On 14 – 16 May 2025, I helped host Connect More. Packed with sessions on how educators are navigating today’s challenges, here are my takeaways from the fantastic free, three-day event. Future-ready educators Digital and AI literacy are in-demand skills so how can teachers make time to adapt? Chris Melia, collaborative and digital practice lead […]
After welcoming our new cohort of community champions to Digifest, we brought them together to learn about their communities. We discussed what makes them proud, their challenges and, this year, we were keen to find out our how they make change happen in their institutions and beyond. We reflect on the themes that came out […]
This year’s Digifest at the ICC in Birmingham was bigger and better than ever. A big part of our team’s experience of Digifest involves hosting our Community Champions – with the programme now in its fifth year. Each cohort of Champions are celebrated with a VIP experience at Digifest, with travel and accommodation, and a […]
As more people create and join education and research communities, how can we better understand and define a ‘healthy’ one? I was tasked to explore community activity so we can understand what makes them successful to improve our practice and encourage more. Jisc communities use a combination of Teams and JiscMail to communicate, and come […]
Collaboration in community is key. As Jisc’s group of community champions grow, we love learning how they continue to support collective progress. Since Digifest 2024, we have watched the recent cohort of champions develop more opportunities to work together and connect people with the knowledge and support they need. What has been happening? Showcasing a […]
Sustaining a community can be challenging. What happens if things go quiet? How do we use the platform effectively? There are no simple answers, but when we understand the community journey, we identify opportunities to improve the community experience. Keeping communities secure In 2023, we turned on multi factor authentication (MFA) for all Microsoft Teams […]
We ran a survey with our internal community managers to understand how they spend their time and what leads to success. Why we love building community. Our education and research communities are a lifeline for thousands of professionals. They create spaces for people to connect, learn and support each other covering different topics around the […]
With plenty inspiring education and research communities, the community hub at Digifest 2024 introduced a podcast area to capture conversations about what motivates them. In this blog, learn how with the support of Jisc community champions, we prepared the podcasts and tips so you can try your own. The podcast buzz Hosting podcasts during the […]
This year at Digifest we introduced a new Community Hub area in the main hall. The space was a hive of activity hosting workshops and community meetups allowing attendees to connect. Sessions from the Digital Storytelling Community, Learning Analytics Community and AI in FE Community, plus many more were involved. Links to the write-ups from […]
Jisc’s 2024 champions share what motivates them and why community matters. What inspires our newest cohort of community champions? Through their communities, they are helping share knowledge, remove feelings of isolation and support learners and teachers through their education and research journey. This year, champions are involved in creating practical tools for AI assessment, integrating […]