National Museum of Wales Education Leaders Summit Pre #ALTC26

Last week I was invited to contribute to a discussion among UK education leaders in the splendid surroundings of the Welsh National Museum Cardiff. This was an event pre Association For Learning Technology Conference #ALTC26 gathering hosted by Instructure. 

As we were in Wales the discussion was shaped by developments there, I was impressed by focus to push forward tertiary opportunities for all. In some respects they are ahead of Scotland in some other areas they are behind. I think difference may be that they do seem more prepared to make funding contingent on Universities and Colleges working more closely together. Check out MeDr developments and specifically current list of projects.

 In Scotland I'd make all tertiary activity  funded at the same level - that would correct the market and behaviours - and perhaps be much simpler than drip funding range of projects. 

It's interesting the theme of Life Long Learning is back on everyone's radar.

Here is a summary of the five key takeaways for supporting lifelong learners: You can read things in full on the Instructure Website

• Lifelong Learning as a Shared Societal Responsibility: Anchored in Wales’s Well-being of Future Generations Act, institutions and policymakers are encouraged to move past short-term priorities and collaborate on connected learning pathways. With AI reshaping the workforce, education must focus on long-term adaptability, creativity, and reducing inequality for underrepresented groups.
  
  
• Removing Barriers to Inclusion: To reach non-traditional learners, institutions need to make opportunities more visible and approachable. Examples include bringing education directly into local communities, libraries, schools, and remote areas to engage individuals who might not otherwise consider life long learning opportunities. I think there is massive role that Open Educational policies could play in this space. 
  
  
• Rethinking Traditional Institutional Structures: Current university administrative systems (enrolment, student records, course approvals) are designed for traditional 18-year-old undergraduates. To compete with agile commercial learning providers and adapt to policy changes (like England's Lifelong Learning Entitlement), institutions must simplify processes and embrace flexible, modular, or asynchronous online learning. Colleges in Scotland are much more agile here but lack funding. They could be a true engine of change. 
  
  
• Prioritising Collaboration Over Competition: Despite financial pressures and internal siloes between academic departments, stronger partnerships—both internally and externally with colleges and employers are essential to address changing workforce skill requirements. This is still a live issue in Scotland. In Wales the approach seems to be to use funding to incentivise collaboration between Colleges and Universities - I think a blunter instrument is still required in Scotland. 
  
  
• Redefining Success Metrics: Beyond standard metrics like enrolment, completion rates, and revenue, institutions need to evaluate success based on learner-centric outcomes. This includes career transitions, gaining confidence, social mobility, and supporting learners who move in and out of formal education over time. This remains really hard to track in Scotland while Universities resist adoption of Scottish Candidate Number etc. 

Where Scotland is Behind

• Funding Unitised and Short-Course Learning: The biggest area where Scotland falls behind is modular/Unitised  funding entitlement.

  • England is rolling out the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), allowing adult learners to take out loan funding for individual modules (30+ credits) or short courses throughout their lives.

  • Scotland’s non-tuition fee model relies heavily on full-time degree or full-award funding (via SAAS). It lacks a flexible, universal "credit bank" or modular loan system for adult upskilling, making it harder for mid-career adults to take single college or university courses without paying out-of-pocket.

• Institutional Agility & Admin Bottlenecks: Much like the UK-wide challenges raised in Cardiff, Scottish universities remain constrained by traditional multi-year degree structures and lengthy course-approval processes. Commercial providers and short-course online platforms often outpace Scottish universities and Colleges  in launching agile retraining programs. Though at least College and Training Provider provision is shaped around relevant occupational standards. SCQF Microcredentials have been a thing in Colleges since the last century - but things like part-time evening, saturday morning and or even flexible blended short course provision seem to lack support. 

Where is space for Open Education ? 

I rehearsed this in earlier posts - there is so much scope for collaboration around both course design and learning materials in Scotland. We need much more flexible models for all learners. 

Do you have a platform that really supports Life Long Learning ?

Too many institutions , despite COVID are still overly focused on old models of course development and delivery.  Perhaps as they are just easier to deliver ? 

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.