It could be argued, that whilst running the UoE’s PebblePad service, we exist in a bit of a bubble given that we tend to focus on supporting colleagues predominantly from within our university. However, from time to time – fuelled by our professional curiosity – we stop and wonder what interesting challenges are faced by […]

The University of Edinburgh is procuring and developing an online service to support short courses for non-matriculated learners.  What is someone taking one of these courses entitled to?  And what should they be called? Edinburgh is one of only a handful of Higher Education providers who still offer short courses to the general public.  The […]

2023 marks the 30th year of ALT (Association for Learning Technology) and this year’s conference themes were: Leading People in a time of complexity; Diversity and Inclusion; Sustainability and Social Justice; and Emerging technologies and behaviors, highlighting a clear interest in a deeper consideration of edtech’s potential impact, rather than just its utility.  With so […]

We’ve had an Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy at Edinburgh since 2013.  It was radical at the time, particularly in allowing students to audio record their teaching, but was looking rather dated even before the online pivot in 2020.  In the context of an ongoing Curriculum Transformation project, how might we change it? I’ve been […]

This resource aims to help support new staff to develop a grounding in the sound technical and pedagogical application of centrally supported (and School-specific) learning technology. It does this by: Introducing the University’s centrally supported services Highlighting training (and other support) for centrally supported services Aligning to underlying strategies, policies and principles Linking to allied support Audience This […]

Among all the crises currently impacting our University, from the climate crisis to the cost of living crisis to the casualisation crisis and pension crisis, there is another which is often left out of the conversation. I would term this a crisis of compassion, a natural offshoot of the systemic burnout (see link below) which […]

  I have recently been involved in the Learn Ultra Project that has been tasked to upgrade Learn Original, the University’s centrally supported virtual learning environment (VLE). Being part of a team that is focusing on the Ultra Base Navigation menu has given me some great insights into the student experience with Learn Ultra.   […]

This community of practice, begun in November 2020, emerged from individuals recognising a need for anti-racist practice in learning technology. It aims to raise awareness of this but also to reduce racial inequities by helping all colleagues to be part of creating a better future. Anyone was free to join and from those small beginning […]

I came across this image the other day through a tweet by Marina Amaral. Marina is a Brazilian artist who specialises in the accurate colourisation of historical photographs and her twitter posts are full of interesting, sometimes bizarre, sometimes hilarious images and the stories behind them. The image above is one of a series that […]

Elizabeth Scarefellow has recently inherited a stately family home from a distant relative. She decides to move from her flat in the city out to the remote estate, before she makes up her mind whether to sell it, as she has always wanted to live in a more rural area. Although she did not know […]