Digifest is an annual conference run by JISC. The conference brings together professionals from education, technology and research industries for a collection of presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities.

About us | Jisc

The theme for the 2025 Digifest event was “Where today meets tomorrow”.

About Digifest 2025 – Jisc

In this post you will find reflections from different members of our team:

Cari Romans on Digifest 2025

For this year’s online version of Digifest, I found the threads of discussion that centred around the themes of data-informed education, learning for the future and student success to be the most interesting and relevant to my current role.  

When I think of data-informed education, I tend to think more of data-informed instruction – teachers and learners using data as an additional point of information at a very practical level in day-to-day, real teaching and learning.  However, a lot of the data-informed education discussion across several talks at Digifest focussed more on administrative and organisational decision-making at a higher level (more like educational analytics). It was a good reminder that, even with the less technical vocabulary around data in education, it’s so important to be clear about vocabulary and what we really mean when we use a term. One institution is planning to develop a data dictionary across all their systems as part of data-related staff training. I’m not sure how this would work across our institution, which is much larger and more devolved, but it’s worth considering terms and vocabulary for any guidance and training I’m involved with developing.  

Also on the data theme, it was reassuring to note from the panels and presentations that many institutions face some of our own data challenges (such as data siloes, limitations of our tools, and capacity building in our people). It was also reassuring to note that we are doing quite well in many areas, like data governance, data protection and stewardship. 

Data Protection | The University of Edinburgh

Several discussions looked at learning for the future, with an emphasis on using technological advances, such as AI and AR/VR, to create more personalised learning and help expand curricula.  

I noticed quite an easy, casual acceptance of widespread use of AI and many different AI tools for many institutions. This was a little disconcerting, as I think it pays to be aware of both the benefits and risks with AI.  I prefer our own slow and careful approach to using AI in our learning tech platforms, our own bespoke ELM (Edinburgh (access to) Language Models), and a roll out of training for staff and students. This approach feels a bit more solid than widespread and sudden AI adoption. 

ELM | The University of Edinburgh (login required)

When thinking about student AI users, panelists referred to those who use it appropriately, those who don’t, and those who are afraid to use it because they don’t know much about it. I hadn’t thought much about the third category before (blithely assuming all our students would just jump right in to AI given the chance). But I think the category of students afraid to use AI makes our new AI training offerings for staff and students that much more important.  

Risks being noted, it was also interesting to see how AI and AR/VR could be used to support the development of soft skills, which was identified by several speakers as key for future student success.   

The Bodyswaps talk (where AI roleplay and VR tech are being used to teach communication skills) reminded me I’ve been meaning to explore some of the AI conversation tools that some of our existing platforms hope to offer.  This is perhaps a very good use of emerging technology to achieve something that can be difficult to do well at scale in traditional HE settings (e.g., soft skills like communication).  It was worthwhile hearing that, as AI develops, they are gradually more able to increase the level of customisation of scenarios and personalisation of feedback, though this is not yet where they’d like it to be. I think both AI for personalisation and immersive tech for scaffolded practical experience could be real game changers for education.   

A peek into the Bodyswaps platform was useful from a learning analytics perspective as well. I’ve been wondering what kind of analytics a teacher might get from this kind of immersive technology. From the looks of it, usage and progress tracking data are straightforward, but it seems more challenging to get the kind of details about performance and student responses that a teacher would need to be able to confidently use to look at next steps for the student.  

Back to soft skills, it can be hard to really keep tabs on the development of these skills simply because they are normally developed across years, across a curriculum, through internships, and through students’ real-life experiences outside of education. The discussion around how to track soft skills development and how students can best evidence these skills for employability reminded me of the importance and potential of efforts like our open digital badges, a tech tool that has the potential to support some of our other programmes (e.g., Edinburgh Award, IAD, COL, etc.) with soft skills development for students.  

Digital Badges | The University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Award | The University of Edinburgh

IAD | The University of Edinburgh

COL | The University of Edinburgh

Finally, as a former international student myself, I enjoyed the international student panel about their tech experiences studying in the UK. It highlighted for me just how diverse the previous tech experiences of our students from different geographical areas can be, which is useful to remember when offering support via IS Helpline.  Many of the things the student panel suggested institutions can do to support their international students with the tech transition are things Edinburgh already does (which was nice to realise). But it did make me wonder what, if anything, LTW can do to support their tech transition beyond our events, training, guidance and Welcome Week sessions.  Students on the panel suggested that their tech transition support would ideally be a peer or recent grad ‘buddy’ who had lived in the same country as them, for better awareness of the norms new students are coming from.  What does the current international student buddy system (EUSA’s Global Buddies) offer in the way of tech transition support? And could LTW add to that? 

Global Buddies | Edinburgh University Students’ Association

Jonathan Mori on Digifest 2025

Digifest 2025 was very well delivered with some interesting insights into communication, collaboration and how we deal with advancements in technology that have a direct impact on our work and our learners.

I really enjoyed listening to the opening keynote by Paul Iske where he discussed and delivered an eye opening presentation on the importance of embracing failures as a learning process and introduced the Institute of Brilliant Failures’ methods for developing ‘Failure Intelligence.’

I came to realise quite quickly after this keynote that I’m actually in a very good position to increase my ability to learn from failures and create a psychologically safe environment for innovation. As an individual that juggles many projects, it’s important for me to take stock of what’s not going so well ahead of what works well on a consistent basis. This will enable me to improve on current practice more efficiently which will only have a positive impact on my learners. I’m lucky that I lead many exciting projects that impact the whole university, and therefore I should allow for more room to experiment and take calculated risks so as to enhance my current practice.

There were many panel discussions which I found to be quite intriguing due to the frankness of those involved. The Developing your digital strategy panel gave me a good viewpoint into what other institutions come up against and their approaches to integrating digital into the curriculum. It was clear to see that many institutions face the same challenges with staff and student buy in being the key to success. It was also very pleasing to hear that without input and drive from senior managers, it is very difficult to develop and maintain that digital vision. We have a very close link with JISC here at the University of Edinburgh and so it was important for me to hear from others how JISC have enabled them to develop their strategies and the impact this has had on all stakeholders.

Similarly with the breakout session: Supporting organisational digital capability, it was great to hear from an individual institution that is currently tackling the challenges of a change in mindset and culture which ultimately contributes towards confidence for students and staff when it comes to developing their digital capabilities. I came to realise that it is important to share our experiences with others so as to instil that university wide approach and benchmark with other institutions. This approach will only encourage our staff and students and help us to build relationships with other institutions/organisations.

Digifest’s take on AI was interesting as it reiterated that whilst AI is all around us and we should seek to embrace this as soon as possible, there are many individuals out there that have a strong resistance towards AI. AI for me personally isn’t something I have embarked upon fully as I like to create and control my own content for my projects however sessions throughout Digifest emphasised that the end user has or will have an expectation for us as educator’s to be in a position to accept these behaviours and be aware of the benefits of AI. We can’t sit back and ignore what is evolving in front of us.

Digifest 2025 allowed me to sit back and take stock of where I am in my current practice and has already helped me to embrace what’s coming next. I already have ideas moving forward that will enhance our relationship with JISC, particularly where we strive to promote and encourage the use of our digital skills framework.

Tess Higgins on Digifest 2025

This was my first Digifest, and while attending online meant I was not able to attend some of the sessions I had initially had my eye on, last minute schedule changes led me into some eye-opening conversations.

The opening keynote by Paul Iske on learning from out mistakes reframed what can often be demoralising project “failures” as rich opportunities for learning. Paul talked about giving ourselves (and teams we lead) the freedom to try things and see how they go. As Robert Burns put it “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men | Gang aft agley”.

To a Mouse | The Poetry Foundation

While solid planning is key to any successful projects, what materialises, is often vastly different from what we had initially imagined, and this is not something to be ashamed of. The Institute of Brilliant Failures is a fabulous source of inspiration for when thing don’t go to plan.

About Us | Institute for Brilliant Failures (translation to English may be required)

I was particularly struck by the discussions on how we design learning for the future. Many institutional leaders discussed their approaches to digital transformation, and how we can enhance the digital capabilities of staff and students. While many conversations centred on how staff can support students, or how they can support other staff members, a number of panelists reinforced that the success of transformation relies on us including students in the conversations and the process of transformation.

In my role I regularly have conversations with colleagues about the needs of students, but often they are a key stakeholder who are too often “the empty seat at the table”.  Jane Mooney (Professor of Educational Development and Digital Capability, University of Manchester) gave a detailed presentation on her work in digital transformation at the University of Manchester. She spoke about the importance of a university wide strategy which actively includes students as key stakeholders in large-scale change programmes. While curriculum transformation is often about providing students with the opportunity to learn new skills we should also consider the possibilities for students to teach skills. This idea can be incorporated in many different ways including, working with student associations and unions to gather feedback on student needs, or promoting students in peer-support roles where they can play crucial roles in the implementation of large-scale change projects.

I have also written a longer post on my personal blog

Digifest 2025 – Thoughts, Questions & Reflections | Learning Lines

DSDT Reflects: Digifest 2025 / Digital Skills, Design and Training by is licensed under a