Learning Without Edges: My Takeaways from #ALTC26 in Cardiff

I had luxury at ALTC this year to get into lots of sessions without worrying about what was happening back at my institution - now I am a free agent. All sessions I went along to were busy and highly relevant but with a range of parallel sessions I always have a bit of fear of missing out.

Great line up of exhibitors - as College body encouraged them to work with UFI Vocational Trust to find ways into the College and vocational landscape. Knowing the realitiies of College budgets, a lot of College focus will be on driving the most out of systems they have access to rather than buying in more technology.

Sure too as the PHP issue unfolded on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning some folks would be going back to a firestorm of plugins to update. I am glad I missed that too.
This year’s overarching theme—"Learning without Edges" was particularly timely and tied in well too with pre-conference I attended. Life Long Learning is really back on the UK agenda.

We are all navigating a rapid shift across job markets, digital infrastructure, and student expectations, the focus wasn't just on shiny tech, but on how digital pedagogy can dissolve barriers and create adaptable, resilient learning ecosystems for all.

Here are my takeaways from two days in Wales.

1. Moving Beyond the AI Hype: Embedded Pedagogy & Integrity

Rather than isolating Artificial Intelligence into its own separate strand, #ALTC26 embedded AI throughout the entire program, focusing on practical application, academic integrity, and AI literacy. It is great that we have moved passed the AI right or wrong discussion.

 
The Sessions: Highlights included discussions around Agentic AI and the Student Experience 2026, which looked at how autonomous AI tutors are replacing basic chatbots, alongside sessions showing how conversational bots can support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) without overwhelming teaching staff.

Key Takeaway: AI is no longer a separate conversation; it should be part of every aspect of curriculum design and assessment strategy. ( this will take a while)

Reflections
I attended workshop with BlueTrain team from France it was an excellent workshop based game around changing assessment strategies to reflect the new world driven by AI and a presentation from ODEA who are rolling out a tool developed initially at Eindhoven University. Based initially on Gemini, now using Mistral, ( European Sovereign AI ) it is a local agent fed on an index of actual course materials designed to give learners individualised support. I also enjoyed session from Kortext again at a price mapping content to provide individualised support in a controlled way.

Lots of useful courses are appearing for staff development - and good use of Open Practice emerging in Ireland .

I am up to speed with Jisc work around Beyond Blended - really worth tuning into. I went along instead to workshops around the edges on Vibe Coding learning materials and around building AI agents. Jisc have been so key in supporting community in moving things forward. A really key ally of ALT.

I do wonder how well institutional IT teams are adjusting to this brave new world of AI agents - when will curriculum teams and students get access to these tools - or will it all be shadow IT. Think there is big bit of work needed here around managing cost of AI credits etc and building up IT teams confidence around using AI to support whole institution. There is some excellent work happening here from Jisc - both on ensuring harmony between IT and Learning Technology Teams and on not getting carried away by AI hype and making sensible procurement decisions around governance and cost cotrol of AI systems .

Within Canvas for instance on the knowledge base contained with a course a lot of this AI enablement is already possible.

2. Experiencing the Friction: Student Agency & Participatory Learning

One of the strongest recurring beats of the conference was making sure student voices sit at the center of digital transformation, not as passive end-users, but as co-designers.
The Sessions: Interactive workshops like "Be the Student for an Hour" put delegates directly into simulated digital learning environments to reveal hidden points of cognitive overload, accessibility gaps, and design friction.

Key Takeaway: Institutions scaling successful digital strategies actively involve students in tool procurement, interface testing, and learning space design. Think we all have a way to go here on Co-Design.

Reflections

These were great workshops but we have a long way to go here. Platforms tend to be selected on how they fit with existing institutional models, Students rarely have a voice. The opening session led by students highlighted how important truly flexible delivery is along with digital skills and simple pathways that allow learners to login and access all the right tools in the one place.

The right tool is single sign on, supports accessibility , learning design , microcredentials, eportfolio , offers AI support when needed - and can serve both learners within institution but can also open up content and learning experiences to those beyond the institution.

There was a session around how to bring learning design into making 2hr lectures more interactive - thought that highlighted how far we still have to travel. Brickfield Labs led a very simple session around challenges of accessibility of basic content. It is worth running this exercise ( and note to self check accessibility of this piece)

UCL demoed a simple co-pilot , .MD file driven tool that can provide better accessible descriptions of charts than for instance those automatically generated by Power Point.

I enjoyed session on slow learning that encouraged us to use tools and design learning not for efficiency but for flourishing

"where is technology enhancing, hindering, and transforming our experiences, and how can we take agency over the use of existing and emerging tools not for efficiency or automation alone, but for our own individual flourishing "

3. Accessibility as Core Culture, Not a Checklist

Digital accessibility remained a core pillar of the conversation, shifting from basic compliance toward embedded daily workflow habits.
The Sessions: Real-world case studies showcased institutional frameworks (such as Manchester's accessibility model) that empower educators to create accessible resources natively within their VLEs rather than retrofitting content later. Good use of Canvas as underlying platform.

Key Takeaway: Accessibility works best when it is automated, supported by institution-wide culture, and framed as essential universal design.

Reflections

There is a growing number of tools to make accessibility simply part of the workflow and to audit and upgrade existing content. I think challenge is still around staff skills and intent. It was good to here BrickField Labs updates in this area and see Manchester University's approach using Canvas. 

4. Community, Connectivity & 20 Years of ALT Awards

Beyond the formal presentations, ALTC26 was a celebration of community connection. It marked the 20th anniversary of the ALT Awards, recognising individuals, teams, and projects that have driven meaningful digital innovation over the past two decades. It is great to catch up with the community.

What’s Next? Other useful bits

• Leaving Cardiff, my key take aways are :Explore and add some of my publications to https://zenodo.org/ and see how Mistral AI stacks up against Claude, CoPilot and Gemini.
• Really liked an example of using AI Co-Pilot to create a 360 degree image that was then used in Thinglink to create a learning exercise.
• Refocus on Co-Pilot and Gemini - where Colleges are at - I have some workshops to deliver in that space.
• Follow up and support some of great folks and organisations I engaged with.
• Do a blog post reflecting on another great ALT conference - job done.

Year Two over the Top : Post Summer Blog Catch Up #OER26

I am still pinching myself that I'm not back in the trenches for a fraught start of term.

I've moved on a lot since last year, and the work keeps evolving. 

All the very best to all who are back for a new session. 

I had a busy end to my part-time consulting year!  And then a useful chance to simply potter about and reflect. Had great fun watching World Cup too in Scotland and France. 

I am a few blog posts behind. 

Here is a quick look at what I’ve been up to:

• Holyrood Communications: I had the privilege of speaking on the transformative role of AI in Education, exploring both the opportunities and challenges it brings for learners and teachers. Mainly how assessment needs to change. But have a close look at the presentation on skills you and learners need to develop to make the most of AI tools.
  
  
• #OER26: Connected with the open education community to share ideas and insights on the future of open educational resources. I focused on the practical things that open education advocates and their organisations should be doing to be open. Extended blog to follow.

• Very timely as the Scottish Government has finally got behind Open Practice. Caught up too over the summer with the team leading on this work. Worth a read - if I was still working at a public body or at an institutional level I'd be figuring out how we start the journey towards sharing more resources publicly with an appropriate open licence and discussing this with all stakeholders. 
  
  
  The #openscot community and Association for Learning Technology have lots of experts on hand who could help.

• Quality Systems: Delivered a session for Northampton College on familiar territory of quality systems internal and external quality assurance for their engineering academic team. 

• Île de Ré: Balanced the busy schedule with a fantastic summer break on the French coast, enjoying the quiet beaches, cycling routes, food, wine, and plenty of sunshine (perhaps too hot this year).

• Glasgow Commonwealth Games: Spent an unforgettable time volunteering on the ground, soaking in the vibrant energy of the events. Some memorable moments: the Ugandan team (on a rainy day)  telling me how beautiful Scotland was in the autumn and being surprised it was summer.  The Cook Islands team singing and playing their music on their hotel balcony each evening.   Above all, working with a great set of volunteers and welcoming so many different people into the City of Glasgow. 

• RSA Scotland: Supported the Commonwealth Reception in Trades House of Glasgow, engaging in fantastic conversations with fellows and partners celebrating regional and international connections and handing the baton on to the Indian delegation. 

• Mentoring: Continued supporting senior leaders on driving change, leveraging digital tools while staying human, and leading authentically. If you role-play being a rotter, you risk getting stuck in that mode, and we have more than enough angry leaders in the world right now!

Looking forward to ALTC in Cardiff, meeting new ALT Scotland Exec members, and supporting Instructure Canvas (including Canvas Con in November) and moving on a few other projects that will keep me occupied into the new year. 

#altc25 Glasgow Conference Reflections

Decompressing from some excellent days at the Association for Learning Technology's annual conference in Glasgow. Here are some quick reflections on what I picked up. Programme was great (as co-chair some bias in that) and I probably missed many other useful nuggets. Thought venue and catering etc all excellent. Company as ever was splendid. I even managed to appear on ALTC Radio. 

Great to work with team at ALT and my co chairs to pull things together. I hope everyone had a great time 

Preconference Evening in NQ64

Looked inspired had a previous engagement but what a fun place. Made me think about Reclaim Hosting folks and other edtechs I know who collect, repair and build gaming machines as a hobby.

Day One 

Charles Knight 

Great keynote and call to action. Learning Technologists do , do magic - but they do need the right context. Good institutions succeed by giving staff and students agency and confidence and this is still possible in period of massive change. Good advice too though if magic is not achievable where you are move on to the next gig and light up another room.

Publication of New Jisc Beyond Blended Report and Assets 

An open set of resources and report to improve learning design across the sector. These can be repurposed and made your own. So well done on creative commons licence. Would be great to see QAA, SFC , HMIE were directing centres to resources like this.  Blended is about taking a whole institutional approach including working on co-creation with learners to improve the learning experience. All directors of teaching and learning, faculty heads and quality managers etc should know their way around this. 

Mark Bush - Inspera

Mainly a session around how to trust suppliers. An old chestnut. But sensing a market maturity in lots of discussions with suppliers and exhibitors over the two days of the conference. New entrants need to have a better solution to displace incumbents. As there is less money about, the sector generally tends to be much more risk adverse and not as willing to pilot new things and there is a constant concern about lock in (once you are on board, will tolls , licence fees simply climb with no clear escape route) or perhaps this is just a timely awareness. 

Where in Scotland APUC, in UK UCISA and organisations like ALT come in.  We do all talk to each other about suppliers and possible technical solutions.  

Online assessment systems like Inspera now handling 18.2 million submissions a year and operating in 26 countries globally.

Student Panel 

Was interesting as ever to hear level headed students taking a measured approach to AI adoption and mainly asking for more support around academic writing. And not really having clear answer on what is best way to communicate with them.

Edgehill University  

Attended interesting sessions on blended learning and costings.  The current ABC model struggles with spiral curriculums that exist in medicine and some other disciplines so does need different approach while keeping a laser like focus on not overloading students with content.  Edge Hill University has some useful resources to support collaborative development. 

University of Southampton

The University of Southampton have created a useful tool for helping with very vague faculty requests to create digital learning materials. Looks great it creates resource allocations. costs and realistic delivery timelines. I do hope academics take time to fill in the forms in properly.

University of Leeds 

Good story where learning technology was pulled back from faculties to become more centralised service- became design led strategic partners with much better focus on educational enhancement framework using institutional data to target academic teams that needed support.

Did a quick change and had great fun at dinner, awards ceremony and  Ceilidh - band were great and still home by 11pm. Congratulations to all winners and nominees. 

Day Two 

Launch of AmplifyFE Impact  Report

It was a privilege to get to say a few words and launch the #AmplifyFE impact report. Led in partnership with ALT and the UFI Vocational Trust it now embraces a community of around 3700 practitioners from across the UK.  A few more FE folks in Scotland should tune into this network. 

Gabbi Witthaus 

So grounded and so human. I do wonder that system still can seem so rigid, remote and hostile to learners.  Four dimensions work is really useful way to help teachers and students manage life and learning loads. Gabbi has kindly shared her keynote. 

Edinburgh Napier and Sciaten Partners

Great work around ethical use of AI with academics and students. Great too to see Open Scotland referenced in influences here. Some really useful resources to open up discussions about AI in curriculum and assessment here.  

Would be good to see more Scottish Colleges visible in supporting this work. 

Paul Basich

Great session focussing on efficient ways of delivering blended learning. It is mostly common sense - but staggering to hear that some large institutions are just beginning to think about institutional templates in virtual learning environments etc. In some respects HE has a lot to learn about course design, teaching and learning from Colleges. In feedback highlighted that West Lancashire College has delivered to 10,000 online  learners in last 5 years - part of Newcastle College Group. 

ALT Strategy Session

Sort of what it said on the tin - in a world where everyone is now an 'expert on digital learning'  ALT needs to keep ahead of the pack. 

University of Glasgow - Jenny Crow

A nice bit of work echoing the mornings keynote and some of the themes from the student panel around experiments using whatsapp and other platforms to give learners a solid sense of belonging

Manchester Met - Andrew Larner

Great tool for suggesting new assessment designs using generative AI from Manchester Metropolitan University. Really worth exploring.

Exhibitors etc 

Great to see many established players and a number of new potential suppliers for Education sector - I did get around and say hello. 

Good to have lots of proper dialogues around sectoral challenges that were way beyond the 'sales patter' of old. Among the VLE suppliers still some frustration that institutions are not 'sweating' the assets and doing more with the great platforms that are available. 

Good to meet the team from Brickfield and hear about their tools for monitoring the accessibility of learning content.

Interested in Edina's new walled garden for trying out AI tools.

A shout out to Vevox their polling solution worked very well throughout the conference.

Nice to meet Estendio, Eduface, and Study Stash all harnessing AI to improve teaching and learning.

Endnotes 

It was great to have a number of colleagues along from City of Glasgow College but I do think Colleges generally should be more engaged with ALT and communities of practice. I'll keep pushing through ALT Scotland , CDN and the work with Jisc that is already in place. 

I miss social media Discord was ok but needs everyone on board. Remember you are all agents of change. Find each other on social media @joecar80.bsky.social

I listed seven things for delegates 

1. (Beyond) Blended Learning is the future !

2. Is your own practice open ? (Discover Open Scotland )

3. I hope you are all blogging and aggregating (ScotEdublogs) 

4. It ain’t a microcredential without a digital badge ( using 1Edtech open standards) and a platform that supports these. 

5. Hope you have figured out how to allow learners and staff to use AI ethically. Local models are the way ahead for many. 

6. In a world where everyone is now an expert on educational technology – ALT continues to be beacon in the darkness.

7. I hope you enjoyed Glasgow and haste ye back.