In early May, we convened an online 2 Stars and a Wish Session with members of the Association for Learning Technology across Scotland. We had an active and useful discussion around themes and burning issues - and mostly our hopes for the future.
Scotland’s digital learning landscape is shifting in ways that matter deeply for ALT members. Across AI, open practice, digital capability, and national reform, the sector is innovating, but unevenly; collaboration is strengthening, but still fragile; and the gap between policy ambition and operational reality remains stubborn.
Our next gathering will be hybrid, with both face-to-face and online options. Hosted at Jisc Innovation Hub at the University of Stirling on 12th of June - book here.
Better Assessment Design: A hope that AI disruption finally forces institutions to rethink outdated, surface‑level assessment practices.
Broader ALT Scotland Engagement: A desire to bring more colleagues into the ALT Scotland community, too many are still missing out on the support, camaraderie, and shared expertise.
More Thoughtful Use of AI vs OER: A call for educators to recognise when AI is helpful — and when a well‑chosen OER or public‑domain resource is the better, safer, or more transparent choice.
A More Open System: A strong plea to move beyond “It’s all on SharePoint, unfortunately.” Members want institutions to enable external sharing, embrace open platforms, and reduce unnecessary barriers to collaboration.
1. Digital Capability: Progress, but still too slow
The Digital Skills Development Scoping Report (2025) continues to shape conversations about workforce readiness across colleges. It highlights what many ALT members already know: capability is improving, but the system lacks coherence, shared frameworks, and visible institutional and national leadership.
The ongoing Tertiary System workstream has real potential to address this, but only if outputs are openly published and actively used. Transparency here would make a tangible difference to practitioners.
Meanwhile, The Data Lab’s Education Community is emerging as a valuable cross‑sector space for data and AI practice. It’s early, but it could become a key partner for ALT Scotland.
2. AI in Education: Between grassroots realism and global critique
AI remains the dominant theme, but the conversation is maturing.
The Scottish AI in Tertiary Education Network (SCAITEN) making great progress in providing an informed position on AI for Colleges and Universities across Scotland.
AICE.scot, led by Stuart Caddell, is one of the most grounded, practitioner‑led initiatives in Scotland. It’s pragmatic, classroom‑focused, and aligned with the realities of Scottish schools. FE/HE should be paying attention.
Helen Beetham’s “AI Can Fail You” is resonating strongly with ALT members — a reminder that criticality must sit alongside innovation.
Timnit Gebru’s work at DAIR continues to expose the structural risks in the global AI ecosystem. For a sector dependent on vendor tools, this critique is not optional reading.
Jisc’s National Centre for AI remains a key source of guidance, though institutions are still wrestling with implementation.
The overall picture: There is some confident experimenting happening, but the ethical and infrastructural questions are getting louder. There are challenges to the best use of local AI solutions that need to be overcome in partnership with IT colleagues and with students.
3. Academic Integrity & Assessment: Normalisation underway
Across universities, AI‑supported academic work is becoming normalised rather than feared.
- Northampton’s GenAI assessment guidance
- Edinburgh’s subject‑level guidance
- A growing set of open resources on copyright, public‑domain images, and AI‑generated media
These are practical, aligned, open, and increasingly shareable, exactly the kind of cross‑institutional consistency ALT Scotland has long advocated for.
4. Open Education: A renewed moment for Scotland
Open practice is gaining momentum again, and ALT members are at the centre of it.
- Edinburgh’s TILT toolkit is a strong, interdisciplinary OER contribution.
- Jisc’s Open Policy Finder is becoming essential for policy alignment.
- UCL’s ABC Learning Design resources remain widely adopted across FE and HE.
- Edinburgh’s Open Education Week shows what a mature institutional open culture looks like.
- If you are doing work in the open follow #openscot example and get your work on the OERWorldMap.
With Creative Commons celebrating 25 years, it’s a timely reminder that open licensing underpins everything from AI training to resource reuse.
We had a good discussion around 'sharepoint', it can enable external sharing, but this is normally disabled.
5. AI for OER Discovery: A promising pilot
The Jisc–Sylla pilot exploring AI‑driven OER discovery is one to watch. If it can deliver transparent, licence‑accurate search, it could transform how to find and reuse materials. But the risks, hallucinated attributions, opaque sourcing, remain real.
6. ALT Developments: A more integrated ecosystem
ALT itself is evolving in ways that matter for Scotland:
- OER26 is approaching
- ALT and DLI have announced a strategic partnership
- AmplifyFE is now an ALT Special Interest Group
- The arrival of a refreshed CMALT is imminent
These shifts strengthen ALT’s FE presence and create clearer pathways for professional recognition.
7. Wider Sector Signals
A few additional developments shaping the landscape:
- Jisc Connect More (12–13 May) – free, online, and increasingly influential
- SFC’s College Sector of the Future – early but important
- Jisc’s Manifesto for Tertiary Education in Scotland – a bold attempt to shape national direction
- UCISA’s VLE Review Toolkit – outputs will be essential for procurement cycles
- DataFest – expensive, but consistently strong, some great global speakers.
- We Are Open Co‑op – closing after years of thoughtful sector support. Worth having a look and their fantastic legacy.
What this means for ALT Scotland
Across all these threads, a few strategic implications stand out:
- ALT Scotland is uniquely placed to convene the cross‑sector conversations others aren’t hosting.
- Grassroots innovation (AICE.scot, open practice communities, practitioner networks) is outpacing national strategy.
- AI is both enabling and destabilising — and the sector needs a shared, critical, Scottish voice.
- Open practice is becoming the backbone of responsible digital education.
- The tertiary reform agenda needs more visibility and more practitioner input.
ALT Scotland’s role is clear: connect, challenge, and amplify — ensuring Scotland’s digital learning community shapes the future rather than reacts to it.
Recording of Session Here
