Digital education from the implementation floor.
Beyond the Technology is a sector-facing education technology show built around implementation, not hype. Episodes follow digital skills, learning analytics, blended learning, accessibility, AI, surveys, and VR through the people trying to make them work in institutions.
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Beyond the Technology treats education technology as a practice problem. The show follows JISC-led conversations with people working inside universities, colleges, and sector organisations, where digital change has to survive support models, staff time, student needs, and institutional priorities. It is calm, professional, and specific. Recent episodes move through digital skills communities, learning analytics for wellbeing, blended learning design, AI leadership, accessibility, digital experience surveys, and virtual reality in forensic science teaching. The common thread is implementation. A conversation about peer support and recognition becomes a discussion of frameworks, toolkits, community spaces, motivation, rewards, impact, and shared practice. A learning analytics episode connects student wellbeing with consent, school-based support, patterns across modules, and ways academic teams may respond. The blended learning discussion brings in universities piloting Beyond Blended resources and reflects on staff development, curriculum design, student voice, and participation. The AI episode keeps its focus on judgment. It considers how data and AI are reshaping education work, but also worries about same-sounding outputs, over-reliance, and the need for AI literacy that helps students think rather than shortcut thinking. The accessibility material is similarly concrete. It names digital accessibility standards, procurement, in-house platforms, research websites, public policy, higher education, and the public good. The digital experience survey episode adds a sector-wide evidence layer, linking learner and staff feedback with digital capability, training needs, and strategic tools. The award-winners miniseries broadens the frame without leaving education, covering a University of Dundee project connecting the crime scene to the courtroom through forensic science and virtual reality. The show’s value is cumulative. Each episode sounds like a conversation among practitioners who have to balance ambition with the limits of real institutions. It suits listeners looking for examples, language, and comparable cases rather than sweeping predictions. Beyond the Technology is less about the next tool than the conditions that make digital education work.
Made for: Suits a listener who works around education technology, digital capability, learning design, accessibility, student support, or institutional change. It also fits anyone who wants practical examples from universities and colleges rather than broad edtech commentary.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by keeping JISC tools, sector evidence, and institutional practice in the same conversation. Its emphasis is on how digital work is adopted, supported, evaluated, and adjusted inside education settings.
In this podcast we'll hear from members about how they are implementing Education 4.0 technologies including their challenges, successes, and where they had to re-assess.
A planned library pop-up booth for student feedback: your kind of digital change.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded discussion of digital skills, peer support, flexible frameworks, and recognition in education.
Beyond the Technology brings Catherine Evans into conversation with Chris Melia and Phil Whitehead on a practical question: how digital skills grow when staff are supported by peers, useful frameworks, and meaningful recognition.
A grounded look at analytics, wellbeing support, and teaching feedback in higher education.
Student wellbeing sits inside the academic unit in this PlayNext review of learning analytics at Newcastle University. Jim Keane, Principal Technical Consultant for Learning Analytics at JISC, speaks with Liam Snaith, Mental Health Advisor at Newcastle University, about a…
A grounded discussion of blended learning design, with student voice treated as part of the work rather than a slogan.
Blended learning is framed here as something institutions have to design carefully, not just a set of tools to adopt. Sarah Nye of JIS brings together voices from the University of Cumbria, the University of Northampton, Abertay University, and the Beyond Blended resources, with…
A grounded education discussion about using AI without flattening judgment, individuality, or learning.
Beyond the Technology considers how data and AI are changing further and higher education, while keeping efficiency in perspective. Michael Webb of JISC and Katie Gubler of Rebel Hive keep the focus on teams balancing immediate delivery with longer-term thinking, especially as…
A practical look at how digital capability becomes shared university practice.
Digital capability at the University of Manchester is framed as something built through shared habits, visible leadership, and steady institutional work.
Classroom practice, school change, and AI with purpose.
Media literacy, tested against real feeds.
Business stories with practical connective tissue.
Edtech talk with classroom sense and snacks.
Free classroom tech, tested by a teacher.
Classroom tech, explained teacher to teacher.
Catherine Evans of JISC hosts Chris Melia and Phil Whitehead around a practical question: how do digital communities change staff practice instead of just collecting members?
Beyond the Technology talks with Liam Snaith, Newcastle University’s Mental Health Advisor, about using Jisc learning analytics to support student wellbeing.
Sarah Nye brings together Sheila McNeill, Dr Jonathan Eaton, Dr Emma Herron, and Dr Julie Blackmore-Yang to discuss how Jisc's Beyond Blended resources are being used across university curriculum design.
Michael Webb, JISC's Director of AI, speaks with Katie Gubler of Rebel Hive about how AI and data are reshaping further and higher education.
Beyond the Technology's episode on digital transformation at the University of Manchester centers on Becky Vickerstaff and Professor Jane Rooney discussing the GIST Discovery Tool, LinkedIn Learning for All, Microsoft Certifications for Students, and a university digital equity charter.
Dom Walker explains the Digital Experience Insights survey and its role in understanding the digital landscape in further education.
A discussion on digital accessibility and the Accessible Digital Futures Project, focusing on empowering students through better accessibility in digital and AI technologies.
University of Dundee team discusses their award-winning project using VR to connect crime scenes to courtrooms in forensic science education.
Liz Parcell interviews Matt Turner and Gabby Whithouse from the University of Birmingham about their project on hybrid teaching rooms, exploring staff and student experiences.
Sarah Knight interviews Helen Beetham and Sheila McNeill about their review of learning and curriculum design in higher education, revisiting past initiatives and exploring how digital issues are integrated into the curriculum.