{"id":302,"date":"2026-04-16T15:14:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/?p=302"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:14:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:14:44","slug":"another-successful-h890-research-and-scholarship-in-digital-education-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/another-successful-h890-research-and-scholarship-in-digital-education-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Another successful H890 Research and Scholarship in Digital Education Conference!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Four

H890 Conference image featuring cartoon penguins.<\/p><\/div>\n

The 2026 edition of the H890 Research And Scholarship in Digital Education Conference has come to a close. With 27 superb presentations over 3 days, it has become an extremely diverse and rich event.<\/p>\n

Day 1<\/h1>\n

The first conference session kicked off with a lovely welcome from IET Director Professor Bart Rienties in his ‘casual Friday’ blue hoodie, explaining how the conference and associated module align with the research interests of the Institute of Educational Technology.
\nWe then welcomed our alumnus Sukaina Walji, now Director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, for a wonderful keynote presentation describing a ‘research as storytelling’ innovation to gather a rich picture of how staff and students view the use of AI in assessments.<\/p>\n

\"Sukaina

Sukaina Walji, Day 1 keynote speaker<\/p><\/div>\n

Given the unenviable task of being first student presenter to take the floor, Robert Nixon impressed us with a project on evaluating the use of technology in supporting dyslexia. Next up was Carol-Anne Beardmore, with her project on the potential of ‘citizen humanities’ (as opposed to ‘citizen science’) to transform history education. Our first Commonwealth Scholar followed, with Aliyu Akilu Barau discussing the use of mobile learning to develop health literacy in rural Nigeria. The first part of the day was rounded off by Pam Geraldine, explaining her use of Augmented Reality to create a cultural heritage app.<\/p>\n

The second part of Day 1 kicked off with Janix Asare, another Commonwealth Scholar, and his use of a systematic literature review to uncover the use and potential of AI coding assistants. He was followed by Millie Glazebrook and her investigation of the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality to enhance primary students’ learning. This was followed by Onick Gwayi, using his Commonwealth Scholarship opportunity to investigate the impact on student outcomes of enhancing accessibility and inclusive practice features of online courses for trainee social science teachers. Next we had Commonwealth Scholar Walusungu Ngulube giving us an insight into her development of a mobile-first careers guidance resource for students in sub-Saharan Africa who traditionally have very little access to careers advice. And rounding off the first day we heard from Rashida Newbill, and her analysis of how we as educators can balance the omnipresence of AI with the need for students to develop critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n

Day 2<\/h1>\n

Our Saturday session kicked off with a keynote from our very own Professor Tim Coughlan, Professor of Learning Innovation and Accessibility at the Institute for Educational Technology, Open University, UK. Tim spoke to us about the opportunities afforded by AI for accessibility and supporting disabled students.<\/p>\n

\"Tim

Professor Tim Coughlan<\/p><\/div>\n

Following Tim was not an easy task but Claire Walder rose to the challenge, describing her project to investigate the usefulness and value of interactive online feedback resources for nursing students. Claire was followed by ChiaoYuan Chang, giving us an insight into teaching in Taiwan and teachers’ attitudes towards digital competency and technology use in the classroom. Then we heard from Commonwealth Scholar Michael Ngala and his project at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology (JOOUST)\u200b in Kenya to determine whether the choice of online versus face to face business management programmes is affecting learner outcomes. The first part of the session was rounded off by Helen Shepherd, and her investigating into ’emotional labour’ in a nursing degree, and whether online study and online spaces can help nursing students process emotionally difficult subject areas.<\/p>\n

After the break we were listening to Professor Sammy Mutisya and his Commonwealth Scholarship opportunity to investigate the role of AI-powered Assistive Technologies to support disabled and traumatised students in two large refugee camps in Kenya. Andrea Mills then had us thinking about the use of tablet-based activities for enhancing the agency of under-fives and her investigation into this area. Zoe Dawson spoke next about Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety and how Immersive Virtual Reality may help students to overcome it. Then Commonwealth Scholar Keisha Campbell presented to us her project on using a Blended Learning MOOC to enhance STEM educators’ competencies. And finally we heard from Kim Froehler at some unholy hour in the Canadian morning, talking to us about the AI readiness of educators in British Columbia and her study to assess and support that readiness via online materials.<\/p>\n

Day 3<\/h1>\n

Our planned keynote speaker for Day 3, Allison Littlejohn of University College London, had to step aside at a late stage due to health issues (Allison we wish you well for a speedy recovery!) and so we were extremely fortunate when Professor Emerita Rebecca Ferguson willingly stepped into Allison’s shoes and delivered us a fascinating keynote presentation on Research Futures and Grand Challenges, through the lens of the Learning Analytics community.<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca

Professor Emerita Rebecca Ferguson<\/p><\/div>\n

Following Rebecca is never an easy task but Commonwealth Scholar Florence Kamonjo rose to the challenge with an explanation of her work to evaluate the use of WhatsApp for equitable academic engagement of staff and students at the University of Kabianga, Kenya. Next to go was Lee Lindsay, talking us through his project to use introductory pre-courses to support retention, by providing accurate ‘tasters’ of full courses to ensure that students are in the right place for what they want to achieve. Finally in the first part we heard from Commonwealth Scholar Salima Sewani and her use of AI with teachers of disabled students in Pakistan, to produce colouring books, songs, poems and other teaching resources for student learning and engagement.<\/p>\n

After the break we heard from Marta Asensio, describing her project to investigate the use of social learning activities to improve the retention of asynchronous online learners. This was followed by Megan Hyndman’s presentation on the retention and attainment of non-traditional students (those from low socio-economic backgrounds, first-in-family university students etc) on online distance learning undergraduate courses. And finally we heard from Emma-Louise Hague, wrapping up the conference with a presentation on the use of audio to support memorisation in adult learners – nobody present will ever spell the word ‘bananas’ without thinking of a certain song now!<\/p>\n

To read the students’ abstracts and communicate with them directly through the comments function, please see the conference programme here: https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/2026-h890-research-scholarship-in-digital-education-online-student-conference\/\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 edition of the H890 Research And Scholarship in Digital Education Conference has come to a close. With 27 superb presentations over 3 days, it has become an extremely diverse and rich event. Day 1 The first conference session kicked off with a lovely welcome from IET Director Professor Bart Rienties in his ‘casual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,13,6,5,11,7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai","category-commonwealth-scholarships","category-educational-futures","category-higher-ed","category-maot","category-research","category-scholarships","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/MAOT\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}