Member stories

  1. Blended learning with a twist at the Heart of Worcestershire College

    Blended learning is nothing new for the team at the Heart of Worcestershire College. They’ve been teaching in this way for nearly a decade. But three years ago, they set about running a major project that would span the entire institution and fundamentally change how subjects were taught.

  5. Digital leadership at PRP Training

    After the pandemic caused a sudden shift to online learning, Clare Barley took the opportunity to reflect on how she was using digital in her leadership role.

  9. Digital leadership at PRP Training

    After the pandemic caused a sudden shift to online learning, Clare Barley took the opportunity to reflect on how she was using digital in her leadership role.

  14. Fun, engaging, and interactive: how VR changed open evenings at Gower College Swansea

    In March 2020, like all education providers, Gower College Swansea was faced with the unexpected challenge of moving online. With in-person open evenings cancelled, staff needed to find a solution to engage prospective students. They created Open Class , a platform that is enabling them to share essential information in a fun and interactive way and bring together the local community.

  15. Adaptability, data and digital poverty: digital assessment at Brunel University

    Migrating pen-and-paper exams to online assessments is not without its challenges and needs careful navigation. For Brunel University London, the data generated from their digital assessments proved to be a major asset in navigating the course, providing insight that could be used to monitor equality and inform the response to student welfare issues. 

  18. Online proctoring: panacea or problem?

    More students than ever before found themselves sitting remotely invigilated exams as digital assessment came to the fore amid lockdowns and social distancing. It was a solution that meant exams could go ahead and academic integrity upheld.

  19. The Turing Way forward

    Our community champion programme recognises and celebrates inspiring people from further and higher education and research, who go above and beyond to collaborate and share experiences for the good of all.

  21. Creating library vibes for students studying remotely

    Study sessions in the university library are, for many, a fundamental part of the student experience. Whether that’s nostalgic memories of long nights surrounded by open books or what’s in your calendar for the rest of this week, they are familiar experiences shared by many a hard-working student.

  22. Askham Bryan’s roadmap to the future of digital learning

    Askham Bryan College have an exciting new build in which they will set out to improve the digital skills of their students and continue to build online and digital into the curriculum. Through investment and a ‘teachers helping teachers’ philosophy, they plan to build a support community to help them achieve their digital vision for 2030.

  24. Transforming assessment across the board at UCL

    Universities were forced to break the mould when it came to assessment in 2020. But UCL made the bold decision to deliver all its 2021 exams and assessments online too – on a new, purpose-built platform.

  25. How Kirklees Council is tackling digital inequality through eduroam

    The pandemic highlighted how differences in access to connectivity affects students’ chances. Terence Hudson, head of technology at  Kirklees Council , explains how taking up Jisc’s offer of rolling out eduroam with govroam is helping the council tackle digital inclusivity and creating a long-term positive impact for the whole region.

  28. Digital transformation at Rochford District Council

    Rochford District Council in Essex needed to streamline its infrastructure to be in a position to deliver better services to its residents. Thanks to its partnership with Jisc, the council is now working more efficiently and securely, and saving money too.

  31. Digital archives power future research

    Thanks to Wiley and Jisc's collaboration, there is a fabulous new resource - saving my time and bringing powerful new insights to the history of science. 

  35. University of Liverpool: “Democratising knowledge”

    The University of Liverpool has many valuable collections – there are two miles of archives within its humanities and social sciences library alone. In early 2020 the university’s special collections and archives team proposed the Oliver Lodge Collection for digitisation as part of our R&D project to develop sustainable approaches to digitising collections.

  36. King’s College London: “Digitising collections opens up whole new areas for research”

    The UK’s researchers, learners and teachers now have free access to a new digitised collection of rare content from university archives and special collections.  King’s College London’s Charles Wheatstone collection will be digitised as part of the project. The content to be digitised offers rich insights and opportunities to develop new avenues for research.

  39. University of Reading: culture hacks

    Keen to change perceptions and raise the profile of his team across the organisation, Stuart Brown, director of digital technology services at the University of Reading, shares his experiences of using technology to make cultural changes.

  40. Welcome to campus, virtually

    How virtual reality has enabled Lakes College to showcase their campus and facilities when physical attendance hasn’t been possible.

  41. University of Derby: institutional-wide framework

    “The pandemic has changed the nature of learning in universities to be more future-focused, fit for purpose, and to really reflect the society that we live in” says Fiona Shelton,  University of Derby .

  42. What makes a ‘digital leader’?

    Investing in your personal and professional development to keep your skills and knowledge current is vital. But being a digital leader isn’t just limited to those in senior positions.

  46. Rapidly up-skilling staff in lockdown

    “The sheer number of staff who are now completely skilled up in a number of critical digital platforms has been an absolute godsend for me as the CIO of the university,” says Gavin McLachlan, vice-principal chief information officer, and librarian to the University of Edinburgh .

  47. Rising to the challenge to deliver 110,000 exams online

    When lockdown hit just as 35,000 students across 180 countries were preparing to take exams in 600 different exam centres, like many other institutions, the University of London had to overhaul its assessments, and quickly.

  48. Student voice is guiding light for the future of teaching, learning, and assessment

    By the time the UK’s lockdown restrictions were enforced, AECC University College had already been busy. As well as producing guidelines on teaching continuity while working remotely, they had also run a focus group with students and IT to identify technology solutions for remote learning, and surveyed students still on campus to understand why they hadn’t left yet (crucially, it was because many had no wifi at home).

  50. Challenge-based learning: rethinking student engagement

    When Falmouth University had to postpone the Workshops Festival , its annual event where students can take part in a range of workshops across campus from lino cutting to silver soldering, a virtual alternative was needed to feed the creative appetite of its students. 

  56. Delivering college IT services remotely

    When lockdown kicked in,  Luminate Education Group  provided a quick, seamless transition for its large group of colleges and schools around the Leeds area so that staff and students could continue to work and study from home. Graham Eland, group IT director, explains how.

  58. Cloud thinking

    With learning and collaborating at a distance on everyone’s agenda, a new Institutes of Technology project is using cloud solutions to keep learners collaborating, wherever they are.

  59. Learners shaping their own digital experience

    Imagine you’re a level one plumbing student re-taking GCSE English. Wouldn’t it improve your experience if you had English GSCE learning resources focused around plumbing? Even better if those resources were 360-degree films that immersed you in the world of a plumbing workshop all while preparing for your English GSCE assessment.

  60. Bridging the gap

    It’s late November 2019 and Dale Clancy, electrical installation lecturer from Borders College , is attending the annual College Development Network award ceremony in Glasgow.

  64. How big data could vaccinate the world

    A team at the University of Bristol is revolutionising the way vaccines are developed, paving the way for faster and more effective vaccines against diseases for which there is currently no means of prevention.

  66. Delivering a digital education

    University of Sunderland  has an ambition to become a truly digital first university. They’re taking staff and students on a journey to develop their digital skills, putting technology at the heart of what they do. We’ve been working with the university and through a range of Jisc services, are supporting them to realise this ambition.

  68. Getting students ready for the changing workplace

    Technology is transforming learning for staff and students at vocational specialist Plumpton College. At Jisc, we’ve been supporting the college to trial new technologies and blended learning techniques – giving students the skills they need for the changing workplace.

  70. Putting people at the heart of digital strategy

    More students at Cardiff Metropolitan University are using digital technology to reach their potential. Our services have supported staff to work more flexibly, collaboratively and productively to make this happen.

  71. Getting connected for Education 4.0

    We have supported Swansea University and three colleges in Wales to use technology to be better connected. This is making learning more fun, fulfilling, and future-focused – for students and staff.

  73. Fine-tuning resources at Morley College

    The cost of tuning 33 pianos twice a term and a pair of harpsichords every two weeks will strike a familiar chord with many further education music departments.

  74. Cloud with clarity

    As Goldsmiths finalises plans for a major cloud implementation, head of infrastructure services Jamie Lee explains the importance of a clear vision.

  75. Digital leaders programme

    Course alumni share their experiences from our  digital leaders programme , which equips participants with the tools, knowledge and skills to become digitally informed and empowered leaders. It is part of our wider approach to building digital capability in the sectors we support. 

  76. Keeping research data working

    What can we do to ensure that the practice and methods of scientific research are rigorous and the outputs robust and reproducible?

  77. Data empowers Welsh students to meet their goals

    HE students in Wales are benefiting from the world’s first national learning analytics system, with universities across the country using data to understand how their students are learning – helping them to achieve more and supporting their wellbeing.

  78. Making Finn's fieldwork possible

    Finn Illsley-Kemp, postgraduate research student,  University of Southampton , shares how Jisc services help him carry out his research in the UK and worldwide.

  79. Connectivity and community

    As part of a conversation we're having with the FE sector to help us gauge colleges’ attitudes toward our services, we spoke to staff and students at Strode College about the Janet Network, its in-built cyber security protection and the digital resources we provide, such as free e-books. 

  80. Embedding learning technologies

    We worked with Khalid Al-anker, learning technologist and practitioner,  Grimsby Institute  on their programme to give learning technologies a pivotal role in improving learner engagement and boosting attainment.

  81. It’s incredible how fast you can get stuff done

    Daniel Norton, data quality and statutory returns officer,  University of Leicester  was involved in the first wave of Jisc Analytics Labs teams, a community-led initiative building interactive dashboards for data-derived insights.

  82. Technology is a conversation starter with our students

    Ross Anderson, e-learning ambassador at North Lindsey College and their students used the  Jisc student digital experience tracker : a tool for surveying and understanding students’ expectations and experiences of technology.

  83. “I'm going to experts who know about education”

    Nick Moore, director of IT services and the  University of Gloucestershire  helped us to pilot our learning analytics student app (part of our wider  learning analytics project ) that puts the power in learners’ hands by tracking their learning activity and allowing them to maximise their learning potential.

  84. Giving a voice to Scottish open access

    Valerie McCutcheon, research information manager,  University of Glasgow , took part in our open access ( OA ) pathfinder programme, part of our  OA good practice project , along with a community of practice of more than 200 professionals from 90 universities, sharing examples of open access good practice.

  85. Bringing campuses to life

    Marta Stelmaszak and Nuno’s project was one of our  2016 Summer of Student Innovation  winners. They will be given the support they need to develop  their idea  and turn it into reality.

  86. The evolution of FELTAG

    Jamie Smith, director of strategy and infrastructure,  South Staffordshire College  features in our report  breaking through: stories of effective digital practice from UK further education (FE) and skills , published September 2018.

  87. Opening up 19th-century medicine

    We worked with the  Wellcome Library  to make 68,000 19th-century texts relating to the history of medicine freely available to all.