Athena Swan win -assessment and feedback

I am delighted that my team in LTW at University of Edinburgh have gained a Bronze Athena Swan Award. I bet we are the first learning technology department in a UK university to do so. We are certainly the first professional services department  at Edinburgh to achieve it.  We got great feedback from the assessment panel.

The panel is satisfied that the application adequately addresses the award criteria and is pleased to confer a Bronze Athena Swan award.

The panel commends the leadership and senior buy-in which is evident in several ways, including:

·       the strong letter of endorsement from the Director which communicates a solid organisational commitment to Athena Swan and demonstrates a clear understanding of the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in improving service delivery and experience for all – the inclusion of Directorate initiatives in Institutional Athena Swan applications underscores the value of the work being undertaken (pp.5-6);

·       the Director’s personal leadership and active development of a range of EDI-related initiatives (pp.9-12);

·       resourcing a Data and Equality Officer (DEO) post which includes responsibilities to support EDI work, for example, reporting Directorate /user demographic data to the Senior Management Team (SMT) and maintaining the EDI newsletter (p.9);

·       senior management representation on the Directorate’s Self-Assessment Team (SAT), including the Director and the Head of Operations (pp.14-15);

·       recognition and reward of EDI work through both local (e.g., digital badges) and University recognition mechanisms (e.g., vouchers, annual review process, pp.10-11).

A clear governance structure for EDI is in place with accountability lying with senior colleagues (p.9). The panel commends the purposeful design of structures and processes to embed EDI in decision-making and in the culture of the Directorate, for example, the establishment of roles which explicitly involve EDI, the Dignity and Respect Advisor is a member of the SMT and Athena Swan will be a standing item at SMT meetings (pp.9-10, p.17, p.44). The links between the Directorate’s EDI work and University EDI governance structures appear strong, for example, the Director is a member of the University EDI Committee and the DEO sits on the University Equality and Diversity Monitoring and Reporting Committee (EDMARC) (p.9); these links ensure that the Directorate’s EDI/gender equality work is aligned with institutional strategy as well as providing opportunities for broader collaboration.

Similarly, processes for policy development and evaluation, including feedback routes, appear robust (p.13). The Directorate uses Equality Impact Assessments in respect of local policy/practice and staff perceptions of being informed about University policies relating to EDI are largely positive (although there is a disparity between male/female responses, p.13).

The SAT brings diversity of perspectives, including representatives from component teams and with different lived experience of members; the recruitment process, comprising expressions of interest combined with targeted invitations to ensure that the SAT reflects the diversity of the Directorate, is commended (pp.14-15).

A transparent account of the activities of the SAT from its inception until finalisation of the application, including a timeline (table 3), is provided (pp.16-17). Multiple data sources informed the self-assessment and a range of approaches have been utilised to capture the voices of the Directorate’s community (p.16). The Directorate’s plans to monitor and implement the action plan, which will be overseen by the SAT, appear robust and are commended (p.17).

As a result of a thorough analysis of the mandatory data and a critical evaluation of culture, a wide range of gender equality issues are identified (pp.18-26). The panel commends the:

·       range of activity to develop a positive and supportive culture, including Mandatory Training Day, Friday messages, events for Ada Lovelace Day, EDI reading groups and promoting the University’s Don’t Cross the Line campaign (pp.23-26). The impact of these activities is evident in positive feedback about the culture of the Directorate (e.g., 83% of respondents to the EDI survey ‘felt the workplace was inclusive’, p.23);

·       collection and analysis of data on contribution awards and pay;

·       evidence-based and thoughtful approach to the use of a variety of benchmarks to support a nuanced analysis of the gender equality issues facing the Directorate.

The panel congratulates the Directorate on achieving a Bronze award.

 Good practice examples highlighted

The panel considers the Directorate’s approach, led by the Wikimedian in Residence, to diversify Wikipedia writers and content, to be good practice. The Resident Wikimedian hosts regular events and workshops to train staff and students to edit Wikipedia entries and write articles to increase the diversity of subject and contributors (p.25). This work has been impactful in raising the profile of the limitations of Wikipedia (particularly to students), addressing the gender bias in whose stories are disseminated online and improving around 16,000 articles.

The panel also considers the PlayFair Steps initiative, including EDI recognition badges, to be good practice (pp.10-11).

More broadly, the panel commends the thoughtful consideration with which a variety of sector, discipline and regional benchmarks are used.

Joanna Highton

I have spent the last few years caring for my mother who, back in the day, was a bit of a lifelong learning radical herself.

You can read about her work on this blog Oh WOW! Women at Work in the 1980s – Diverse Collections  which may give some insights into what has influenced my own enthusiasm for the work we do in LTW to widen access to new careers, skills, learning and courses.

My mother worked at the University for about 20 (1984-2004) years in the department variously called Extra-Mural Studies, Continuing Education, Centre for Lifelong Learning, Widening Access, Centre for Open Learning. Her office was in the basement of 11 Buccleuch Place.

She also worked as an ante-natal counsellor for the NCT and as a volunteer for the CAB.

There was a time in my twenties when we couldn’t walk through Edinburgh without bumping into some one who wanted to stop and say hello, knowing her from the access courses and birthing moments* which were such key transformational moments in their lives.  I was proud to be seen with her and delighted when people said I looked or sounded like her ( which I don’t think I do).

Her recent death is not something I am ready to blog about yet, but I am putting this here because I know that sometimes friends and colleagues from the past do google for names.

I have enjoyed correspondence with several such people since I posted about my father.

We will have a memorial service for her in Edinburgh on 15th March (her birthday). Please do get in touch if you would like to come.

 

*her NCT involvement inspired some of my wikipedia editing for Prunella Briance, and Sheila Kitzinger

find lifelong learning at Edinburgh

Adulting
Adulting

Our short courses catalogue, which launched in May of this year, continues to grow, attracting visitors and over 1,800 enrolments to courses from engaged learners looking to learn something new, upskill or enhance their knowledge.

In the month of July there were over 800 enrolments to courses, an increase of 5% compared to June. Active users to the catalogue also increased by 68% month on month, with 58% more views to pages than in the month of June.  

With both organic and paid-for campaigns in place we expect to see this this trend of increasing web traffic and bookings over the coming months. We would encourage colleagues to share the short courses catalogue through their networks, mailing lists, on websites and social media channels.  

The Short Courses Platform Service team are working with colleagues to add more courses whilst also continuing to refine and optimise the catalogue based on user feedback. Some enhancements over the next few weeks and months will include a new and improved dynamic filter experience, enhanced course options table and cosmetic changes. This will ensure that the site continues to meet the needs of our users providing them with the best possible user experience when booking on to a course. 

Home | Short Courses – University of Edinburgh

Digital skills training for scientists and engineers

Building on previous research  analysis on who attends training, in what mode:

We know from our research that men in College of Science and Engineering (CSE)  are less likely to access digital skills training than women. This highlights a risk that they may get left behind.

My Digital Skills Training Team conducted a mapping exercise, matching our existing courses to the identified skills gaps, and ‘Digital Skills for CSE’ was born – a programme of 18 training sessions delivered over the course of two months, specifically for CSE staff audiences.

202 CSE colleagues attended the programme of training – this represents approximately 20% of the total annual CSE staff attendance across the entire Digital Skills Programme. ‘Digital Skills for CSE’ had a mean attendance of 11.2 people per session, which is slightly higher than our usual average attendance rate. We saw a no-show rate of 25% – this is lower than our usual no-show rate, which can vary between 30%-50%, depending on the course, time of year, and demographic breakdown of attendees (we usually see a higher no-show rate among student attendees).

The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with 96% of respondents stating that the course was relevant to their needs, and 98% of respondents agreeing that attending the course had given them a greater understanding of the topic.

Read more: Digital Skills for CSE – a data-driven success story – Digital Skills, Design and Training

staff satisfaction in 2025

The Staff Engagement Survey’s latest iteration was run in February-March 2025. I am pleased that Learning, Teaching and Web (LTW) had a survey response rate of 77%, higher than in 2023 (63%). This is also a much better response rate than the overall University (42%), and higher than ISG as a whole (75%).  

Overall, the staff satisfaction of colleagues in LTW is very high, with an overall increase seen since 2023 (and 2018), as well as higher scores on average than ISG and the University as a whole. Only 10 of the 48 items decreased, 3 of which concerned University leaders, and 2 related to University issues which we can’t do much about.

The majority of priorities actioned in the last survey have improved, with the exception being University leadership, although this was likely impacted by the change to the question.

The new priority following the 2025 survey is ‘career development’, with Satisfied with Career Development Opportunities decreasing by 6% since 2023.We will be exploring improving annual reviews,  highlighting and monitoring training opportunities, celebrating internal moves and skills development, and ensuring colleagues are aware of the bigger picture of their work contributing to the organisation an. 

I will give you more information about how we did in the priorities from 2023 at our All-staff meeting in July.

revisiting playful engagement

Lovely illustrations for our playful engagement website by the LTW Interactive Content Team

You may have seen a recent WonkHE article about playful leadership  The case for playful leadership | Wonkhe It announces a new research project called Re:PLAY * and I am pleased to say that ISG  University of Edinburgh is a partner in this research.

It was interesting to me that when the ISG directors had a team-building away day recently ( facilitated by Common Purpose), the advice from our visiting mentor was to embrace elements of playfulness in our leadership.

Playful Engagement at work refers to the attitude and behaviours of employees that involve approaching tasks, interactions, and challenges with a sense of enjoyment, creativity, and innovation. It involves injecting elements of fun, humour, and spontaneity into the work environment while still maintaining focus and productivity. At ISG this can encompass the ways we approach innovation, inclusion, creativity, workplace environment, workplace interactions, team building, community building, skill development, outreach, communication, work life balance, achievement and celebration.

The ISG Playful Engagement Strategy was created in 2019 to establish and cultivate a workplace environment and culture that integrates innovation, playful learning, and creative engagement into our practices. The strategy encompassed the implementation of services, tools, technologies, practices, communication, and community engagement throughout the group, extending beyond the University to address the new ways of working.

The original strategy meant to target the four focused areas which defines Playful Engagement for  ISG:

  1. Encourage the growth of innovative, playful, and creative minds.
  2. Advocate for the inventive and playful application of technologies and tools within ISG services.
  3. Leverage our top-tier libraries and collections in unique and captivating ways to enhance our services.
  4. Foster a healthy work-life balance and a positive, engaging work environment.

Over the past five years, ISG and its working strategies have evolved in the way we provide our services and the transition into digital habitation and hybrid modes of working. This project will give us an opportunity for an update of the ISG Playful Engagement strategy.

 

*not to be confused with the name of our lecture recording service

Re-Opening the Eleanor Ormerod Room

I was very pleased to add another space named for inspirational women in STEM to our collection.

Celebrating the re-opening of the Eleanor Ormerod Training room in the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library was fairly simple since Eleanor’s info board was already in this room,

The LST team have refitted the room and installed  lovely hexagonal tables so I hope it will become a hive of activity.

I took the chance to say a few things about Eleanor, and also Rachel Carson.

The reason we celebrate Eleanor at Edinburgh, is that she was the first woman to be awarded an honorary degree for the university… and hers was one of the very few women’s portraits on display in Old college- although her picture got taken down to make space for a modern inclusive display and never re-instated. Some irony in that, and something I am pleased we can address by re-instating her name now.

She is already honoured by ISG – in 2016 we named our cloud compute service Eleanor because it is a cloud and she was the first woman to be made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society,

Eleanor Ormerod was born in 1828 – and died in 1901, which means she overlapped slightly with Mary Somerville  after whom we named our data centre, who died in 1872.   They both lived long lives ( MS 90, EO 70) and were recognised in their lifetimes as important scientists.

When we look for women who have done inspirational work in STEM , we should always be curious to ask the question about how they were able to fund this work and their living. They were both from privileged backgrounds Mary was a widow, and Eleanor inherited from her father. Eleanor’s work was not taken seriously by her family until after her father dies in her 30s.

She was the first woman to make a scientific study of insect pests of garden and farm in Britain. She is the author of A manual of Injurious Insects. Some advice in the Manual of Injurious Insects would now be considered dangerous or unlawful. For example, the use of Paris Green, which is highly poisonous and responsible for the destruction of harmless fauna and flora.

She was not a fainthearted lass, had a tendency to try out poisons on herself just to see the effects, her Wikipedia page includes a contemporary account of her taking a bite of a poisonous newt.

We chose World Bee Day to open the room and also to think about poisons, environmentalism and changing attitudes to insecticides and farming  because bees worldwide are under threat from neonicotinoids

It makes me think of Rachel Carson born in 1907 famous for her book ‘Silent Spring’.   her house is near my family in Maryland and I think we can draw a very clear line to link Rachel’s work to Eleanor’s. They both studied insects and crops and the environment. They are both involved in insecticides. Eleanor promoted, even invented pesticides. Rachael protested their use ( particularly DDT) because of the harm they cause to other living things through water sources. They both worked essentially in government jobs – Eleanor unpaid and Rachel not paid much.

The honorary degree of LLD of the University of Edinburgh in March 1900 not long before she died.

‘The pre-eminent position which Miss Ormerod holds in the world of science is the reward of patient study and unwearying observation. Her investigations have been chiefly directed towards the discovery of methods for the prevention of the ravages of those insects which are injurious to orchard, field and forest. Her labours have been crowned with such success that she is entitled to be hailed the protectress of agriculture and the fruits of the earth—a beneficent Demeter of the 19th century.[1][3]

nice weather for ducks

Liverbirds
Liverbirds
Pink echo
Pink echo

On some of the hottest days of the year this week,  I ventured southwards for two conferences, both featuring birds and both styled in hot pink.

EchoExperience25 at the University of Nottingham https://info.echo360.com/attendee-hub-echoexperience-emea

and

UCISA Women in Technology in Liverpool WiT25 – UCISA

Pink WiT
Pink WiT

 

At WiT Katie and I spoke about what works in our efforts to establish career paths for women into some of the areas of technology where they are currently under-represented. We presented a number of case studies from the last 10 years of LTW internships and trailed the research work which will be going on this summer to track the career paths and destinations of so many intern alumni over time.  We were un-phased by the fact that the conference organisers had failed to upload our slides sent in advance and so we had to just wing it for while.

At Echo I enjoyed a very glamorous evening of castle, caves, culture and canards about sagittarians and luddites before proving that I would say boo to a goose.

Nottsgeese
Nottsgeese

A Field Guide to Working in Higher Education

A Field Guide to Working in Higher Education
A Field Guide to Working in Higher Education

I am pleased to get my hands of a copy of this new book A Field Guide to Working in Higher Education

The book is designed to support new lecturers who are joining HE from a background in a professional area or career rather than a career in academia. These new teachers draw on different background knowledge and I think it has been a gap in professional development in universities to recognise that they need specific help to get up to speed in our cultures and languages alongside the expertise they are bringing in their area of practice. Too often academic colleagues try to exclude professional people by using academic jargon or referencing arcane local processes.

My contributions to the guide are about the IT support, learning technology, VLEs etc which new colleagues can find for their teaching.  Please do buy a copy and ask your library to buy it for colleagues.

how does your garden grow online?

another lovely slide theme created for me by the LTW Graphic Design team.
another lovely slide theme created for me by the LTW Graphic Design team.

I was delighted to be invited as to National College of Ireland to speak as part  of their  ‘Assuring Quality in Fully Online Programme Delivery’ event last week.  A lovely excuse to visit Dublin again.

I chose a gardening theme which enabled me to talk about the time it takes to grow online learning and the investments we make in ensuring that there are good growing conditions and that native plants can thrive.

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow
-Audrey Hepburn