showcases AI initiatives to Jisc representatives at Banbury and Bicester College

welcomed two representatives from Jisc to Banbury and Bicester College to showcase its AI initiatives and their impact on teaching, learning and assessment on Tuesday 21 January.

Jisc is a not-for-profit digital, data and technology agency focused on tertiary education, research and innovation with advisory groups that help ensure products and services meet the needs of the community.

Led by ’s Digital Education team, Sue Attewell, Head of AI and Codesign at Jisc and Paul McKean, Director of Further Education (FE), Skills and Training at Jisc were joined by Cheri Ashby, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at , for a day of vibrant discussion.

The day opened with a presentation by Patrick Kelly-Goss, Group Innovation and AI Specialist at , on ‘Activate AI: Where, Why and How it All Started’, covering the development of the Activate AI Tutor, Activate Feedback Tools and ALIA ( Intelligent Assistant).

The group then took part in a roundtable discussion on ‘Next Steps, Challenges and Exciting Developments’, discussing the future of AI in education.

Afterwards, there was an opportunity to observe the effectiveness of these tools in enhancing learning and providing feedback with a visit to GCSE maths and GCSE English classes, where the feedback from learners was very positive.

Arya Abdolmaleki, Engineering T Level Foundation Year student at Banbury and Bicester College, said: “The tool is very easy to use, it’s nice and precise. It understands what your point is and helps deliver good writing.”

Cheri Ashby, Deputy CEO at , said: “It was fantastic to welcome our colleagues from Jisc, Paul McKean and Sue Attewell.

“It’s so important that we’re able to showcase the developments we’re making in AI, particularly around how it’s supporting our students in terms of accelerating their progress and building their confidence and resilience. We hope that out of this visit will come an opportunity to share widely the tools that we’re developing.

“As an organisation, we are so keen on sharing and collaborating, and we hope that this will be the start of more to come.

“It was fantastic to be able to visit classes, meet with students and talk to them directly about the benefits it’s making, and to get their feedback.

“While there are still lots of developments to be made, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and it was brilliant to hear how it’s positively impacted their grades.”

Sue Attewell, Head of AI and Codesign at Jisc, said: “It was great to see learners interacting with the Activate AI tools and speaking about the experience positively.

“The AI Tutor, particularly for the English and Maths GCSE resit classes, is clearly already making an impact.”

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