From technology enabled teaching to digitally enhanced learning: a new perspective for HE

After two years of significant change, learning and teaching in higher education is at a pivotal point.

This report takes a snapshot of the current state of play, first explored in Jisc’s Learning and teaching reimagined initiative (2020) and the Jisc/Emerge reports Digital learning rebooted (2020) and Technology-enabled teaching and learning at scale (2021).

We paint a picture of a sector in a state of tension as it moves back to widespread on-campus learning and teaching while seeking to retain some of the advantages delivered by the digital innovations introduced during the pandemic.

Universities are negotiating this change against a backdrop of multiple and varied pressures, some of which are pulling in different directions:

• Staff fatigue
• Regulatory and political pressures
• Demographic changes
• The demand to move to environmentally sustainable practices
• Changing use of physical and digital estates
• Legacy technology
• The data challenge
• Staff and student digital capabilities

However, this time has also seen a wealth of positive changes and good practice and we highlight a handful of those, for example:

• Inclusivity and accessibility
• Greater openness to innovation
• Enhanced staff and student digital skills
• Embedded skills for employability
• Changes to assessment

We show these changes in action through mini case studies from Queen Mary University of London, Keele University, the University of Central Lancashire and Pearson College.