On 30 October, I was delighted to attend Scottish Web Folk at the University of Dundee. This was the second time I’d attended this particular conference – you can read about my previous experience here:

Scottish Web Folk 2024: A portal practitioner’s perspective

Generative AI was a major theme from both suppliers and institutions

There was a lot of talk last year from suppliers who were looking to demonstrate the potential use cases for generative AI tools. While this remained the case this year, I perceived a marked increase in talks from institutions who have been experimenting with this technology this time around.

The keynote speech from Acquia demonstrated that many users are now expecting personalised experiences when interacting with web services, with the proportion of students reporting using any AI tools jumping from 66% last year to 92% this year. [HEPI Generative AI survey 2025]

From our own institution, Emma Horrell provided two interesting case studies into using AI tools:

AI in content creation

The first concerned empowering users of the University’s content management system (CMS), EdWeb 2, by embedding editing tools directly into its interface – during the pilot, web publishers were able to use tools that could summarise text, review page structure, and check content for compliance with the University’s style guide. While the most apparent benefit of this technology may be to save our staff’s valuable time in the writing and editing process, ensuring that page content is relevant and concise may also improve our users’ understanding of the material.

AI in search

Another demonstration surrounded the UX team’s experiments with an AI chatbot (or searchbot) that was embedded on one of the University’s test websites. Feedback from student participants included:

• Users like to be able to verify the source of the chatbot’s responses – generative AI is known to ‘hallucinate’ or ‘confabulate’ elements of their responses, and so users value being able to check the source of a fact for themselves
• While the the fact that the LLM was limited to building responses based on University sources was seen as a desirable trait from a service perspective (as such official sources are generally less likely to be false), users do value being able to see results from across the web.

More information about this exercise can be found in Emma’s recent blog post:

How do students respond to AI-powered search, and how does it compare to Google? More Drupal AI UX experiments

Our users (or even prospective users) may increasingly demand this kind of technology to be embedded into our sites. If we do plan to use these solutions, then it is crucial that they are implemented thoughtfully, and such pilots are essential for surfacing potential issues.

I learned how both individuals and institutions can manage periods of uncertainty

The Higher Education sector is currently undergoing a series of crises, and this was reflected in some of the events throughout the day.

Andrew Millar from the University of Dundee delivered a candid opening presentation which gave an insight into the challenges that they have been facing in their recent period of institutional turmoil. He characterised a set of milestones that he encountered throughout this crisis, explained what each one might look like, and provided some helpful suggestions for what to do at each point.

Hayworth & Co delivered a fascinating workshop aimed at identifying and tackling burnout, especially in times of uncertainty. I learned about what characterises burnout, how a person might identify burnout in themselves and others, and tips for how to break the cycle of burnout by increasing personal resilience. The workshop was particularly effective as our presenters shared their own personal experiences with the group, which helped humanise the advice which is often presented in a more detached manner.

Making things easier for our students (and others!) should be our number one priority

The highlight of the day for me was a talk delivered by Kris Purdy of the University of Glasgow. Following from their UX team’s excellent work on their student portal last year, Purdy has ambitious plans to make online services to make sense to students. Whereas many institutions currently use a “shopping mall” model where digital services are separate and disconnected, they envisage a “concierge desk” model where all channels work together to create a consistent user journey.

The vision links the engagement channels (website, social media channels, email, chat, etc.) through the part that students shouldn’t see – the infrastructure layer (digital experience platform, ID management system, student records system, etc.), to the capability layer – the function that can actually do the work (the Student Support Team to deliver wellbeing, the Estates team for the physical campus, etc.)

I agree with Purdy’s observation that students don’t see departments – their queries and requests belong to the University as a whole, not to an arbitrary organisation within it. As such, I believe that joining up our thinking is essential to delivering an excellent student experience.

Whereas the University of Glasgow’s presentation focused on the student experience, I believe that once these principles are embedded throughout the institution’s digital estate, the processes can be extended to other users – in our context that would mean staff and applicants.

Together we are stronger (and check your AI-generated images!)

Thanks to the University of Dundee and all of the sponsors for delivering another successful Scottish Web Folk. It’s always great to communicate, celebrate, and occasionally commiserate with like-minded individuals.

PS. While AI models appear to be better at generating images of fingers than in previous years, I did spot two instances of 3-handed people in a presentation – remember to be vigilant!