The 2025 Association for Learning Technology Conference offered an inspiring mix of practical innovations and thoughtful discussions about the evolving relationship between technology, pedagogy, and wellbeing. Across the two days, some key themes stood out to me: student empowerment, inclusivity, and the human side of digital learning.
Taking Learning Beyond Blended
The Jisc panel session, Taking Learning Beyond Blended: Integrating Space, Place and Platform in Curriculum Design, challenged assumptions about how students navigate digital and physical spaces. Asking students about their preferred modes of participation – and reinforcing expectations for how to participate – felt like a refreshingly practical approach to digital inclusion.
It was interesting to hear that Sheffield Hallam University realised after their curriculum redesign that a “revalidation” was needed, due to gaps that emerged in staff and student skills. This goes to show that although our Curriculum Transformation timeline will be coming to a close at Bath, there is still plenty of room for ongoing reflection and adaptation.
You might be interested to have a look at their prompt cards which have been designed to facilitate discussions around AI in blended learning.
Students as Designers
One of the most thought-provoking sessions for me was Students as Designers: Shaping the Cardiff University Future of Digital Learning Together by Hannah Salisbury and Marianna Majzonova. Their model of student “Learning Champions,” now evolving into paid “Student Experience Partners”, showed the power of authentic collaboration with learners. Students have created some great resources including student enablement campaign videos and a top tips bookmark that was distributed across campus. Their work not only improved the digital learning environment (with a significant increase in students rating it as ‘excellent’) but also gave students a meaningful role in shaping institutional change. I felt we could definitely learn from this when designing and improving our own student partnership schemes at Bath.
Building Inclusive Support with H5P
Justin Earle (Southampton Solent University) presented Building Stronger Foundations for Inclusive Support, showcasing how self-guided H5P resources can empower students to find answers independently. While many students still preferred to ask someone directly, the data demonstrated a clear reduction in support queries and an encouraging shift toward self-directed learning. As a keen H5P user myself, I thought this was a really interesting initiative and a viable, simpler alternative to using an AI Chatbot for student queries.
Microlearning for Staff Development
The University of Glasgow’s Piloting Innovation: Designing Video-Based Microlearning for Staff Development (Amanda Losonsky) resonated strongly. Their “Level Up” video playlists are designed to fit into busy staff schedules and build a culture of continuous, bitesize learning. This feels very aligned with our own TEL-Nybbles initiative, and I came away with a number of ideas for how we could emulate Glasgow’s approach ourselves in the TEL Team.
Creativity and Human Skills in a Digital World
Emily Patterson (Cambridge Advance Online) ran an engaging, interactive session which reminded us that creative skills like metacognition and being able to consider issues from other perspectives remain critical in a digital future, despite sometimes being sidelined in traditional education. Her Human Skills for a Digital World talk showed how structured reflection and online collaboration can nurture creative problem-solving.
One thing I noted was that in the Cambridge Advance context, tutors are trained in digital moderation, and so are confident to help students engage more in online forums. A tip to take away is that the tutors use ‘seed posts’ in their forums, so that students don’t have the fear of being the first to post.
Rethinking ePortfolios
Ruth Clark (Leeds Conservatoire)’s talk, Rethinking ePortfolios: Developing Lifelong Digital Capabilities, reframed ePortfolios as authentic, employability-focused tools rather than administrative burdens. Their bespoke WordPress-based system “Show” demonstrated that when staff understand the value of a platform, students are far more likely to see its purpose too — a point that struck home as we continue to promote Mahara-based portfolio assessments.
Wellbeing and Belonging in Digital Learning
Several sessions, including Jenny Crow (University of Glasgow)’s Student Perspectives on Belonging, highlighted the importance of connection. Simple strategies, like short introductory videos from teaching staff and social, low-stakes discussion spaces, made a measurable difference to students’ sense of belonging, particularly for distance learners. Similarly, Sundus Baig (BPP University)’s Click, Pause, Breathe reminded us that wellbeing must be designed into online learning experiences, not assumed. See the table below for some of her suggestions.
Assessment in the Age of AI
Finally, Andrew Larner (Manchester Metropolitan University)’s Antidote to Madness: An Assessment Design Framework for the Age of AI offered a constructive framework for navigating the new realities of generative AI.
Andrew and his colleagues took a range of existing assessments with zero subject knowledge, and somewhat worryingly found that with the help of AI they passed everything, sometimes with higher scores than the students actually taking the modules, and with no evidence to prove academic misconduct. This provided clear reasoning to find design methods which help assessments to fall into the “zone of desired AI use” – encouraging transparent collaboration between students and AI tools and avoiding AI collusion, where AI is employed as a substitute for genuine learning. This approach felt like a healthy, forward-thinking middle ground between prohibition and overreliance. His team have produced a fantastic resource that you can view to find out more.
Key Takeaways
- Student partnership drives genuine innovation.
- Assessment design must evolve to accommodate – and teach – responsible AI use.
- Digital wellbeing and belonging are integral to online learning, not optional extras.
- Creativity and human skills remain central, even in a tech-rich landscape.
I had a wonderful time up in Glasgow and hope to have the privilege of attending another ALT Conference in future. It was motivating to network with staff from universities across the country who share some of the same challenges and passions. My colleague Lynn has also shared her reflections from the conference if you would like to read more, as we attended some different sessions.
The conference left me with a renewed appreciation for balance — between innovation and inclusivity, digital tools and human connection. As we continue to evolve our own digital learning practices, these insights will be invaluable.
By Olivia Soutter; Instructional Designer in the CLT
