Looking back on the year

As we reach the end of another academic year, it feels like the right moment to reflect on a year of significant change, achievement, and growth across our digital education community.

The past year has been far from straightforward and brought considerable changes across the Faculty and University. With new organisational structures, colleagues had to adapt to evolving priorities, relationships, and ways of working – this has required patience, resilience, and collaboration. Throughout this period, colleagues have worked incredibly hard to maintain high-quality education and professionalism, while rebuilding connections, supporting one another and continuing to innovate and serve our community of students and staff.

This year also marks an important milestone for the Digital Education Studio (DES). Just over three years since its inception, the team continues to evolve alongside the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

Among the highlights of the year was receiving the Roger Mills Innovation Prize , a prestigious sector recognition of the impact of our digital education work and collaborations with the MA Medical Education team within IHSE – testimony to the high-quality DL programmes generated through the CARE agenda. We were also proud to host our inaugural Symposium, “Digital Learning with CARE: co-creating human-centred futures in the age of AI” where we brought together students, healthcare educators, industry, and other university partners to reflect on and celebrate our shared achievements. A central theme was co-creation: recognising that meaningful and impactful educational innovation emerges through partnership and inter-disciplinary co-creation.

^{CARE symposium 31st March, Old Library, Garrod}

Looking ahead to the new academic year 2026/27, Curriculum 2030 will become an increasingly important focus for programme teams as we collectively rethink student experience, experiential learning, and assessment for a post-digital world of work. Alongside this, the Centre for Excellence in AI for Education offers exciting opportunities to shape how critical AI literacy can be embedded into our curriculum and assessment.

AI and assessment remain one of the most complex challenges facing higher education, being a wicked problem (Corbin et al. 2025). Questions of authenticity, feedback, equity, and graduate capabilities do not have simple answers. However, these questions also present an opportunity to rethink assessment for a changing world of work where AI is ubiquitous. Working closely with the Centre for Excellence in AI in Education, the DES will continue to support programme teams in navigating these challenges through evidence-based approaches and practical guidance. The QMplus Module Templating Project is one example of how we are embedding scalable support and good practice to help colleagues respond to these evolving needs, across the Faculty and University.

Finally, some exciting news from the team. Violet Chan, Digital Learning Manager, is expecting and will go on maternity leave from July. In a timely fashion, Dr Jo Elliott, Reader in Learning Design, will be back on a phased return basis also from late July.

As we conclude the year, we do so with a strong sense of gratitude. Our sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed to our work, our partnerships, and our community, despite the turbulent year. We wish you a restful summer and look forward to continuing this journey together in the year ahead.

Reference

Corbin, T., Bearman, M., Boud, D. and Dawson, P. (2025). The wicked problem of AI and assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, pp.1–17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2025.2553340