Spotlight on AI in Education: April & May 2026

Posted on by Mark Thomas — No Comments ↓

Welcome to April and May’s 2026’s Spotlight on AI in Education bulletin. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives, and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful.

If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin, please email EE@sussex.ac.uk

On-the-ground at Sussex

Sussex Education Festival 2026

The fourth Sussex Education Festival happened last week at the Student Centre.

The festival is for anyone involved in delivering education at Sussex and provides a supportive and collaborative space to celebrate and share experiences, research and reflections on teaching, learning and assessment. This year was a well-attended event with lots of interesting and thought-provoking talks on a range of topics.

There were three AI sessions as part of the programme

1.Using an AI-generated reception class to enhance deliberate practice in initial teacher Education. Using an AI-generated reception class, Hayley Preston-Smith explored how trainee teachers could safely practise classroom activities, behaviour management, report writing and other early-years skills, while also benefiting from peer reflection and more equitable learning experiences. 

2.Teaching gen-AI prompting to develop science communication skills. Greig Joilin (Life Sciences)  Greig examined how teaching students to use and critique generative AI prompts can support science communication skills, while highlighting the need for stronger critical thinking, self-evaluation, and a staged AI literacy curriculum across degree programmes. 

3.Designing with AI: A backward -design and TBL approach focused on inputs, not outputs. Gabriella Cagliesi (USBS) Gabriella argued that, through backward design and clear pedagogical rules, AI can move beyond being a passive chatbot to become an active teaching partner that supports questioning, reflection, communication and critical engagement with AI-generated answers. 

Next AI Community of Practice 8th June  

The Teaching with AI Community of Practice will meet again Monday 8th June, when we look forward to hosting a salon-style event with opportunities to reflect on 2025/26 and discuss your ideas, experiences and questions with each other.

We will meet in-person on the University Campus, in the Library Teaching Room (Ground Floor, by the step-free access next to IDS). Please register to attend by completing this form. By completing the form it is particularly useful for us to accommodate any access requirements. 

Read more about our previous AI CoPs on the blog.

AI in education hub 

Please review our new and improved AI in education hub. Here you will find everything you need to know about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching, learning and assessment at The University of Sussex. 

Self enrol to Educational Enhancement’s Canvas module AI at Sussex

Sussex staff and students only) to support your use of AI in your teaching and learning, Please remember that CoPilot and other tools are constantly being developed, and the material might not always reflect how the tool operates on a given day. 

The JISC Building Digital Capabilities Toolkit is available to all Sussex staff and students, and includes guidance on how to improve your own digital skills. Access the toolkit here. The specialised question set looking AI focuses on  

  • AI and digital proficiency 
  • AI and digital productivity 
  • AI and information and data literacy 
  • AI and digital communication 
  • AI and collaboration and participation 
  • AI and digital creativity 
  • Responsible AI 

You can read more about the University of Sussex Principles of use of AI.

Find out more and book your place on the Summit. 

Across the sector

Topic; “Is AI the new plastic?”

From my reading this month the concept of values and our AI driven future have come up on both the micro and macro level and ultimately looking at the enduring quality of AI use. Here are two articles talking about this subject: 

Values-led Generative AI in Design Education: A Toolkit for Confident, Critical Practice 

AI generated image of a person looking at leads and signs saying is AI the next plastic bag.

In this post it looks at how Nottingham Trent University, University of the Arts London, and Norwich University are exploring generative AI and how it is reshaping art and design education. They are attempting to respond by developing practical support to help students and staff integrate AI tools confidently while addressing authorship, ethics, originality, and creative practice. [altc.alt.ac.uk]

The resulting open Art, Design & Artificial Intelligence: Educator’s Toolkit offers design-cycle activities, case studies, and reflective “spark card” prompts grounded in nine shared AI design values (e.g., human creativity first, transparency, inclusion, process over output) to encourage critical, values-led use of generative AI in teaching.  

This statement resonated with me and is something I wish to explore more. “Whilst technologies evolve rapidly, the values cultivated through creative, critical and material practice are more enduring” These kind of activities described in the article put the process and the skills front and centre while taking emphasis off the final product are important reminders, for me personally, as I develop my professional work with AI as tool to support.  

The tensions of AI shouldn’t come as a surprise in a system wired for speed and output 

In this WonkHE article the author talks about the tension in the HE sector about AI use isn’t just about governance or a policy problem, they argue it’s a “dopamine problem,” because AI offers fast cognitive relief (turning friction, uncertainty, and drafting effort into neat output). Instead, universities need to rethink what they value and design for slower, difficulty, revision, and critical engagement especially as AI tools become embedded as invisible infrastructure [wonkhe.com]

“We have seen this pattern before. Fast fashion was convenient before it was environmentally destructive. Social media was connective before it was corrosive. Plastic was revolutionary before it was everywhere… forever. In each case, the benefits were immediate and personal; the costs were distributed, delayed and easier to ignore. We normalised first and interrogated later.” 

Novelty, assistance and potential embarrassment: patterns of change in AI use amongst teachers. April 2026 

Martin Compton’s article looks at a 12-month-old post asking ‘What GenAI tools can do well’ has had hundreds of responses from educators around the world. Compton later asked contributors in the post “……What are your top personal and/or professional uses of generative AI tools?” 

Compton reports” The teachers, lecturers and students shared examples of what they were doing, along with anxieties and uncertainties. These comments revealed messy, sometimes confused pictures that reflect anything but consensus. Rather than any sort of transformation either to digital utopia or intellectual ruin there is nevertheless a sense of change over time that suggests increased normalisation and experimentation alongside heightened wariness.” [HEducationist] 

Further Afield

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) 21st May 2026  

Global Accessibility Awareness Day, is a worldwide initiative that encourages everyone to talk, think, and learn about digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people living with disabilities. By spotlighting the importance of accessible design across web, mobile, and emerging technologies such as AI, GAAD highlights how inclusive digital experiences can remove barriers and create more equitable opportunities for all.  

For more information about events, news and resources visit the website  

The University of Kent’s Digitally Enhanced Education webinars!  

These webinars are organised into playlists based on different elements of AI use. The employability list has nine episodes with Q&A elements. These are all available for free on YouTube with other playlists focusing on topics about AI digital technologies for teaching. 

In case you missed it 

Other links on the topic of AI in teaching and learning you may have missed. 

  • Join the Teaching and Learning with GenAI Community: If you’d like to join the community and be first to hear about events. Get in touch with us and we can add you to the list and dedicated MS Teams community. www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop
  • Disclaimer on any tools not supported at Sussex. Please do not share Sussex, student, colleague, sensitive or personal data via these platforms. Not being supported means they have not passed stringent Data Protection assessments and could put you at breach of policy and legislation. For a list of supported platforms for teaching and learning please visit the Educational Enhancement website. 

This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement 

www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 

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Spotlight on AI in Education: March 2026

Posted on by Helen Morley — No Comments ↓

Welcome to March 2026’s Spotlight on AI in Education bulletin. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful.

If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin please email EE@sussex.ac.uk

What’s been happening at Sussex?

Educational Enhancement hosted the fifth in-person meeting of The University of Sussex’s Teaching with AI Community of Practice on Monday 16th March.  Our focus was Critical AI Literacy, aligned with the university’s second AI principle (see our principles here).

AI generated image in doodle style showing a room with groups of people at tables, discussing ideas. The image looks busy with symbols such as lightbulbs denoting thinking.

We welcomed Dr Gabriella Cagliesi (USBS), who provided an update on her work using GenAI bots to replicate the role of a teaching assistant with her Macroeconomics class, and Nick Heavey (Teaching and Learning Librarian) who shared how students are being supported to develop their Information Literacy at Sussex.

AI generated image by Adobe Firefly 25th March 2026 using HM’s prompt “a room with groups of people at tables, discussing ideas” with settings art and doodle selected.

Gabriella offered valuable insights into how working with Microsoft CoPilot has been different to her previous investigations using ChatGPT.  CoPilot is a supported and secure platform available for all Sussex staff and students so Gabriella’s work exploring its efficacy is particularly useful.

Nick reported on the interesting work the Library Teaching team have been doing to expand the Information Literacy offer to include AI Literacy, considering UNESCO’s AI competency framework for students, and the collaborative work he has done with other colleagues at Sussex to support students.  Nick’s presentation sparked a very interesting discussion about the varying perspectives and experiences of students and staff at the university.

The slides for both presentations are available to Sussex staff via the Teams channel.  Click here to request to join.

Following the presentations, we worked in groups to evaluate some attributes of critical AI Literacy.  Taking the idea of a Diamond 9 but adapting the expectation so people could create whichever form of hierarchy suited them, each group ranked what they considered to be important markers of critical literacy when it comes to using AI in their subject area or their practice.  Some groups considered this in terms of student attributes, staff or in general.

Microsoft CoPilot rendering of a photograph of nine cards with text on. AI has made the photograph look like a document with text boxes. There are amusing mistranslations of the words as it was working with a photo of text, and not raw text.

The results varied and were representative of how broad a topic Critical AI Literacy is.  Photographs and notes from the final 9s, and the nine suggested attributes, are available to view here, and for your entertainment I’ll share a CoPilot rendering of one of them:

Microsoft CoPilot rendering of a photograph of nine cards with text on. The position of the cards is accurate.

The Teaching with AI Community of Practice will meet again 8th June when we look forward to hosting a salon-style event with opportunities to reflect on 25/26 and discuss your ideas, experiences and questions with each other.

We will meet in-person on the University Campus, exact venue tbc. Please register to attend here: Register to attend Teaching with AI Community of Practice – 8th June 2026 (in person). Completing the form is particularly useful for us to accommodate any access requirements.

Read more about our previous AI CoPs on the blog.

Upcoming Training and Events:

Training:

Events:

Intentional AI: Building with Vibe Coding

15 April 2026 15:00 – 17:00

University of Sussex Campus – Sussex Humanities Lab (opposite SB211) Silverstone Building

Vibe coding is describing what you want in everyday language and AI builds it for you, removing the need for programming knowledge.

“This hands-on workshop from LHC Labs teaches participants to build working apps using vibe coding tools and to think critically about what they’re building”

More information and registration: Intentional AI: Building with Vibe Coding : Staff Hub : University of Sussex

Educating the AI Generation

Thursday 30 April 2026, 12:00 – 13:00 (Online)

Wonkhe

“Drawing on exclusive new research from Wonkhe and Kortext, this webinar will try to chart a path on how best to support educators across higher education to use AI in the most appropriate and impactful ways.”

More information and registration: Educating the AI generation | Wonkhe

Designing an institutional AI literacy pathway

Wednesday 13th May 2026, 13:00 (Online)

University of Liverpool GAIN

This seminar will be delivered by Amanda Seys from Harper Adams University. The session will explore the development of a staged AI literacy pathway at Harper Adams University that equips staff and students to engage critically, ethically and effectively with generative AI, addressing confidence gaps, integrity concerns and emerging pedagogic and ethical challenges. (text adapted from UoL).

Email gain@liverpool.ac.uk to register.

Recording available: Grasping the roots of problematic AI use

Also from GAIN, there is a recording of a webinar from 5th March: Grasping the roots of problematic AI use: Why we need to see GenAI through a harm reduction lens featuring Andrew Routledge, Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Liverpool. Routledge: “In this talk I offer an analysis of the different kinds of responses to GenAI on the ground in HE and compare these reactions in the classrooms and staff rooms to the emerging consensus in the pedagogical literature. I argue that no existing approach pays sufficient attention to the root causes of problematic AI use and describe an alternative that better addresses the full range of harms that students face.”  

Follow this link to watch a recording of this session: https://liverpool.instructuremedia.com/embed/63691473-60b7-467f-82b2-9643ba13053d 

Across the Sector

The University of Bath, in partnership with Stellenbosch University and QAA, ran a project  “Making Human Learning Visible in a World of Invisible AI: An International Perspective” and have published their findings here.  The QAA website contains the report and  a toolkit of resources that educators can use in their own work.

The University of Southampton have declared they are “lead[ing] the way with introduction of artificial intelligence skills for all students” and are committing to every student learning “how to use AI tools effectively and responsibly” with a new initiative that will see all undergraduates take a specific course in AI skills. See more here: Southampton leads the way with introduction of artificial intelligence skills for all students.

Colleagues from The University of Edinburgh have signed an open letter calling for the university not to renew its contract with OpenAI, saying it “does not align” with the university’s artificial intelligence and procurement principles. Read more in the THE here: Edinburgh staff urge university to ditch OpenAI deal.  University of Sussex staff and students can access THE articles using the institution account.

More to read

March seems to have brought a flurry of articles on AI in Education.  Here are some that crossed my desk this month:

HEPI 2026 survey (published 12 March 2026)

This very useful survey published by HEPI reveals that “AI use is now ‘near universal'” among undergraduates, but students are divided on its impact. Three years is an interesting timespan when talking about Higher Education, as it is the standard duration of an undergraduate course of study. This survey shows that is has taken less time than that for generative AI to move from novelty to near universality among graduates.

Student Generative Artificial Intelligence Survey 2026

Trained to Stop Learning

Trained to stop learning: How students are experiencing assessment and learning in an age of AI | Wonkhe

New research from Wonkhe finds that assessment design – not AI policy – is what determines whether students use AI to learn or to produce. Jim Dickinson and Mack Marshall explain.

“Students are submitting work they cannot fully explain, facing AI policies that do not function in practice, and responding strategically to assessment systems that reward production over understanding. The costs of that incoherence fall hardest on the most conscientious students.”

Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor (SUs) at Wonkhe and Mack Marshall, Wonkhe SUs’ Community and Policy Officer.

More from Jim Dickinson at WonkHE this month:

AI Is Not Replacing Learning—It’s Exposing Where Learning Was Thin to Begin With

AI Exposes Where Learning Was Thin to Begin With (opinion)

Xinyao Yi (University of Virginia) describes how “before AI, producing a working solution usually required enough effort that students were forced to engage with the material along the way. That friction masked weaknesses. Now that friction is gone.”

Something to Listen To:

Wonkhe research finds that nearly half of students worry their grades don’t reflect what they actually know…

The Wonkhe Show: Secret Life of Students AI special

In this special edition of The Secret Life of Students, Helen King, Director of Learning Innovation, Development and Skills at Bath Spa University; Rosie Birch, Communities Officer at Brighton Students’ Union; John Blake, Director at The Post-18 Project; and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe discuss new Wonkhe research that found that nearly half of students worry their grades don’t reflect what they actually know – so what does that tell us about how students are making decisions around AI use, and what does it mean for assessment in higher education?

  • Join the Teaching and Learning with GenAI Community: If you’d like to join the community and be first to hear about events. Get in touch with us and we can add you to the list and dedicated MS Teams community.  www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 
  • Disclaimer on any tools not supported at Sussex. Please do not share Sussex, student, colleague, sensitive or personal data via these platforms. Not being supported means they have not passed stringent Data Protection assessments and could put you at breach of policy and legislation. For a list of supported platforms for teaching and learning please visit the Educational Enhancement website.

This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement

www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop

Posted in AI, AI CoP, digital skills, Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies, Professional Development, Technology Enhanced Learning

Canvas’ New Course Accessibility Checker

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Educational Enhancement’s latest blog by Mark Thomas (Learning Technologist)

What

Canvas have released a great update to its support of accessibility within modules: a new Course Accessibility Checker. Designed to help making your modules more accessible easier, faster, and more intuitive. The key difference is that a dedicated accessibility tool will be available from the navigation pane on all Canvas modules. The tool will scan all your pages and assignments (not documents, pdfs and discussions) simultaneously and give you an accessibility report from a single dashboard.   

(Report view for new Course Accessibility Checker tool)  

(Current accessibility alert in the Rich Text Editor on individual pages)

Why This Matters

As per our legal obligations and in line with the Dignity, Respect and Inclusion Policy accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. This update will help convenors to evaluate their Canvas modules and make the necessary adjustments to ensure they are creating an inclusive learning environment. This tool will be something we use to help achieve our vision, mission, and values for 2035.  

When – Phase 1 – February 21, 2026

The first rollout brings several new features that enable a module‑level accessibility workflow. Detecting issues will initially only be supported in Canvas Pages and Assignments (not inc quizzes) 

  • Module-level central interface: accessible from the module navigation pane, the checker offers a birds-eye view of all identifiable accessibility issues. Results can be filtered to help specify where help is needed e.g. only published pages.  

(Module Accessibility Checker Page)

  • Scanning native Canvas content: detecting issues will initially be supported in Canvas Pages and Assignments.
  • Fast, intuitive way to review and fix: see accessibility issues across your learning resources without opening the content separately. The remediation wizard explains what’s incorrect and provides in-context controls to resolve issues. Initially, addressing the most common accessibility issues: heading structure, image alt text, text contrast, and hyperlink duplication

(Fix wizard for Alt Text issue)

Looking Ahead

As mentioned at the start, only the pages and assignments will be checked, and any uploaded files will still need to be designed using the available accessible tools e.g. Microsoft Accessibility Checker.  Canvas have said features such as AI remediation and alt text generation are planned for phase 2 release later this year. As accessibility expectations and legislation continue to evolve. Tools like this help us build fully inclusive learning environments.

Final Thoughts

Canvas’s new Course Accessibility Checker represents a meaningful leap forward in simplifying accessibility compliance. For convenors, it reduces complexity and time spent searching for issues. Making our Canvas modules more accessible and in line with universal design for learning.

If you have any questions or would like more support with accessibility in your teaching, please visit the EE Staff Hub or email us at ee@sussex.ac.uk

Posted in Uncategorized

Spotlight on AI in Education: January and February 2026

Posted on by Helen Morley — No Comments ↓
AI Generated Image of a small robot walking between clumps of snowdrops.

Welcome to this Spotlight on AI in Education bulletin. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful.

AI Generated Image showing an illustration of a robot walking between clumps of snowdrops. The robot is small and childlike and is smiling.
AI Generated Image
Image generated by HM using CoPilot. 27th February 2026. Prompt: “Draw a robot and some snowdrops”.

If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin, please email EE@sussex.ac.uk

Event: AI CoP 16th March 2026

Please join us for the fifth meeting of the Teaching with AI Community of Practice.  The theme for this meeting is informed by the university’s AI Principle 2 Critical AI Literacy. The Library Teaching team will deliver a session on how students and researchers are supported to use AI in their studies and Professor Gabriella Cagliesi will share updates on the project, Beyond the Chatbot: Making (Class) Room for AI.
Practical Uses of AI in Teaching and Assessment, she introduced at the December meeting.

See the principles here Our principles for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education : About us : University of Sussex.

Monday 16th March 2026

1pm-3pm, Library Teaching Room, The Library, University of Sussex

AI Generated Image showing four cartoon bunnies facing each other as in conversation. They have electronic patterns on their fur suggesting a digital element.
AI Generated Image
Image generated by HM using CoPilot. 23rd February 2026. Prompt: “Draw me some bunnies chatting in a field, give them an AI vibe”.

This event is open to all teaching colleagues at the University of Sussex and other interested colleagues.

Please sign up using this Form: Booking for Teaching with AI Community of Practice – 16th March 2026 – Fill in form so we can anticipate attendance.

If you are not a member of the dedicated Team (on Teams), please join up here: www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 

Read more about our previous AI CoPs on the blog.

Institutional Perspective

From The Library’s Teaching and Learning team, who are supporting students’ AI literacy:

As AI reshapes research practices, the Library’s Teaching and Learning team is developing its expertise to support students’ AI literacy. We provide skills training on how large AI systems can support research and learning, with an emphasis on critical information and digital literacy. Our workshops cover topics such as prompting skills, AI-assisted literature searching, and evaluating outputs. Aligning with UNESCO’s human-centred approach, we emphasise that AI should support, not replace, human critical thinking.

 We have developed a core information literacy programme that currently includes the sessions Introduction to AI, Literature Searching with AI and Mapping the literature with AI. These sessions focus on how LLMs can be used in academic research and to support learning, providing students with foundational knowledge of AI capabilities, limitations, and effective prompting skills. Workshops aim to build critical information literacy skills, including understanding model architecture and behaviour and evaluating AI-generated outputs.

 We are continuing to develop our offer, with an intermediate-level session that will build on these foundational workshops.

Find out more about our current offer on our teaching support pages. If you would like to discuss how we can support AI literacy in your modules, please contact the team at library.training@sussex.ac.uk

Nick Heavey, Teaching and Learning Librarian.

Nick Heavey, who leads on the development and delivery of the Library’s teaching strategy, will be presenting at the AI CoP meeting.  See details of the event at the top of this bulletin.

From ITS:

ITS have published a news item regarding AI use in meetings here: AI tools in meetings : Staff Hub : University of Sussex.  Please familiarise yourself with the expectations regarding any use of AI tools to minute or record meetings, and only use Microsoft CoPilot, ensuring that you are logged in using your Sussex credentials.

From Educational Enhancement:

February 2026 saw the arrival of an AI tool, Einstein, which purported to enable students to bypass the work of studying and offered to complete assignments on students’ behalf. The tool launched week commencing 23rd February and by 27th February the website had closed down. This article from THE* Strange case of ‘Einstein AI’ spotlights chatbot concerns explains that the creator, Advait Paliwal, was issued a cease and desist notice from CMG Worldwide, which manages the licensing rights for the Einstein name. There are also reports that Instructure, who own Canvas, issued a similar order. At the time of writing this bulletin, the site is inactive.

We understand that reports of tools like this are concerning. Educational Enhancement has published blog posts here Episode 12: Talking to Students about Generative AI | Learning Matters and guidance here Talking with students about AI : Artificial Intelligence in teaching and assessment : … : Educational Enhancement : Staff Hub : University of Sussex for talking to students about AI tools, which we hope you find helpful.

*University of Sussex staff can access Times Higher Education articles using their university login details.

Training and Learning Opportunities

The JISC Introduction to Generative AI in Education course starts again on 1st March.  Sign up here Jisc.  The course runs throughout the year and you can join at different points

Also from JISC, Sussex staff and students have access to the Building Digital Capabilities Discovery Toolkit which includes resources about using AI.  Access the tool here Discovery tool | Building digital capability.

Educational Enhancement has produced a self-study course on using AI which Sussex staff can enrol on here.

Across the Sector

Published towards the end of 2025, Tom Chatfield’s white paper AI and The Future of Pedagogy can be accessed via Sage here AI and the Future of Pedagogy.  Chatfield, a British tech philosopher with a special interest in critical thinking, AI, and future skills, makes the point that “no matter how powerful AI systems become, they will only ever be part of a learning process”.

“no matter how powerful AI systems become, they will only ever be part of a learning process”

Chatfield – AI and The Future of Pedagogy, 2025.

Further Afield

  • One of WonkHE’s recent “long reads” came from Jim Dickinson, reflecting on AI and the exciting challenge it presents to “a system of higher education built on pretence, performance and proxies”. You can find the article here: The end of pretend – AI and the case for universities of formation | Wonkhe.
  • Sussex Alumna and former Pro VC, Emerita Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL, and CEO of Educate Ventures Research Limited, Professor Rose Luckin, spoke with Carmen Tomas for the Higher Learning Exchange podcast about her three decades working with AI in Education.  Rose’s wealth of experience spanning computer science studies in the early 90s, through a career focusing on teaching and learning, is evident in this interesting conversation.  Listen by following the links from this page.
  • The BBC shared details of its AI Unpacked Week (2-8 March) here with some elements already available on iPlayer. The tone of what I’ve seen so far has been rather pessimistic, although I am very pleased that Nicholas Bailey is back on the EastEnders credits (more from The Radio Times here), but it’s not all doom-and-gloom and the project includes some useful resources for people who want to learn more about AI here.
  • Join the Teaching and Learning with GenAI Community: If you’d like to join the community and be first to hear about events. Get in touch with us and we can add you to the list and dedicated MS Teams community.  www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 
  • Disclaimer on any tools not supported at Sussex. Please do not share Sussex, student, colleague, sensitive or personal data via these platforms. Not being supported means they have not passed stringent Data Protection assessments and could put you at breach of policy and legislation. For a list of supported platforms for teaching and learning please visit the Educational Enhancement website.

This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement, University of Sussex.

Posted in AI, AI CoP, digital skills, Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies, Professional Development, Technology Enhanced Learning, Uncategorized

Academic Developers January 2026 round up

Posted on by Simona Connelly — No Comments ↓
a picture of a megaphone, a mobile phone, a lightbulb, a magnifying glass and the YouTube logo on a pink background, to indicate announcing information

Submit your proposal for a presentation at the 2026 Sussex Education Festival 

It’s that time of year again! Taking place on Friday 8th May, the Education Festival is a supportive and collaborative event where staff involved in teaching and learning at Sussex can share updates and reflections on work in progress or outcomes from long-standing practices, scholarship or research.   

We encourage all staff involved in involved education at Sussex to consider submitting a proposal.  

Specifically, we are looking for presentations on one of the following themes, which we welcome you to interpret broadly:  

  1. Education for Progressive Futures 
  1. Impacting Student Experience 
  1. Transforming Assessment at Sussex 

The deadline for submitting a proposal is 17:00 on Friday 27th February. 

Find out more and submit your proposal on Learning Matters. 

Uncovering Skills report

Released in October, the new Uncovering Skills report explores how those working across UK higher education support students to uncover, recognise, and articulate the skills they develop throughout their academic and personal journeys. Read the HEPI blog post summarising the key findings or read the full report.  See also the UoS Embedding Employability and Entrepreneurship Toolkit.  

GenAI Training

The next set of JISC  AI literacy curriculum for teaching and learning live sessions are running from January to April 2026. Sussex is a JISC member, therefore these are free to our staff. 

All sessions are delivered online via Microsoft Teams, last around one hour, and each session runs twice on different dates. Sessions are booked individually, and full details and booking are available on the Jisc training page. 

Conference call for papers 

From AdvanceHE January In Partnership 

Inclusive Pedagogy Symposium 2026 

Bringing together educators, students, researchers, and institutional leaders, the event will explore both the opportunities and challenges of fostering equitable and inclusive learning environments. Call for papers closes 23 February 2026. Find out more

Posted in Uncategorized

Spotlight on AI in Education: December 2025

Posted on by Helen Morley — No Comments ↓

Welcome to December 2025’s Spotlight on AI in Education bulletin. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful.

If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin, please email EE@sussex.ac.uk .

AI-generated image, cartoon-style, of robots and humans eating mince pies in an office kitchen. There are Christmas decorations and everyone looks jolly.
AI-generated image using Adobe Firefly by HM on 19/11/2025 using prompt “cartoon image of some robots and humans eating mince pies at an office Christmas party”.

Sussex Events and Training

Recent Event:

The Teaching with AI Community of Practice met on Monday 1st December and heard from colleagues across the university.

  • Dr Charlie Crouch (EE) and Dr Keith Perera (ESW) reported on a project investigating student use of AI in Further Education.  Insights included that over 75% of 13-18 year old students in the UK use AI to help with their homework, while fewer than half feel confident they can identify incorrect AI output.  (Teaching the AI-Native Generation – Empowering Schools in the Age of AI. Oxford University 2025.  See more: Teaching_the_AI_Native_Generation.pdf )
  • Michelle Ansell (MAH) shared some of the challenges of protecting academic integrity in the online pre-sessional English course, and incorporating AI to support students.  A popular theory to discourage inappropriate AI use is to make tasks more personal to the students, which in the case of an entirely international cohort presents challenges for standardisation and rubric.
  • Dr Gabriella Cagliesi (USBS) shared her work using a custom AI chatbot to support learning by programming a LLM to perform different roles, including as a coach, a contrarian and a critic.  Students responded well and appreciated the opportunity to engage with the technology. Look out for more from Gabriella in upcoming blogs.

The event was very well-attended and we’re already lining up contributors for the next meeting, which will be on Monday 16th March 2026.  Sign up to attend here: Booking for AI Community of Practice March 2026 – Fill in form.

Join the Teams area for the AI Community of Practice here: www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop and Read more about our previous AI CoPs on the blog.

Self-Paced Training:

Educational Enhancement’s George Robinson has updated the self-paced Canvas module on Artificial Intelligence, including recent developments in Microsoft CoPilot which Sussex staff and students can access using your abc123 login (e.g. hm549@suss…) Enrol in AI at Sussex here.

The JISC Building Digital Capabilitites Toolkit is available for Sussex staff and students and includes a self-audit for AI literacy, followed by suggestions for resources to help build your confidence.  Access the toolkit here: https://sussex.potential.ly .

Coming up in January:

The Sussex Digital Humanities Lab will host an AI day on Monday 19th January.  More details here: Sussex AI Day 2026 : What’s on : Sussex Digital Humanities Lab : University of Sussex .

Publications

Podcast: Talking to Students about Generative AI. Educational Enhancement’s Dr Sarah Watson has published the latest post from the university’s Learning Matters blog: Sussex colleagues Prof Carol Alexander (USBS) and Prof Thomas Omerod (Psychology) spoke with podcast hosts Prof Wendy Garnham and Dr Heather Taylor about how they engage students in discussions about AI and AI use, including a really amusing and thought-provoking anecdote about what Chat GPT does about the elephant in the room.

Listen to the podcast here on Spotify Episode 12: Talking to Students About Generative AI – Learning Matters Podcast | Podcast on Spotify and/or read the and transcript here: Episode 12: Talking to Students about Generative AI | Learning Matters.

Institutional Perspective

Assessment, AI and Academic Integrity: As we approach the assessment period, we’d like to remind colleagues that Educational Enhancement has published some guidance for incorporating and/or restricting the use of AI in assessed work.  Read more, and follow the links to find the tiered statements (integral, assistive, prohibitive) here: Artificial Intelligence in teaching and assessment : Support and guidance : Educational Enhancement : Staff Hub : University of Sussex .

A reminder that the University of Sussex’s Principles for AI in Education are available here: Our principles for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education : About us : University of Sussex .

Across the Sector

We have two examples from WONKHE this month that we’d like to share: 

Firstly, the recording of their Digital and AI skills for the graduate workforce symposium held on 4th December is available here:  Education Espresso – a shot of pedagogical inspiration | Wonkhe. Watch to find out the answer to the provocative question What’s the point of universities if AI will do all the work? posed by Victoria Wade, Director, University of London Careers Service, at the Festival of Higher Education in November.

Secondly, WONKHE have introduced their new project Educating the AI generation in which they want to explore how institutions are developing educator AI literacy and practice.  Read more, including about what they’ve learnt already, here: High quality learning means developing and upskilling educators on the pedagogy of AI | Wonkhe .

Further Afield

Watch: Chris McCausland, TV comic, winner of Strictly Come Dancing, former software engineer (BSc, Kingston, 2000) presents Seeing into the Future, available here: BBC Two – Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future. Chris was born with the hereditary eye condition Retinitis Pigmentosa and his sight deteriorated rapidly in his twenties; he is now completely blind.  In this programme, in partnership with the Open University, Chris explores how advances in technology, including AI, can be beneficial to people who experience barriers such as visual impairments.

Season’s Greetings and Looking to the New Year

And finally, as we approach Christmas Eve, let’s reflect on the AI of Christmas Past, when in December 2023 we held the first meeting of the Teaching with AI Community of Practice; the AI of Christmas Present, when this month we met for the fourth time; and look forward to the AI Yet to Come! We’ll meet again before the Spring vacation on Monday 16th March 2026. We’ll confirm the focus and send out the calendar invitation nearer the time but the sign-up sheet is ready for you here Booking for AI Community of Practice March 2026 – Fill in form.  Please get in touch with ee@sussex.ac.uk to share your suggestions and/or feedback on previous sessions.  As always, if you’d like to present then please let us know at the same address.

AI-generated image showing Scrooge, seated and looking happy, being visited by 3 smiling AI ghosts who are transparent and have visible circuitry. Scrooge is wearing a mortar board.
AI-generated image using a combination of Adobe Firefly and Microsoft CoPilot by HM on 17/12/2025 using prompt “Scrooge is visited by 3 AI ghosts; he is wearing a mortar board and is happy to see them” Output was evaluated and prompts updated to achieve the final image.

This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement

  • Join the Teaching and Learning with GenAI Community: If you’d like to join the community and be first to hear about events. Get in touch with us and we can add you to the list and dedicated MS Teams community.  www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 
  • Disclaimer on any tools not supported at Sussex. Please do not share Sussex, student, colleague, sensitive or personal data via these platforms. Not being supported means they have not passed stringent Data Protection assessments and could put you at breach of policy and legislation. For a list of supported platforms for teaching and learning please visit the Educational Enhancement website.

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Posted in AI, AI CoP, digital skills, Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies, Professional Development, Technology Enhanced Learning

Spotlight on AI in Education: November 2025

Posted on by Helen Morley

Welcome to November 2025’s Spotlight on AI in Education bulletin. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful. If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin, please email ee@sussex.ac.uk .

AI generated, photo realistic image of a robot at a fireworks display holding a sparkler.
Image generated using Adobe Firefly, 19th November 2025, by HM using prompt “a robot at a fireworks display holding a sparkler“.

On-the-ground at Sussex

EVENT: The Teaching with AI Community of Practice will meet for the fourth time on Monday 1st December 2025 1-3pm.  We’ll meet in the Library Teaching Room which is a different room to previous meetings but still on the ground floor of the Library.

Tell me more: As revealed in the October bulletin, we will share the confirmed Sussex Principles for AI in Education, (published here) and will focus our attention on Principle 4: Academic Integrity and Student Experience.  We will take a playful look at the updates to tools like Grammarly and how these could impact integrity, and hear from colleagues about AI use across the university and beyond.

Thank you to everyone who has signed up already – we’re looking forward to seeing you.

If you haven’t already, then Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/ALJiCG97Us (so we know how many mince pies to buy!)

Join the Teams area for the AI Community of Practice here: www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 

Read more about our previous AI CoPs on the blog.

Whole-Institution News at Sussex

Don’t miss the chance to contribute to research.

Thanks to Kate Howland, Professor of Interaction Design, for sharing in the AI Teams channel that Sussex will host a visiting researcher from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, in December.  Dr Trevor Nesbit will be with us for two weeks from Monday 8th December and is keen to interview people from across disciplines about how their perspectives and use of GenAI have evolved over the last two years.

The interviews typically take 30-40 minutes, but some have been known to go longer.

For more information, including how to take part, see Kate’s post in the Teams channel here: Kate Howland: Visiting researcher – Call for Interview Participants Use of Generat… | Teaching and Learning with AI Community of Practice > Discussion | Microsoft Teams

Across the Sector

This month we’re sharing two resources regarding Artificial Intelligence and Graduate Employability.

WONKHE to host Digital and AI skills for the graduate workforce, Thursday 4 December, 11.00am-12.00pm.

 Wonkhe editor Debbie McVitty and Adobe Education’s Mark Andrews will host this edition of Education Espresso which promises to “dive into the practices and pedagogies that prepare students to translate their AI knowledge into employment and evidence their skills to future employers in the graduate job market”.

Sign up (and scroll down to review previous sessions) here: https://wonkhe.com/education-espresso-2/

Campus talks: why teaching with artificial intelligence is ‘like a giant field experiment’ (Podcast from Times Higher Education).

THE Award-winning educationalist Jenny Moffett, senior lecturer in the Health Professions Education Centre at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin, talks about using AI so it supports learning rather than risks deskilling students as they prepare for careers in medicine.

Listen here: Campus talks: why teaching with artificial intelligence is ‘like a giant field experiment’ | THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect

Further Afield

Google Launched Gemini 3 on 18th November.  Read the press release from CEO Sundar Pichai here Gemini 3: Introducing the latest Gemini AI model from Google and an interesting interview with Pichai here Google boss says trillion-dollar AI investment boom has ‘elements of irrationality’ – BBC News.

Final Remarks

  • Join the Teaching and Learning with GenAI Community. If you’d like to join the community and be first to hear about events. Get in touch with us and we can add you to the list and dedicated MS Teams community.  www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 
  • Disclaimer on any tools not supported at Sussex. Please do not share Sussex, student, colleague, sensitive or personal data via these platforms. Not being supported means they have not passed stringent Data Protection assessments and could put you at breach of policy and legislation. For a list of supported platforms for teaching and learning please visit the Educational Enhancement website.

This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement.

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Posted in AI, AI CoP, Educational Enhancement, Events, Monthly Round-ups

Spotlight on AI in Education: October 2025

Posted on by Helen Morley

Welcome to October 2025’s Spotlight on AI in Education bulletin. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful.

If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin please email EE@sussex.ac.uk

An illustration of a cartoon robot walking on an autumn day. There are leaves falling. The robot carries a book and backpack. AI generated image.
This illustration was generated by Microsoft Co-Pilot using the prompt “robot student autumn” then edited by the author. 21st Oct 2025.

Upcoming Events at Sussex

EVENT: The Sussex AI in Education Community of Practice In-Person Meeting 4 (Focus – the Sussex Principles for AI in Education Principle 4: Academic Integrity and Student Experience.)

Tell me more: The 4th meeting of the AI in Education Community of Practice will be on Monday 1st December 2025.  We will meet in the Library Teaching Room which is based on the ground floor near the accessible entrance (IDS side entrance).  We will briefly share the university’s Principles for AI in Education (published here) and will focus our attention on Principle 4: Academic Integrity and Student Experience.

Note: this is a different room to previous CoP meetings but still in the Library. 

Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/ALJiCG97Us(so we know how many mince pies to buy!)

Join the Teams area for the AI Community of Practice here: www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop  

Read more about our previous AI CoPs on the blog .

Whole-Institution News at Sussex

The biggest news for AI in Education at Sussex is the publication of the seven principles which you can read here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/about/ai-principles .

Tell me more: The principles are the result of an institution-wide survey which was conducted in March 2025.  Responses were synthesised and distilled into seven proposed principles which were shared at the AI Summit in April 2025.  Feedback on the seven proposed principles was incorporated into revisions and the final draft was approved in the summer.  Thank you for all the input we received for this important project.

Across the Sector

New Publication: AI and the Future of Universities (HEPI Report 193) 10/25.

Tell me more:  HEPI, in partnership with the University of Southampton, published a new collection of essays AI and the Future of Universities (HEPI Report 193) on 16th October 2025.  The collection is edited by Dr Giles Carden and Josh Freeman and is presented in the foreword as a “call to action”.  Read more and download the pdf here: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/right-here-right-now-new-report-on-how-ai-is-transforming-higher-education .

Further Afield

Student attitudes to AI continue to evolve

The Guardian reported that 62% of students (school age) surveyed felt that over-reliance on AI to complete tasks for them could have a negative impact on their own skills: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/15/pupils-fear-ai-eroding-study-ability-research

Channel 4 uses an AI presenter

Tell me more: One of the presenters in this episode of Dispatches was entirely AI-generated.  Watch the documentary here first https://www.channel4.com/programmes/will-ai-take-my-job-dispatches/on-demand/78405-001 if you’d like to guess which presenter, or go straight to this article for the information: https://www.channel4.com/press/news/channel-4-makes-tv-history-britains-first-ai-presenter

Final Remarks

  • Join the Teaching and Learning with GenAI Community. If you’d like to join the community and be first to hear about events. Get in touch with us and we can add you to the list and dedicated MS Teams community.  www.tinyurl.com/sussex-ai-cop 
  • Disclaimer on any tools not supported at Sussex. Please do not share Sussex, student, colleague, sensitive or personal data via these platforms. Not being supported means they have not passed stringent Data Protection assessments and could put you at breach of policy and legislation. For a list of supported platforms for teaching and learning please visit the Educational Enhancement website.

This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement.

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in AI, AI CoP, Events, Monthly Round-ups

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We are the Educational Enhancement team at the University of Sussex. We publish posts each fortnight about the use of technology to support teaching and learning. Read more about us.

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