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Reading for everyone? Dyslexia in testing times.
It is a time of increasing scrutiny on secondary school reading in England. The Department for Education (2025) has declared the need for a new assessment at age 13 which they say will raise standards. This is against a backdrop of the National Literacy Trust (2024) warning of the risk of children leaving education without the necessary reading ability for daily life in modern Britain. Dyslexic pupils begin to underachieve…
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Rethinking Professional Learning in an Era of Data Driven Work
In the race to generate ‘data-driven’ solutions, we run the risk of sidelining human experiences. AI and digital data are having a massive impact on work and learning. Efforts to utilise data in ways that empower people, like making data open and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), tend to focus on technical areas such as…
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Researching accessible education in the age of AI
This talk will discuss recent educational technology research projects which suggest ways in which AI can support or challenge equitable learning at scale. It will focus particularly on social and institutional elements of education as these are questioned by the AI. Relationships between disability and technology, and between teaching and learning, provide ways to think…
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Research as storytelling: what students and staff are saying about AI in assessments
In the rush to respond to generative AI in higher education, we risk operating from assumptions rather than evidence about what students and staff in universities are experiencing. This keynote explores how theoretically grounded qualitative research can challenge dominant narratives, such as students as cheaters or staff as purely reactive, without claiming generalisability. Drawing on…
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Cyborgs and Centaurs, and how they inspired my research on the impact of Generative AI on educators’ professional identities in Higher Education.
Cyborgs and Centaurs, and how they inspired my research on the impact of Generative AI on educators’ professional identities in Higher Education. Maria Calonico Keywords: Generative AI, higher education, professional identity, academic identity, CPD, disruptive technologies. Generative AI (GenAI) can be defined as ‘a category of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that generate new outputs…
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Repurposing technology designed to support who are non-speaking and physically impaired with communication: Can doing so enable these students to access the curriculum and lead to better learning outcomes than the currently available technological solutions made available to them?
Repurposing technology designed to support who are non-speaking and physically impaired with communication: Can doing so enable these students to access the curriculum and lead to better learning outcomes than the currently available technological solutions made available to them? Marion Stanton Keywords: Universal design for learning, learning outcomes, physical disability, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, education…
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Striving for Success: Exploring Participation, Feedback and achievement within Sunderland Online Undergraduate Nursing Students
Striving for Success: Exploring Participation, Feedback and achievement within Sunderland Online Undergraduate Nursing Students Tracey Aytoun Keywords: asynchronous discussion forums, feedback, formative assignment, summative assignment, academic attainment, Community of Inquiry, Salmon’s five-stage model During COVID-19, the University of Sunderland formed Sunderland Online which delivers online programmes across various faculties enabling degrees to be studied globally…
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Diminishing Distance: Fostering belonging by mature HE students as Communities of Inquiry
Diminishing Distance: Fostering belonging by mature HE students as Communities of Inquiry Bina Radia-Bond Key words: Communities of Inquiry; Higher Education; belonging; online learning; TEL; mature students. The initiative of the ‘university of the air’ in England over fifty years ago was pivotal in the advancement of social mobility through opening access to…
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Virtually There: Student experiences of remote and blended museum studies work placements
Virtually There: Student experiences of remote and blended museum studies work placements Amy Johnstone Keywords: Work-integrated, work placement, remote learning, TEL, equity-deserving, inclusive, accessible. Work placements in Museum Studies professional postgraduate programmes are increasingly undertaken in blended or remote ways, but are these placements as equitable as we think? This presentation presents an…
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How can A.I. patients effectively develop pharmacy students’ consultation skills?
How can A.I. patients effectively develop pharmacy students’ consultation skills? Billy Smith Keywords- Artificial intelligence; Pharmacy education; consultation skills; communication skills; design-based research; healthcare education Rationale Effective consultation skills are vital in pharmacy practice, and a core standard for General Pharmaceutical Council registration (GPhC, 2017). Traditionally, consultation and communication skills training have been undertaken…