from the University of Manchester. They discuss the work Miriam has been doing with the QAA, and colleagues across a number of other HE institutions, to examine practices of optionality in assessment. During the episode, Miri dives into the rationale for the research project, what they discovered and what lessons can be learned for assessment designers.   Show notes Find out more about the optionality in assessment project Review the Jisc guidance on the Principles of Good Assessment and Feedback Listen to the creative approaches to assessment in media and communications podcast

In this episode, Jisc's Kellie Mote welcomes Dr Ann Kristin Glenster from the Glenlead Centre and Bouquette Kabatepe from Imperial College London for a discussion on digital accessibility and the accessible digital futures project. The group reflect on how they met and how a shared passion for accessibility sowed the seeds of the accessible digital futures project, a series of events bringing together digital leads from UK HE to explore the potential of accessible digital and AI technologies for all. Bouquette speaks about hosting a workshop and the importance of having representation from all levels at the university, raising awareness that digital accessibility is a must, not just a nice to have. Ann Kristin delves into some of the findings from the project, highlighting feedback from the edtech sector further emphasising the need to build accessibility into products at the earliest stages. Listen now to hear about accessible procurement, AI in accessibility tools and assistive technologies, the impact of the European Accessibility Act and much more. Show notes Get involved in the accessible digital futures project Join us for the next accessible digital futures workshop Learn more about Imperial, Intel and Lenovo's ICICLE project Find out more about Bouquette, and Imperial's commitment to digital accessibility in this blog Watch a video demonstration of Microsoft's Seeing with AI Learn more about the 100-year life book mentioned in the podcast

Host Elizabeth Newall welcomes Professor Dan George, Professor Jane Mooney and Professor Caroline Bowsher from the University of Manchester to discuss the work they have been doing to support digital transformation as part of Manchester's Flexible Learning Programme. In this episode of our mini-series on demonstrating digital transformation, Elizabeth Newall, senior sector specialist in the higher education and research directorate at Jisc, is joined by representatives of the Flexible Learning Programme (FLP) at the University of Manchester: Professor Dan George, associate vice president for blended and flexible learning, Professor Caroline Bowsher, university academic theme lead for the digital learning environment and Professor Jane Mooney, university academic theme lead for digital skills and literacy. Jisc recently hosted a demonstrating digital transformation event at the University of Manchester, and in this podcast we'll hear more about the work that Dan, Caroline and Jane have been doing to support digital transformation as part of Manchester's Flexible Learning Programme. The conversation begins with Dan sharing the University of Manchester's definition of flexible learning and the origins of the Flexible Learning Programme. Dan explains how the university's current strategy set them on a path towards increased student choice to enable their offering to be flexible by design and flexible by delivery. Jane follows this up by describing how Jisc's resources, such as the digital transformation framework and maturity model which they have recently piloted, have supported them in the Flexible Learning Programme. Caroline discusses how their targeted approach to digital maturity allows them to focus the conversations in around specific areas of the model, so that they get really specific outcomes and next steps to follow up on. Dan talks about how the maturity model workshops were well received by key stakeholders and the executive level at the university, and touches on the special relationship with external civic organisations. Lastly, the team talk about why they wanted to host a demonstrating digital transformation event and what the success of the day meant to them. Show notes: Read our accompanying member story Read our digital transformation in higher education guide Read more about the Flexible Learning Strategy and Workstreams and feel free to get in touch with the team via flexiblelearning@manchester.ac.uk See our digital transformation in higher education toolkit and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing Join our Digital transformation in higher education working group Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you

We're joined by James Kieft, teaching and learning development manager at Activate Learning, to discuss bringing people together through digital technologies, developing skills and having the courage to try something different. In the fifth of our further education and skills (FE) focused podcasts, hosts Andrew McFadyen and Louisa Stamatelopoulos chat to James Kieft, teaching and learning development manager at Activate Learning. Throughout this series Andrew and Louisa are joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of Jisc tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. The conversation begins with AI and how James has brought colleagues together through breakfast meetings to raise the profile of all technologies, not just AI, and explore support opportunities for students and staff. Next, James shares his experience of running an EdTech blog and YouTube channel, which has created connections worldwide. James highlights the collaborative and sharing nature of the FE sector and how in his role he's been able to observe a wide range of teaching, picking ideas up as he goes, like a magpie. James rounds out the discussion by sharing advice for teachers looking to use digital technology and how he can see the role of the FE teacher changing over time. Show notes Check out James's EdTech blog Visit James's YouTube channel Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you

Host Sarah Knight is joined by Professor Paul Bartholomew, vice chancellor at Ulster University, to discuss Ulster's strategy: people, place and partnership, and Paul's close relationship with Jisc over the last 20 years. In this episode of our miniseries on demonstrating digital transformation Sarah Knight, head of learning and teaching transformation in the higher education and research directorate at Jisc, is joined by Professor Paul Bartholomew, vice chancellor at Ulster University, to share how Ulster's strategy: people, place and partnership is driving their digital transformation. Paul starts by explaining how the strategy is built upon working in partnership, both internally and externally, and a focus on learning as a social activity. Next, Paul shares his insight on what sector leaders can do to enable a culture that supports digital transformation, touching on resource, flexible funding and the importance of a collaborative approach. We hear Paul's thoughts on where the sector might be in the next five years in terms of digital transformation and how he believes that AI will not break the USP for higher education of bringing people together. Lastly, Paul reflects on how Jisc has supported his career over the last 20 years.  Show notes: Listen to our previous episode on enabling culture to support digital transformation at Ulster University Read Ulster University's strategy Ulster's digital strategy Find out more about Ulster's centre for digital learning enhancement Read our digital transformation in higher education guide Learn more about the student experience experts group and how to get involved Check out our framework for digital transformation in higher education and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you

Sarah Knight speaks to Elaine Hartin and Andy Jaffrey, from Ulster University, about their agile and flexible approach to their strategic plan and the integration of digital technologies at the Belfast campus. In this podcast, Sarah Knight, head of learning and teaching transformation in the higher education and research directorate at Jisc, is joined by Elaine Hartin, chief strategy and finance officer, and Andy Jaffrey, head of the centre for digital learning enhancement, at Ulster University to discuss what Elaine, Andy and their teams are doing to support digital transformation. Andy begins by describing the hidden work that provides the infrastructure for digital innovation and how digital transformation has been happening at all levels of the organisation by breaking down silos and encouraging a culture to support innovative practice. We hear from Elaine on using digital transformation to enable strategy by getting the communication, culture and execution right. Elaine also speaks about having a plan and clear milestones in place to assist with the journey of digital transformation. Elaine and Andy take us through some of the initiatives that support digital transformation at the university, including a significant cyber security program, the use of Power BI to support academic planning and the integration of technology into the learning spaces at the Belfast campus, which have been embraced by both staff and students. Listen to the full episode for all of this and more, including the challenges of keeping up the momentum of digital transformation and how Ulster are supporting staff and students with the AI innovations in the sector. Show notes: Read Ulster University's strategy Ulster's digital strategy Find out more about Ulster's centre for digital learning enhancement Check out our framework for digital transformation in higher education and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you

In the next episode of our award winners podcast miniseries, Sophia Speakman interviews Miko Pescott and Savi Bains from Activate Learning, alongside Jonathan Hofgartner from Jisc, discussing Activate Learning's award-winning approach to digital technology in further education. This episode, hosted by Sophia Speakman, celebrates award winners for their innovative use of digital technology and sharing standout practices from tertiary education exploring Activate Learning's approach to supporting adult learners through remote education. In this episode, Savi and Miko discuss Activate Learning's unique learning philosophy which moves away from focusing solely on the traditional methods of teaching. Miko shares with us the emotion and motivation in the online and remote learning process that is needed to change the nature of the teacher role in an online setting to one that is coaching focused to sustain learner motivation. The team addresses student challenges such as device access, personal commitments, the pandemic and financial constraints with practical solutions to ensure inclusivity. Jonathan Hofgartner, the lead assessor for the Jisc Beacon Awards, emphasises how Activate's strategy aligns with criteria like innovation, impact, and sustainability. Finally, Savi and Miko share the critical role that feedback has in driving learner success. By providing timely feedback within 48 hours, even on evenings and weekends, Activate Learning keeps adult learners engaged and motivated to complete assignments. This commitment to rapid feedback, combined with a coaching-focused teaching model, distinguishes Activate Learning's approach and contributes to its success. Show notes ·       Find out more about Activate Learning and their award-winning learning philosophy. ·       Download our framework for digital transformation. ·      Find out more about the Association of Colleges Beacon Awards. ·      Read our member story sharing Activate Learning's journey. ·       Subscribe to our Headlines newsletter, which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you. ·       Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series.

Please note, this episode of the podcast was originally recorded in September 2023, so please bear that in mind when dates and times are mentioned. This is the fourth in a series of podcasts focused on further education and skills (FE), hosted by Andrew McFadyen and Louisa Stamatelopoulos. Throughout this series Andrew and Louisa are joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of Jisc tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. In this episode Andrew and Louisa are joined by Kerry Heathcote, vice principal of curriculum and quality at College of West Anglia. The discussion begins with a look ay College of West Anglia's digital elevation strategy and the six elements that comprise the curriculum design and development and learner experience. Kerry talks about how Jisc's digital experience insights survey, through student and learner feedback, allows the college to benchmark themselves and really focus on the student voice, leadership, governance and culture. Next, Kerry shares advice for teachers on using digital technologies in their teaching by keeping the learner at the heart of the experience. Lastly, Kerry looks to the future and how the role of the FE teacher may change over time.   Show notes Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

In this special episode of Beyond the Technology, recorded live at Digifest 2024, Tom Moule, senior AI specialist in Jisc's AI team is joined by David Pike, head of digital learning at the Academy for Learning and Teaching Excellence at the University of Bedfordshire, Alina Bajgrowicz, digital learning officer from the University of Bedfordshire, and Scott Hayden, head of teaching and learning and digital at Basingstoke College of Technology to discuss AI and empathy. The panel begins by looking at the ethical questions that have been raised around using AI at their institutions, and how frequent empathy mapping with students and staff ensures their needs are met. Next, they highlight the benefits and pitfalls of AI for both students and staff, and the need for the sector to define best practice for using AI in education. David and Alina share examples of ethical dilemmas around generative AI from their session at Digifest and Scott discusses his approach to deepfakes at Basingstoke. Finally, the group predict where assessment might be heading in the age of AI.   Show notes Learn more about Jisc's work on AI. Be the first to hear our developing plans for Digifest 2025 by signing up to our mailing list Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series.

Series: Artificial Intelligence, Leadership and the Future of Further EducationWith:Richard Foster-Fletcher, Executive Chair, MKAI.orgKurt Hintz, Managing Director, Fortis Education ConsultingMichael Webb, Director of Technology and Analytics at JiscPaul McKean, Director of Further Education and Skills and Training at JiscEpisode 13: Navigating the New Frontiers: AI's Role in Further Education with JiscEpisode Overview:In "Navigating the New Frontiers: AI's Role in Further Education with Jisc," we venture into the transformative realm of AI in education. This episode, featuring insights from Jisc's Paul McKean and Michael Webb, delves into the delicate equilibrium between AI and human intervention, the democratisation of learning through personalised AI tools, and the challenges and opportunities presented by generative AI technologies like ChatGPT. We explore how AI is reshaping educational landscapes, enhancing communication and social skills, and redefining academic integrity. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on AI's burgeoning impact in further education.Key Topics of Discussion:In the latest episode of "Navigating the New Frontiers: AI's Role in Further Education with Jisc," we delve into pivotal discussions surrounding AI's integration into education. Our conversation pivots around several key areas:The Balancing Act: We examine the crucial balance between AI's capabilities and the invaluable human touch in education. The dialogue opens up on the complexities surrounding formative assessments aided by AI and the ensuing debates on grade inflation, underscoring the necessity for a thoughtful approach to integrating AI in assessments.Accessibility Challenges: Addressing access disparities, the discussion highlights the importance of ensuring equitable access to AI tools, connectivity, and devices. The freemium models of generative AI tools potentially widen the digital divide, raising concerns about equal opportunities for all learners.Cognitive Offloading and Assessment Evolution: The conversation explores the shift towards cognitive offloading to AI tools like calculators and how it necessitates a re-evaluation of assessment criteria. This segment contemplates the expectation for students to delve deeper into their subjects, thanks to AI's support.Empowering Educators and Learners: Finally, we spotlight the transformative potential of AI in democratising education. With examples like the use of visual AI to enhance language skills, the episode illustrates AI's role in catalysing learning and levelling the educational playing field for all, including those with learning difficulties.The AI resources from Jisc are available here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-boundless-podcast--4077400/support.

In this episode of the Times Higher Education podcast, we talk to two experts – one in the US and one in the UK – about open access, the global movement that aims to make research outputs available online immediately and without charge or restrictions. Heather Joseph has been an advocate for knowledge sharing and the open access movement since its earliest days. Based in Washington DC, she has been executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) since 2005, and is known for her policy work, leadership and international consultancy for organisations such as Unesco, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank. In 2021, she won the Miles Conrad Award, the National Information Standards Organization's recognition of lifetime achievement in the information community, and her lecture as the recipient is a detailed history of the movement, its goals and strategies. Steven Vidovic is the head of open research and publication practice at the University of Southampton in the UK. A palaeontologist with a passion for scholarly communication and knowledge exchange for public benefit, he is also chair of the Directory of Open Access Journals advisory board and Southampton's institutional lead for the UK Reproducibility Network, and he is a member of Jisc's transitional agreement oversight group.

In this episode of the Beyond the Technology podcast, Elizabeth Newall, senior sector specialist at Jisc invites Dr Tabetha Newman, senior research consultant at Timmus limited, Sharon Perera, head of academic digital skills at the University of Greenwich and Tom Wright, director of digital experience, University of Lincoln, to explore the findings of Jisc's research investigating the digital experiences of international students studying in UK HE. Elizabeth invites guests to explore the complexities and challenges faced by international students in navigating the digital landscape of their educational experiences. From discussions on prior access to technology and digital infrastructure across different countries to the integration of digital tools in teaching and learning practices in the UK, the podcast provides valuable insights into how universities can better support their international student community.   Show notes Find out more about the researching international students' digital experience project. Briefing paper 1 | Facilitating holistic conversations about the student experience with international students Briefing paper 2 | Supporting international students' digital experience: a checklist for providing an equitable and inclusive experience Briefing paper 3 | Comparing international and UK-domiciled student responses in Jisc's digital experience insights (DEI) survey Read up on the International students' digital experience phase one: a review of policy, academic literature and views from UK higher education and the International students' digital experience phase two: experiences and expectations Register your interest to stay informed of our research into international students' digital experience Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series.

In this episode of the Beyond the Technology podcast, Fiona Steel, graduate teaching assistant at Leeds Beckett University, joins Heidi Fraser-Krauss, Jisc's CEO, to discuss using virtual reality (VR) to tackle the gender disparity in STEM education. Fiona is delivering a lightning talk session on this topic at Digifest. So, if you enjoy this conversation, be sure to attend her talk at 11:30 on Wednesday 13 March at the Digifest event, taking place in Birmingham and online. Fiona begins by looking at the complex issue of gender disparity in STEM education and careers and why they still remain male-dominated. She tells us about her hopes for encouraging more women, girls and non-binary learners to engage in STEM subjects, without alienating anyone else, to move society forwards. Fiona explains how VR can be used in the classroom to tackle gender disparity by making learning content more inclusive, accessible and engaging, showcasing diverse role models and perspectives and challenging stereotypes. Listen to the full episode now, and if you enjoy this episode, look out for Fiona's lightning talk at Digifest on 13 March.   Show notes Find out more about Digifest 2024 and imagine the future of education and research Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

Date: 07.03.24 Join Raheel Ahmad for Thursday's show from 4-6pm where we will be discussing: ‘Careers' and ‘Book Day' Careers Join us as we discuss different types of careers and what career might be right for you and career pathway options with it being careers week. Book Day Book Day serves as a reminder for Muslims to incorporate reading into their daily lives as a means of gaining knowledge and broadening their horizons. Join us today as we talk about how research has shown that regular reading can help prevent cognitive decline as individuals age and can contribute to overall mental well-being. Guests: Chris Rea- Graduate Career Expert for Prospects at Jisc, Sarah Berry - Career Consultant & best selling Career Author Danielle Pearson- Service Manager for the charity Mencap Producers: Farhana Khan, Kafi Zafar and Gemielia Bryant

In the third of our further education and skills focused podcasts, we're joined by Stevie Emmanuel and Yusuf Ibrahim from Cardiff and Vale College. This is the third in a series of podcasts focused on further education and skills (FE), hosted by Andrew McFadyen and Louisa Stamatelopoulos. Throughout this series Andrew and Louisa are joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of Jisc tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. In this edition our hosts welcome Stevie Emmanuel, head of technology enhanced learning, and Yusuf Ibrahim, Assistant Principal, from Cardiff and Vale College to the show to discuss how new technologies are driving their digital strategy. Stevie begins by talking about the move from a TEL strategy to a full college digital transformation and how the Jisc digital elevation tool has helped to craft that strategy. Next, Stevie looks at the impact on staff and learners of embracing change in a digital world and how a student-led project, TEL Talks, has increased engagement. Yusuf and Stevie give an example of how their student digital leaders have collaborated to gain future-ready skills. The guests also share their advice for teachers looking to use new digital technology in the classroom and look to the future at how the role of the FE teacher may change over time. Finally, Yusuf discusses how Cardiff and Vale College are removing the barriers from equity, quality and diversity through the use of technology. Show notes ·       See how our digital capability service can help you ·       Find out more about how the digital elevation tool can elevate FE and skills providers' digital ambitions ·       Discover how the digital experience insights service works ·       Explore our further education and skills hub ·       Subscribe to our Headlines newsletter, which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you ·       Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

In our second further education and skills focused podcast, Sheena Murphy-Collett, Petroc College's Vice Principal of people, organisational development and engagement joins us to discuss digital growth, from seed to flower. This is the second in a series of podcasts focused on further education and skills (FE), hosted by Andrew McFadyen and Louisa Stamatelopoulos. Throughout this series Andrew and Louisa are joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of Jisc tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. Sheena Murphy-Collett, Vice Principal of people, organisational development and engagement at Petroc College, begins by revealing her unconventional route into FE and how her suite of transferable skills benefit her current role. Next, Sheena discusses the digital focus at Petroc College, orienting herself into three new teams and using Jisc's digital elevation tool to give structure and priorities to those teams. Sheena also talks about the excellent contacts she has made through Jisc community events and the opportunities they have opened up. To close, Sheena shares her advice for teachers looking to utilise digital technology, her views on how the role of the FE teacher may change over time and a look at Petroc College's digital three year plan. Show notes See how our digital capability service can help you Find out more about how the digital elevation tool can elevate FE and skills providers' digital ambitions Discover how the digital experience insights service works Explore our further education and skills hub Subscribe to our Headlines newsletter, which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

In this podcast episode, Elizabeth Newall welcomes Helen Beetham and Sheila MacNeill, who discuss rethinking learning and curriculum design in higher education. Helen Beetham, a researcher in digital education and Sheila MacNeill, an independent consultant with experience in curriculum design talk about the importance of rethinking learning and curriculum design in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to adapt to new challenges. The conversation explores the evolution of curriculum design pre and post pandemic, emphasising a shift towards a more holistic approach. They introduce the concept of "beyond blended," which focuses on blending of different modes of learning, particularly synchronous and asynchronous, and the impact of technology on time and place within the curriculum. The discussion also touches on the student experience during the pandemic, highlighting issues related to new technologies such as generative AI, accessibility, and the need for flexibility. Helen and Sheila share that different students have different preferences for learning modes, and the pandemic has highlighted the importance of catering to diverse learning needs. Helen and Sheila share their work on the six pillars of blended learning. They emphasise the importance of understanding the pedagogic differences between in-place and online learning, the role of pace in learning, and the need to balance flexibility with the specific needs of students. They also introduce the idea of using "lenses" to examine the curriculum from different angles, both at the curriculum and strategic levels. The conversation concludes by highlighting the need for a robust curriculum design process and the potential for new technologies like generative AI to be accommodated within flexible curriculum design process.   Show notes ·       Beyond blended: Post-pandemic curriculum and learning design: lessons from the higher education (HE) sector. Available to download from: https://beta.jisc.ac.uk/reports/beyond-blended ·       Sign up to receive advance notice of the Beyond blended web guide: https://emails.jisc.ac.uk/k/Jisc/beyond_blended ·       Read the report on Approaches to curriculum and learning design across UK higher education ·       Read our member story on blending digital and physical at the University of Northampton ·       Check out our framework guide for digital transformation in higher education, and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing ·       Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you ·       Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

In this episode of the Beyond the Technology podcast, Elizabeth Newall, senior consultant in the Digital transformation of learning, teaching, and assessment at Jisc, welcomes a panel of experts from the University of Northampton. They discuss their innovative approach to rethinking learning and curriculum design in higher education. The conversation begins by discussing the University of Northampton's unique setting. Shân Wareing, deputy vice chancellor, and Rob Howe, head of learning technology, share how their Waterside campus allowed them to consolidate facilities into a more sustainable space. This campus was designed for blended learning, offering laptops to eligible students, and featuring various learning spaces. Shân discusses the university's evolving digital strategy with the creation of an artificial intelligence group to address academic integrity concerns and to explore AI's educational potential. The podcast delves into the challenges of supporting staff in learning and curriculum design. Jim Harris, a learning designer, highlights the fear of change as a significant hurdle. Jim emphasises the importance of considering staff members' various levels of understanding and comfort with digital processes and learning design, ranging from basic introductions to advanced publishing. Kate Coulson, head of learning and teaching enhancement, discusses the pivotal role of students in curriculum design and learning. Kate advocates for a "give and take" model, where students become co-creators of the curriculum rather than passive recipients, emphasising the importance of investing time and resources. Lastly, Shân shares her vision for digital transformation at the University of Northampton, highlighting that the focus should remain on how students learn. Shân underscores the importance of culture, creativity, and patience in the process, as well as the need to prioritise people over technology. Show notes ·       Check out our framework guide for digital transformation in higher education, and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing ·       Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you ·       Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

Join Sarah Knight, head of learning and teaching transformation at Jisc, who is joined by Marieke Guy, Head of Digital Assessment at University College London (UCL) and Mary McHarg, Activities & Engagement Officer at UCL Student Union to discuss the reimagining of assessment and feedback at the institution. Marieke provides insights into the university's broad scope, with 11 faculties and over 60 departments. UCL supports around 43,000 students and over 14,000 employees, offering a diverse range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. They discuss how the institution faces the challenge of maintaining consistency and utilising technology effectively due to its scale and diversity. Mary highlights the challenges students face in relation to assessment and feedback. With a vast institution like UCL, students experience different assessment methods, frequencies, and feedback quality across departments. The podcast explores the importance of consistency, quality feedback, and supporting student well-being. The episode emphasises the involvement of students in the assessment process. UCL actively engages students through panels, partnerships, and programmes such as ‘student changemakers'. Marieke discusses the wide range of assessment tools used at UCL, such as Moodle, Wiseflow, Mahara, WordPress, Crowdmark, and Turnitin. The conversation moves on to how UCL is addressing the need for assessment practice and curriculum redesign. Marieke mentions ongoing work with the academic practice centre and academic communication centre to support staff in rethinking assessments. The discussion delves into AI's role in assessment and the need to educate staff and students about its capabilities, limitations, and ethical considerations. UCL is incorporating AI into assessments and actively involving students in discussions about its use. The episode concludes with the importance of senior leaders supporting the institutional approach to rethinking assessment and feedback. It emphasises the need for clear communication, involving students as partners, providing resources and support for staff, and investing in experts. Show notes Read more about how UCL is redesigning assessment for the AI age Check out our framework guide for digital transformation in higher education, and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing Read the UCL Digital Assessment Team blog for valuable insights and updates on innovative digital assessment practices at UCL Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

In this episode, Simon Birkett, senior consultant for digital transformation at Jisc is joined by Jodie Wetherall, Associate Director - Office of the CIO at the University of Greenwich to discuss the university's digital strategy and its impact. Jodie shares insights into the University of Greenwich's vision for 2030, aiming to be the best modern university in the UK. They discuss the strategic priorities that focus on transformational shifts in learning and teaching, research and knowledge exchange, as well as the four cross-cutting priorities of student success, inclusivity and culture, impactful research and knowledge exchange, and connected and sustainable campuses. The conversation delves into the development and evolution of the university's digital strategy. They talk about the importance of aligning the strategy with the overall corporate strategy, gaining executive sponsorship, and involving the entire university community. Several initiatives and projects are highlighted, including the Student Lifecycle Management programme, which aims to provide a digital student centre for self-service access, improving the student experience. The Classroom Enhancement Programme is discussed, which focuses on upgrading and enhancing classroom environments to support flexible delivery models. Jodie also mentions the new programme focusing on research and knowledge exchange, exploring ways to streamline processes and empower researchers with technology. In terms of the wider sector conversation, Jodie discusses the significance of time, opportunities coming out of COVID and long-term planning in digital transformation. They emphasise the importance of having a high-performing team, strong executive leadership, and a positive reputation for delivering change. Looking to the future, Jodie acknowledges the challenges posed by the current financial climate and discusses the university's digital strategy for the future.  Show notes Read more about Greenwich's five steps to digital strategy success Join us for our developing and implementing a digital strategy event, University of Greenwich, 18 July 2023 Listen to a podcast about demonstrating digital transformation at Staffordshire University Check out our framework guide for digital transformation in higher education, and explore a comprehensive perspective on how the digital environment can support positive work, research and learning experiences, and promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing Subscribe to Headlines - our newsletter which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

What are the links between wellbeing and AI? Are you skeptical about all the hype surrounding AI? Well, you've come to the right place. Jim Keane is a Senior Analytics Consultant - Wellbeing at JISC. Jim specializes in wellbeing analytics and cuts through some of the bold claims and misinformation about AI. Worried about the safety of your data and identity? Want to know how blockchain can prevent certificate fraud in education and training? Nick Lambert is the CEO of Dock - a platform that enables users to create tamper-proof documents and issue verifiable credentials. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/edinnovators/message

In this episode, Sarah Knight, Head of learning and teaching transformation in higher education at Jisc is joined by Mike Phillips, the executive dean at the School of Health Science and Wellbeing at Staffordshire University where he discusses how the use of immersive learning and simulation learning is transforming the student experience in health care. Mike outlines the role that the School of Health Science and Wellbeing has in the immersive journey and shares the challenges of delivering health care education in the sector over the past 20 years. Mike then goes on to explore how technology has enabled the university to address some of the challenges they face including the pandemic accelerating plans and the use of simulation placements for students across health, social care and wellbeing disciplines. Mike shares how he has brought staff along on the journey to ‘simmersive' and the innovative approaches that they've used to create an authentic workplace setting for students. Mike highlights the 3 P's which are essential to embedding technology within the student experience: The people, the place and the pedagogy. Mike talks about students and staff embracing the approach to simulation based learning post-pandemic and the welcoming of technological change at Staffordshire adopting a hybrid role across the academic and technical digital spaces. Mike then goes on to share the five stage approach and the framework for the integration of skills and simulation when delivering an incremental exposure towards real world practice for the universities learners. Finally, we focus on creating a simulation environment to develop an authentic assessment experience and enhance student learning and feedback.

This episode is the first in a series of podcasts focused on further education and skills, hosted by Andrew McFadyen and Louisa Stamatelopoulos. Throughout this series Andrew and Louisa will be joined by experts from further education colleges to shine a light on how they support digital development through the use of Jisc tools, such as the digital elevation tool, building digital capability service and digital experience insights surveys. Phil Peatling, Head of Digital Learning at Boston College, firstly discusses the digital transformation of development and skills for both teachers and learners, to prepare them for digital advancements across industries. Next, Phil talks about how Jisc's digital elevation tool gave the college a platform for development and brought the Digital team and the IT technicians closer together to assess their digital maturity levels. Phil also shares advice for teachers on using digital technology and how he sees the role of the further education teacher changing over time. Show notes See how our digital capability service can help you Find out more about how the digital elevation tool can elevate FE and skills providers' digital ambitions Discover how the digital experience insights service works Explore our further education and skills hub Subscribe to our Headlines newsletter, which has all the latest edtech news, guidance and events tailored to you Get in touch with us at podcast@jisc.ac.uk if you'd like to come on the show or know someone who might suit the series

The early careers labour market is evolving. The pandemic severely impacted internships, hybrid working is changing graduate recruitment, and many employers are reviewing their entry requirements to cast a broader net for talent. My guest this week is Dr Charlie Ball, Head of Labour Market Intelligence at Jisc. Charlie is one of the UK's leading experts on Graduate employment with deep insights to share on current market trends that are applicable globally. A must-listen for anyone involved with interns, graduates and college recruiting.  In the interview, we discuss: How the early careers labour market has evolved in the last three years The long term consequences of the pandemic's impact on internships and work experience Hybrid working and accredited apprenticeships The changing link between person, place and employment Why this recession is different for the labour market Why are employers dropping or lowering entry requirements? What does the future look like? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Moar minis! Gosh crikey but we got a lot of great stuff at Playful Learning 2022! In this mini, we’re joined by Scott Wilson Senior Data and Analytics Dev at JISC, discussing the phenomenal difficulty of Elden Ring, the joy of innuendo and Across this series, we're looking at answering the questions:

This week on the podcast Suella Braverman is gone - but has the threat of a crackdown on international students gone with her? We've launched new research on belonging and we look at the implications for universities. Plus there's a new review out on blended learning and hidden history looks at the origins of UCL.With Heidi Fraser-Krauss, CEO at Jisc, Ian Dunn, Provost at Coventry University, Sunday Blake, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the podcast Liz Truss is the new Prime Minister - what does that and her ministerial appointments mean for higher education? Plus we discuss the cost of living, a new report from Jisc on the digital student experience, and there's an exciting new feature to play along with.With Gary Hughes, Chief Executive at Durham Students' Union, Ailsa Crum, Director of Membership, Quality Enhancement and Standards at the Quality Assurance Agency, David Kernohan, Wonkhe's Acting Editor and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on a heavily West Midlands infused podcast, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator has published its annual report - what is it telling us about complaints and consumerism in HE? Plus sector bodies have been publishing their responses to the English HE reform proposals, there's a new report out on student suicide and information sharing, and Michelle Donelan is putting “boots on the ground” over in-person teaching. With Selena Bolingbrooke, HE consultant, Lawrie Phipps, Senior Research Lead at Jisc, David Kernohan, Wonkhe's Associate Editor, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Wonkhe's Associate Editor.

Hamilton Barnes' Director, James Dean was joined by Mark O'Leary, the Deputy Director, Strategic Planning and Service Management at Jisc on today's episode.  It was interesting to understand Marks's opinion surrounding how much weight certifications hold in comparison to a degree when he looks at hiring.  Mark has over 25 years of experience working within the Networking industry, he walks us through some of the main changes he's seen within Wireless Networking since he's started his career, and helps us understand the importance of it. if you'd like to hear more from Mark, you can use the links below: https://www.jisc.ac.ukhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/markdoleary/mark.oleary@jisc.ac.uk

This week on the podcast we're crunching numbers as HESA spring tells us about the size and shape of the sector in 2020/21, and UCAS end of cycle data gives us a sense of where we are this year. Who's up, who's down, and does it matter? We're also thinking about assessment, considering the plight of third year students, looking at QAA research on blended learning and Dame Shirley Pearce gives Debbie the lowdown on the TEF review. With Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, NUS Vice President for Higher Education, Lawrie Phipps, Senior Research Lead at Jisc, Debbie McVitty, Wonkhe's Editor and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

In this episode we are joined by Clare Killen, senior consultant for the business intelligence team at Jisc, to talk about the findings from the recently released HE and FE staff digital experience insight surveys. The annual survey polls over 6,500 teaching staff in further and higher education, looking into their experiences of using technology to support their teaching. Clare provides an interesting deep dive analysis into the results, as well as suggesting what can be done to support staff digital skills going forward. The episode also investigates how the role of teaching staff has changed since the pandemic.

In this episode we are joined by Clare Killen, senior consultant for the business intelligence team at Jisc, to talk about the findings from the recently released HE and FE staff digital experience insight surveys. The annual survey polls over 6,500 teaching staff in further and higher education, looking into their experiences of using technology to support their teaching. Clare provides an interesting deep dive analysis into the results, as well as suggesting what can be done to support staff digital skills going forward. The episode also investigates how the role of teaching staff has changed since the pandemic.

Our guest this week is Debs Gray, Principal of Grimsby Institute, and Jisc trustee. She joined us to talk all about the college's trailblazing industry 4.0 programme. This episode is packed with advice about how to support staff and students to prepare for the workplace of the future, in terms of digital skills and making the most out of the tools you already have. Debs maintains a strong focus on not just levelling the field, but tilting it, giving every student a fair chance. You'd be hard pushed to find someone more passionate about further education. A big thank you to Debs for coming on the show!

Our guest this week is Debs Gray, Principal of Grimsby Institute, and Jisc trustee. She joined us to talk all about the college's trailblazing industry 4.0 programme. This episode is packed with advice about how to support staff and students to prepare for the workplace of the future, in terms of digital skills and making the most out of the tools you already have. Debs maintains a strong focus on not just levelling the field, but tilting it, giving every student a fair chance. You'd be hard pushed to find someone more passionate about further education. A big thank you to Debs for coming on the show!

Episode two focuses on a discussion around persistent identifiers (PIDs) such as ORCiD, RAiD, and DOIs, thinking about the challenges associated with them such as repository integrations, what sits behind PIDs, accessing the information that they point to and how they can help recognise contributions to scholarly outputs. The future of PIDs in the scholarly communications landscape is also a topic of conversation. Holly is joined by special guests, Kirsty Wallis, Head of Research Liaison at University College London and Dr. Adam Vials Moore, Product specialist for PIDs at Jisc. Links and resources mentioned in this episode: http://www.openaccessweek.org/ https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-open-access-policy/ https://orcid.org/ https://www.raid.org.au/ https://casrai.org/credit/ ORCIDs in the Wild: A Field Guide to the Popular Persistent Identifier

#AntiRacismInAction Episode 2: Employers and Employment with Grace Haynes, Amarjit Dhillon and Robin Ghurbhurun - Making the Most of an Ethnically Diverse Britain, was aired today, Monday 11th October and co-produced by BFELG and FE NewsIn a poignant and passionate introduction to the Episode, Grace Haynes, Head of People & Culture, Coventry City Council, said ‘Anti-racism means everything to me'. Juxtaposing racism to Covid 19, she also said that we might have to learn to live with the latter, but we must never accept living with racism. She called for collaborative action to fight to ensure that eradicating racism is at the forefront of everything that we do.The Episode focused on #AntiRacismInAction: Employers and Employment. Co-anchors Gavin O'Meara (CEO and Head of Digital, FE News) and Stella Ngozi Mbubaegbu CBE, BFELG Executive Member, were in conversation with the featured Guests, Amarjit Dhillon, Turning Point's Chief Information Officer also with accountability for Commercial Ventures, and Robin Ghurbhurun, Managing Director, further education and skills at Jisc. Turning Point is a leading social enterprise with over 4,500 staff. It provides health and social care services that help over 100,000 people annually in over 300 locations across England, live they life they want. The organisation's vision is to constantly find ways to support more people to discover new possibilities in their lives. Amarjit Dhillon belongs to a small group of business leaders brought together by Sir Ken Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, and Dan Brown, Founder and CEO of Positive Transformation Group. The purpose of the small group is to create cross-industry sector support for the message of Anti- racism in the business community throughout the UK in support of the BFELG's mission, working alongside Education. With a staff of approximately 900, Jisc is the UK higher, further education and skills sectors' not for profit organisation for digital services and solutions. It champions the importance and potential of digital technologies for UK education and research. Its vision is for the UK to be the most digitally-advanced higher education and research nation in the world. Jisc also welcomes customers from local government, public sector, non-profits and industry. Robin Ghurbhurun has been an outstanding supporter and advocate of the BFELG from its inception and Jisc as an organisation is also a strong supporter and ally.Responding to questions, both Guests talked about their personal and respective organisations' response to ethnic diversity, the steps they are taking to move forward on this agenda, their engagement with the BFELG and how the Corporate and Education sectors can work together. There were interesting observations about why given the ‘business case' for ethnic diversity in corporate leadership - referencing the McKinsey Report 2020, Diversity wins: How inclusion matters, there appears to be very little progress in this area in UK plc.Amarjit highlighted the important role of wellbeing practices to address the race agenda and how Turning Point as an employer is applying these practices in the workplace and with their our own apprentices and are working with training providers to support them to apply the same offering to their schemes. Jisc has an interesting approach whereby Diversity & Inclusion and Race Equality are pursued as two separate strands of activity. Robin spoke about challenging staff recruitment, selection and development practice and also shared how the BFELG 10 point plan is being implemented across Jisc.Watch the Livestream for Amarjit Dhillon and Robin Ghurbhurun's suggestions for accelerating ethnic diversity in the workplace and their call to action to Employers!

Hello again listeners! Hello everyone and welcome back to The Edtech Podcast. Our mission is to improve the dialogue between ed and tech for better innovation and impact and it's great to be back. What's in this episode? This week we've got Thomas Moule, author of Cracking Social Mobility: how AI and other innovations can help to level the playing field, in conversation with TeacherTapp Co-Founder, Laura McInerney. In this episode, he talks about how technology can help to make education more equitable. For example, Intelligent Tutoring Systems enabling all students to enjoy the benefits of private tuition and AI along with other innovations making teachers more productive and effective, hence improving educational standards equitably across the board. I loved editing this episode and listening to the various pushbacks and qualifications on both sides as the guests navigate contextual admissions, careers advice, and evading technological determinism. I hope you enjoy too. Don't forget to drop your comments @podcastedtech on twitter or during our clubhouse session. Guests:  Thomas Moule, author of Cracking Social Mobility: how AI and other innovations can help to level the playing field. Thomas works at Jisc as Product Lead at the National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education and previously led operations at The Institute for Ethical AI in Education, and worked for a leading EdTech company. He started his career as a science teacher, completing the Teach First Programme in Yorkshire. You can find Thomas at @tommoule8 on twitter. Of the biggest myth or foe in education or technology that he would like to see corrected, Thomas writes of the idea that “social mobility is a divisive agenda, which merely aims to airlift the talented few out of poverty whilst neglecting the needs of the many. This characterisation is not only inaccurate, it is dangerous. Talent and potential are distributed equally and abundantly throughout society. The problem is that opportunity is not. Proponents of social mobility simply want this to be put right.” Laura McInerney, Co-founder of Teacher Tapp, an app that surveys 8000 teachers every day. "No one was more shocked by my GCSE results than my mum, who seemed to think that teachers telling her I was very clever was just them being polite! Going to a bog-standard comprehensive school (that's now closed) and then to an adult education centre (a weird FE hybrid thing) and then to Oxford does make me think that schools can come in many forms and it call all be okay!"

Future You is back to help you achieve your career goals.  Brought to you by graduate careers experts Prospects, this series of Future You will bring you insights, experience and advice from employers, recent graduates, postgrad course leaders and other experts. Visit prospects.ac.uk/podcasts for more information or contact podcast@prospects.ac.uk with any questions, comments or feedback. Prospects is part of Jisc.

In episode 8 of our podcast series, Mantis PR's Rebecca Paddick sat down with Jisc's head of higher education and student experience, James Clay, to find out how edtech start-ups can help support a sector that has been so heavily impacted by the pandemic. James Clay, who has worked in the education sector since 1993, and has extensive experience in the use of technology to enhance and enrich learning, offered his advice to those working in, or in direct partnership with universities as we look ahead to a post-COVID recovery. Take a listen. Further Jisc resources: Learning & Teaching Reimagined: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/learning-and-teaching-reimagined Powering UK higher education: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/higher-education-strategy-2021-2024 Student digital experience insights survey: Full survey / summary Step up programme, for edtech start-ups: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/get-involved/step-up-programme

In today's episode we will feature audio from an Interview of Michael Upshall, of UNSILO.  The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  Michael Upshall is head of sales and business development at UNSILO, the B2B part of Cactus Communications specialising in AI tools. He started in publishing compiling dictionaries, then moved to editing how-to books for Dorling Kindersley, before co-founding reference publisher Helicon Publishing. He has worked with publishers on digital creation and delivery, including The IET, CABI, and Cambridge University Press, as well as managing  projects for JISC, the UK Association for Digital Solutions in UK higher education. He has written articles and books (Content Licensing, Elsevier, 2009), and writes a regular column on digital publishing. Today Michael gives his take on AI in publishing with a focus on feet on the ground reality.    

This week on the podcast we discuss a new report on the relationship between universities and China and ask if UK HE is too close to the superpower. There's also ONS data on graduate employment and student wellbeing, and fresh findings from Jisc on the digital student experience.Mike Ratcliffe's Hidden History travels to Bologna, and we take a quick look at new OfS Access and Participation data that suggests changes to assessment methods and policies at the end of last year had a significant impact on attainment gaps.With Selena Bolingbroke, consulting fellow for the Halpin Partnership, Amatey Doku, consultant with the Nous Group, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

What's in this episode? The episode is part of Season Two of our podcast series 'The Edge: Accelerating Higher Education', supported by Salesforce.org. The Edge takes a fresh look at higher education and digital transformation.  This episode seeks to address the impact of radical digital transformation which has taken place in 2020 and where this leaves Higher Education going forward. You will hear about work that partners Jisc, Emerge Education and Salesforce.org have been doing around digital strategy in Higher Education. The 2030 strategy framework for university leaders is centred around four main themes; Leadership Staff Business model Investment There has been a sharp learning curve on what is possible and how it should be refined when we are using technology. Listen to our guests and learn from their research within the Digital Strategy Framework on what they found useful or surprising in 2020. You can continue the conversation online at @podcastedtech and @SalesforceOrg with #EdtechEdge  and #edtechpod. People Professor David Maguire, Chair, Jisc; Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Dundee | Twitter: @djm92373 Corey Snow, Director, Education Industry Solutions, Integrations & Architecture at Salesforce.org | Twitter: @corey_snow Andy McGregor, Director of Edtech, Jisc | Twitter: @andymcg Sophie Bailey is the Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast | Twitter: @podcastedtech Show Notes and References   Check out https://theedtechpodcast.com/edtechpodcast for the full show notes  Tell us your story We'd love to hear your thoughts. Record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Or you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page or Instagram. 

This week there's the Chancellor's spending review to get across and a new report from Universities UK on tackling racial harassment. There's also work out from Jisc on staff and digital, and a batch of complaints from the first part of the pandemic to learn lessons from published by OIA.With Helen O'Sullivan, Pro VC Education at Keele University and Amatey Doku, Consultant at Nous.