In all seriousness this is an approach I took to a lot of new hobbies and sports in my 30s. Instead of doing things to be at top level, just experience them and learn, learning enough to get a feel for what was involved and a lot of respect for the people who were actually good.

This infographic explores the differences between ‘traditional’ AI and Generative AI, with practical examples to support teaching and learning. Beckingham, S., & Hartley, P. (2026). The Difference Between Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Want. Need to make this a thing in UK. Keeping the cool name though.

A useful blog looking at three related by distinct approaches: Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Educational Research Educational Evaluation srheblog.com/2026/04/14/i...

Next week we're taking a look at genAI again, but discussing evaluative judgmement. Evaluation skills come up a lot in discussions on this topic, both in terms of genAI outputs (or lack of evaluation often...) and also some case studies using it in development of these skills with students.

Our deep space probes took samples of our culture and what it meant to be human at the time. Our astronauts currently heading further than any have gone before have two versions of outlook, that don’t work properly. So same really.

Having grown up with the shuttle, books and TV promising stations and hotels, a moon base, on to mars, last night has been a very long wait, with mainly the ISS for company.

Dear journals, please stop making a cover sheet for pdf downloads in a completely different page size to the actual article.

Mentioned in this post is the ironies of automation - worth a revisit of that older work with our current AI/tech lenses: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Automating can leave the human with the hard/abnormal to deal with, but now without practising, aware of process/state.

Don't forget to join us tomorrow, Wednesday 8-9pm BST, for #LTHEchat, which will explore 'Academic wellbeing, emotional energy and caring leadership: why care is a superpower in challenging times' with @deebaparmar.bsky.social Read the blog post at: lthechat.com/2026/03/23/l...

The critiques around grades, ungrading discussions, etc come round fairly often, but without much lasting change in HE. Interesting exploration here on whether to move beyond 'critique' via moving from grades as a 'matter of fact' to a 'matter of concern': link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Good to hear on Friday about work on building SoTL cultures at Warwick and Leeds (@theedukater.bsky.social and some of the work I get a glimpse at as EE there). Thanks to those organising SEDA's SoTL-CoP. May meeting on research ethics is soon and should be interesting.

This Friday's reading group chat is on the topic of feedback literacy.

Must be NSS time again

Join us this Wednesday 18th March at 8 pm GMT where we’ll be exploring the Use of Humour in Higher Education with @hankumna.bsky.social

Interesting read in general on AI in work, then in ed: "Bainbridge’s central argument was this: the more sophisticated an automated system becomes, the more demanding, not less, the human role within it" Why? Can we deliberately design better use? carlhendrick.substack.com/p/ai-brain-f...

Few things make be more annoyed within academia than academics acting with contempt for PS staff. It’s usually those who haven’t/don’t hold positions where the admin and responsibility would land otherwise on them and lack understanding of the experience and/professional knowledge held in PS.

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow, Wednesday 8-9pm BST, for #LTHEchat, which will explore “Talking About GenAI in Higher Education As If Education Came First” with @rmforsyth.bsky.social Read the blog post at: lthechat.com/2026/03/06/l...

We might see a lot of these on campus next year. Will makes the desks more colourful at least. Aimed strongly at student market, most (not all) don’t need air or pro power, 100 less on edu pricing. IT depts still v windows based though, impact on advice and apps.. www.apple.com/uk/macbook-n...

2 days to go before #LTHEchat this week! This week we will feature @oliviakellyou.bsky.social exploring “Algorithmic Bias of Social Media: Should Educators Teach Students How Social Media Bias Shapes Knowledge?” Check out the blog for more details: lthechat.com/2026/02/27/l...

Possible this gets some debate, but linked to several discussions had recently: The need to ensure we are supporting students to complete and progress (in inclusive ways, enabling where issues) vs supporting them to avoid things (often until too late, after main support) wonkhe.com/blogs/stop-l...

I feel like more ethical review processes need the equivalent of copy-left (vs copyright). In the rules what you *can* do, and what's not needed, as much as what you can etc. Usually some attempt, but then processes and policies are one thing, people trying to apply them are another.

Your feet are younger than your head (by fractions of a second) ⏱️ Vlatko Vedral explains how gravity slows time, ever so slightly, closer to Earth’s centre. With today’s atomic clocks, even a few centimetres in height reveals the effect. 🧪 Watch the full talk: youtube.com/watch?v=TKBqNHEHgj0

Adding to my quick tips for presenting, based on common issues observed that can lead to panic. This is less well known and does mean installing PowerToys first, but when trying to present on laptop and with second big (class) screen, often I lose the cursor! Tap CTRL x2 bsky.app/profile/gile...

Much innovative work in teaching is not the big flashy new platform but 'frugal' iterative changes, against constraints. This blog post (see also linked article) notes this type of innovation is often invisible and not celebrated. teachinginhighereducation.wordpress.com/2026/02/24/f...

Join us on Bluesky for #LTHEchat on Wednesday 25th February at 8pm GMT with guest Samantha Ahern @2standandstare.bsky.social to discuss “Shifting sands and professional identities in Higher Education”. lthechat.com/2026/02/20/l...

Grad premium discussions are often focussed on wage differences. Recently considering also the number of “grad jobs”. I’ve seen less on the last 10-15 years of management holding down grad like role’s salaries, squeezing eg the £30-40k ish roles with steady decrease in real terms pay.

A good set of discussions with this lovely bunch of people this morning, all ultimately aiming to support other ed devs and institutions develop and run educational CPD for staff: www.seda.ac.uk/about-seda/h...

Academics putting prompt injections in their VLE course in 3...2...1... "Meet Einstein. Einstein is an AI with a computer. He logs into Canvas every day, watches lectures, reads essays, writes papers, participates in discussions, and submits your homework — automatically." companion.ai/einstein

Adobe/Accessibility news - Adobe Express now has tools for captions within the main editor. Recently added as quick action, now in main editor. Apps like express are better for many staff for most work (lacking skills/need for full fat video apps). Captions are a vital tool, so good to see.

Next Tuesday is our first BSU HE Reading Group discussion meeting of the new year, looking at something that's come up in different conversations recently. @carlhendrick.substack.com's post is our starting point to inform the group and explore and worth a read anyway.

Join us for this week’s #LTHEchat which will explore ‘Its not just about belonging, it is also about mattering’ with @jacquithijm.bsky.social on Wednesday 8-9pm BST. Read the blog post at: lthechat.com/2026/02/13/l...

Many systems (e.g. BSky) have ability to have different log-ins, n effect, for APIs and different 3rd party platforms. I'd guess we're going to need versions of this with different permissions/roles (e.g. read only!) for agents to enable any form of safer utility.

JISC's primer on Agentic AI, from the perspective of higher ed. Useful to read through in particular if not following closely recently or looking at possibilities in future. Particularly as for most this a not a safe area to just play in. nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2026/01/2...

Interesting way to visualise and explore the developing BlueSky community(ies?). Also shows (roughly left vs right end ish?) perhaps different types of community - professional, social vs political/news orientated? We're down in the bottom left, "UK HE Commons" people!

Strolling around Istanbul is like scrolling my bsky feed: History Cat Nice view Cat Culture Cat Cat Food Books Cat

New U.K. HE Bingo game just launched.

I get the feeling I'm going to learn more (and have more fun) reading through all these live-blog-reviews than taking any of the actual "courses". Wonderful list of all the basics they've got wrong (before you even get to the course!). Someone chucked a few £m at a consultancy firm didn't they?

Welcome to our new cohort on our PGCHE today!

Spring's HE Reading group discussion topics at Bath Spa University will look at thinking, feedback (tutor and student end) and evaluative judgement in light of genAI. BSU staff not members of the group, contact me/hep if interested in a particular topic. Our reading groups are informal.

The great immediate problem for new grads is less what AI can do, but what managers *think* AI can do (see also people losing jobs and work)

REMINDER: SEDA’s Spring Conference 'Collaborative futures – sustainable, equitable and compassionate educational change’ is on 21 & 22 May 2026. The deadline for proposals is MONDAY 26 JANUARY. See www.seda.ac.uk/seda-events/... for more details, including ticket & booking information.

New podcast klaxon! I'm launching a podcast called Under Review that explores academia's wicked problems. My esteemed guests are going to get the chance to turn academia off and back on again as well as decide what goes into the Under Review waste paper bin. www.youtube.com/watch?v=anuj...

In any other context, requiring a high-productivity sector to offshore the production of its highest value-added exports would be seen as the economic illiteracy it so obviously is... www.ft.com/content/a23c...

Apropos of no gifting news whatsoever, I'm reminded of this interesting bit of history. Early RFID like spying 'thing': en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thi...

Hoping marking being in many #academicsky and #LTHEChat minds right now, may hear a few more suggestions for new lecturers on tips/practical approaches you all take. Yes, I'm supposed to be marking right now.

Our upcoming MA module on digital learning and higher education is a good follow on for the final project on the PGCHE, partnering more academic study and personal exploration with the previous practical teaching work. Alternatively, as a standalone micro credential. Free for Bath Spa staff.

Blackboard ultra has updated navigation and some look (mostly good, some tweaks needed already noted and planned). The new banner image set up however is erm, not going down well, with it labelled "Dystopian Banner Image Mode" on the official feedback forum/site. Links to a common VLE problem 1/3

This definitely falls into the TIL category - would not have guessed this young and back formation *after* escalator! Side note: Merriam-Webster account is good fun to follow.

So... I've created a starter pack of UK government organisations currently on Bluesky: go.bsky.app/JHsY1Wz (Currently includes all those listed under ministerial and non-ministerial departments here www.gov.uk/government/o... - let me know any I've missed, or got wrong)