2026 H890 Research & Scholarship in Digital Education Online Student Conference

A laptop and mug of coffee on a table, shown looking from above

The conference will take place on:

Friday 10th April 2026, starting at 09:00 BST
Saturday 11th April 2026, starting at 13:00 BST
Monday 13th April 2026, starting at 18:00 BST

The H890 ‘Research and Scholarship in Digital Education’ online module is part of the MA in Online Teaching programme run by the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at the Open University UK. This online conference is presented using the Open University’s Online Rooms, powered by Adobe Connect.

Each H890 student will contribute a short presentation to one of the conference sessions – the Conference Programme will be shown below when the students have submitted their abstracts in March.

We are delighted that our conference will be opened on the Friday by Sukaina Walji, Director Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching, University of Cape Town, South Africa (and one of our very own alumni). We are equally thrilled that Saturday’s session will feature a keynote presentation by Tim Coughlan, Professor of Learning Innovation and Accessibility, The Open University, UK, and that our final session on the Monday will be kicked off by a fascinating presentation from Allison Littlejohn, Professor of Learning Technology at University College London, UK.

Sukaina is the Director of CILT at the University of Cape Town. She oversees operational functions for the department including supporting the growth and development of CILT’s capacity to design and develop blended and online courses. She provides strategic advice for university senior leadership for digitally enabled education, participates in university level committees and initiatives, and is Chair of the Online Education sub-committee. She is also the member of Assessment Framework Working Group and co-lead of the UCDG project ‘Transforming Undergraduate Assessment’. Her research interests include learning design, MOOCs, Unbundled Higher Education and assessment practices. She has a Masters in Online and Distance Education from the Open University UK, and a BA (Hons) in History from Oxford University.

Photo of Tim Coughlan — Professor Tim Coughlan

Professor Tim Coughlan is Associate Director for Research and Knowledge Exchange and Professor of Learning Innovation and Accessibility in the Institute for Educational Technology at the Open University. His research crosses the areas of Education and Human-Computer Interaction. He is particularly focused on the design and evaluation of systems that support inclusion, creativity, and openness in learning. He also led creation of the postgraduate microcredential: Accessibility and Inclusive Learning. He led the development of Our Journey, a platform to support students to represent and reflect on their study journeys, and in ADMINS, led creation of a virtual assistant to support disabled students. More recent work has focused further on the ways in which AI assistants can support online study, and the use of VR simulations and AI to support healthcare training.

Photo of Allison Littlejohn — Professor Allison Littlejohn

Professor Allison Littlejohn is Pro-Vice Provost for UCL’s Grand Challenge Data Empowered Societies and is Professor of Learning and Technology in the UCL Knowledge Lab at University College London. Her research expands our understanding of the socio-technical effects of digital transformation at work and how it impacts work and learning. Allison has held senior positions at various UK universities: she was previously Director of the UCL Knowledge Lab, University College London; Dean (Learning & Teaching) at the University of Glasgow; Academic Director for Digital Innovation at the UK Open University; and Director of the Caledonian Academy at Glasgow Caledonian University. She has held visiting professorships at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, Open University of Catalonia and Oslo University.

Registration

Attendance at the conference has no charge, but you must please register in advance. To register, please complete the short form here: H890 Research & Scholarship in Digital Education Online Conference 2026 Registration – Fill in form

Conference Programme

The students are due to submit their abstracts by mid-March. Shortly after this, the conference programme will appear here.