Sharing knowledge and finding inspiration at Digifest 2026

To close, the speakers identified some of the steps providers can take to address these issues:

• Providing suitable devices: loans, help-to-buy, giveaways, free wifi dongles
• Study hubs: on-campus access to devices, either in class or outside of timetabled hours
• Processes to discover needs: find out what students require and allow them to address local, immediate needs
• Other tools for wraparound support: our discovery and digital elevation tools both support building organisational digital maturity

The day-two keynote panel debate looked at the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan. It sets out a bold agenda to tackle digital poverty, improve access to devices and data, and close the digital skills gap.

Opening with a conversation around the link between digital and social inclusion, Debra Gray, principal and CEO at Hull College, said:

“Digital inclusion is social inclusion; you can’t have one without the other. We see adults who don’t have apps on their phone, don’t understand apps, and therefore can’t use car parks. I helped a family member recently following a bereavement because so many of these services are online. Unless we work on digital inclusion, some people are looking at complete exclusion from society.”

The discussion included the importance of seeing digital inclusion as everyone’s responsibility within an institution and something that should be at the forefront of strategy planning. Panel members agreed that making strides to end digital exclusion should be happening because it’s the right thing, not simply because it’s mandated.

The final question of the session was to ask the panel to share one actionable thing they would ask delegates to do to help address digital inclusion. The answers were varied but all led to the same goal of embracing digital inclusion as a vital part of a wider digital strategy:

• Audit the digital assumptions in your own organisation
• Put digital inclusion to your board
• Look at your own role modelling and lead by example
• Reach out to others in the sector if you need help
• Put yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn’t have access to the internet or to devices, and take that lived experience into your digital inclusion planning

Effective digital leadership builds culture as well as capability, a key step towards understanding and embedding digital inclusion. It helps you empower teams and lead necessary change.

We can work with you to shape strategy, build capability and foster innovation; explore the training, consultancy and resources available to Jisc members for harnessing effective digital leadership skills.

Digital transformation at scale

Collaboration is at the heart of digital transformation, but it can be a challenge for professionals from different departments to collaborate and cooperate effectively. One of this year’s panel discussions explored how leaders and practitioners in FE have built effective working relationships between functions and teams, and how this has led to significant change.

During the introductions, our programme lead for digital practice, Chris Thomson, asked each panel member to describe in one word their experiences of collaborating with a colleague in a different team. This produced a range of answers, all pointing to the positive outcomes of collaboration: synergy, ownership, seamless, empowering, laughter, straightforward.

Over the course of the discussion, panel members talked about the importance of teams understanding each other and what everyone is trying to achieve, along with making sure there are clear aims and a common vision. They also agreed that challenges and tension aren’t always negative things when it comes to cross-team working. Andrew Dewhurst, CIO and vice principal of partnerships and engagements at East Lancashire Learning Group, said:

“If framed in the right way, tension can be a positive force. We call it ‘dynamic friction’, and it can be thought-provoking – agitating an issue, challenging the status quo. Internal competition can also be a good thing if done in a non-threatening way and in a safe environment. So, it can absolutely be a positive.”

Also looking at digital transformation, this time exploring how libraries are contributing, were guests on one of the live podcasts recorded across the two days. The podcast featured library leaders involved in our digital transformation library lens pilot, with the discussion focused on how libraries move from strategy into delivery and enable collaboration when digital change has to coexist with business‑as‑usual.

If your institution is looking for collaborative and practical support, wherever you are on your journey, our digital transformation consultancy service is available to offer flexible and targeted solutions.

AI in practice

As AI literacy becomes increasingly important across learning and teaching, a number of sessions at this year’s Digifest looked at what this means and how institutions can get started. Two of our AI specialists led a session on day one where they offered a short taster of our AI literacy training, now available on demand in three modules; understanding AI in tertiary education, essential AI skills, and ethical and responsible use of AI.

Senior AI specialist Paddy Shepherd shared how the team accessed numerous resources and frameworks when they first started to produce an AI literacy curriculum. They knew what they wanted to create was a training programme that was both practical and principled. The session looked at how institutions face uncertainty as opportunities and risks emerge simultaneously the wider AI use becomes. Paddy also talked about how building AI literacy among staff is essential to support students confidently, responsibly, and effectively.

A day two podcast discussed how sector‑wide pilots of emerging technologies, such as recent AI marking and feedback pilots, had delivered shared benefits for pilot participants.

Listen to the full from pilot to procurement session to hear how the collective piloting approach supported institutions facing financial pressures by providing trusted terms, lowering commercial risk, and preventing premature or high‑risk commitments while still enabling meaningful innovation.

For this year’s closing keynote Danny Liu, professor of educational technologies at the University of Sydney, joined us remotely, saving, as he shared, the two tonnes of carbon dioxide a flight from Australia to the UK would have used.

Danny talked about the spread of generative AI and used cultural burning in Australia, where First Nations people set fire to the land to cause regeneration without destruction, as an analogy. This works because they understand the land and the ecosystem so can harness the power of fire for ultimate regrowth and regeneration.

Danny asked how teachers can cultivate the spread of AI in this way, to rejuvenate and guide it so it can benefit students and help them to be their own AI tutors. He also talked about the importance of remembering that technology is in service of teaching not replacing it. He offered four steps to take:

• Recognise the urgency
• Reconsider what we value
• Return agency to teachers
• Reignite education

Danny’s final point answered a delegate question about working with fellow educators who are less sure of AI:

“Helping colleagues to see the possibilities of AI is one of the things that will turn them around. Helping them to understand that AI is not something that happens to us, it’s something we can control if we use the right tools in the right ways. Showing people they have agency over AI will help with that uncertainty.”

And finally…

Our CEO, Heidi Fraser-Krauss, closed this year’s event with some reflections on the two days. She highlighted the keynote speakers covering changemaking, AI, and evolving technology, before addressing delegates:

“When I think about Jisc I do think we are important for the future of education and research. It’s working with you, understanding what you need and what we can do for you that makes these events so important. I’ve had so many great conversations here, and I know my colleagues have too. Working together is the way we’ll solve some of the sector’s problems and continue to feel supported as a community.”