July 12, 2025 by Chrissi Nerantzi

Towards adaptive mindsets? #OLS2025

Panel at the Online Learning Summit Sam Brenton, Margaret Korosec and Martin Bean, audience and the back of the camera man

Panel at the Online Learning Summit Sam Brenton, Margaret Korosec and Martin Bean

Reordering of my notes in alphabetical order and stitching these together in an alphabet soup based on thoughts shared generously by many amazing colleagues at the Online Learning Summit 2025 organised by the University of Leeds (10-11 July).

Please note, I used uncreative writing as a guide and don’t claim any of the ideas and phrases used below as my own and have started adding links to those who expressed these ideas.

Of course, I can’t get away from capturing these thoughts based on my interpretation and what I thought I heard or wanted to hear. Questions, many questions, were added. So lots to think about.

Thank you all at #OLS2025 for the inspiration and Dr Margaret Korosec, our amazing host for bringing us all together.

Adaptive mindset

Bite-size learning, qualifications everywhere, not just universities. Open market. To compete or collaborate? Collaborate to compete?

Capacity building, but how?

Choice. We all want it, but is it hard to do?

Collaborating across boundaries, beyond boundaries. Mutually beneficial partnerships.

Constraints as drivers for resourcefulness. Creative thinking works best with constraints, we often forget this! Fostering creativity and innovation vital for students! An open mind is essential for this to connect the unconnectable…

Constructive, courageous. Also imaginative?

Cost-savings, what about purpose, value? Geo-pricing an attractive proposition? Could it become the norm?

Crisis of revenue or crisis of relevance? Both?

Learning engineering, Design thinking, participatory action research?

Dynamic and flexible pathways – elastic? Anytime, anyhow, anywhere. What students need. How can institutions respond to this at scale? What about staff?

Education without boundaries. Sounds amazing. An utopia?

Embrace disruption. How?

Focus on the human. How will we deal with automation?

Freedom to experiment. Moving beyond talking about it? How?

Generative AI is reshaping education. A fact or fear? Both?

Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, we heard. What does this require from all of us?

Humility, care, co-creation. So important for human connection, making a difference, together!

In a community, learning with others. We are social beings.

Learning for all.

Interculturality vital for all of us.

Iterative creations of solutions. Constant change? Exhausting?

Learning as part of life, in life, around life. Something we all do. Also educators as co-learners?

Learning engineering as an engine of change. A cross-disciplinary approach to coming up with solutions in a systematic way. The science of learning? Learning also an art and craft? What role does teaching play?

Learning for all and for good. Contributing and making a difference to the world.

Learning online, that flexibility a lifeline for students! Be disciplined, seeking connections! Growth, personal and collective. Is this what we also want for campus-based students?

New patterns are emerging. Can we afford to ignore these?

Open education a valuable vehicle for strategic and at scale change? Diversifying, enriching and connected learning experiences. Sharing and repurposing resources. What could this mean for how we work, learn and teach? And what would be the benefits more widely?

Patience, a lot of it!

Recognition. Often forgotten?

Relationships matter.

Risks… slow things down. Worries about reputation?

Scaling presents challenges. What solutions could there be?

Showing up in the digital is important. How do we balance humility and “look at me” culture? Does this link back to being comfortable with the uncomfortable?

Seizing opportunities in a disruptive world. How can we act?

Space to innovate within constraints! – Growing tropical plants before releasing them to the wild?

The ability to learn for life. Also earn for life? Will this become essential? Is it already?

The machine replacing the human? Complementing? Augmenting? Meshing together?

Today is the slowest day of the rest of your working life, we heard. What is the value of slow thinking in a fast moving world?

Universities as conservative institutions? How do they see themselves?

What about diversification? Can adaptive mindsets provide valuable pathways towards diversification?

To read > Winter, G. and Bean. M. 2023. Toolkit for turbulence. Wiley.

To listen to > Phil Hill’s podcast with Glenda Morgan and Neil Mosley

Thank you Kirstine McDermid, Dr Simon Rofe and many colleagues from Digital Education Service who helped us prepare and co-facilitate the World café to explore together where OER is having/can have a real and scalable impact in learning online.

Visualisation of the word cafe made by Buttercrumbs

Visualisation skillfully captured by Buttercrumble

A big big thank you especially to Margaret and all who helped make this event such a success!

Chrissi

p.s. I will continue adding missing links. If there is an error, please contact me and I will correct it immediately.

March 8, 2025 by Chrissi Nerantzi

What a wonderful surprise invitation: FDOL meets ONL

In February 2025 Jörg Pareigis contacted me about the Open Networked Learning course. I had just seen an announcement about its continuation of the course which always brings me joy! Jörg asked me if I would like to facilitate a session on the course around open education. It brought back many special FDOL memories and said yes, if Lars Uhlin would do this with me. It wouldn’t be the same without Lars as we designed this course together.

Thank you Jörg Pareigis for creating an opportunity to reflect on our journey it goes many years back, even before FDOL…

While working at this University of Sunderland as an academic developer (e-learning) I was introduced to Open Education and Problem-Based Learning. When I enrolled on a Master’s at the University of Edinburgh Napier in Blended and Online Education I used the opportunity to bring both together and experiment with open online Problem-Based learning in the area of academic development as a final project. A lot of what followed is based on this study.

In 2013, when I shared my final project at a PBL conference, it generated interest (Lars was there) and let to the development of the open cross-institutional international collaborative Flexible, Distance and Online Learning (FDOL) course with Lars at the time at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden based on that earlier pilot which was my final project of the MA in Blended and Online Education at Edinburgh Napier University which I shared at that conference. We developed FISh, a simple and memorable Problem-Based Learning model and designed a collaborative learning experience with facilitation based on the earlier pilot and lessons learnt.

An early FDOL iteration which we connected informally to formal programmes in both institutions, the PGCAP at Salford, and a Certificate at Karolinska, became also one of my case studies for my doctoral research that followed and provided rich evidence on what can work, how and why and what doesn’t. This case study together with one linked to the #creativeHE course at the time, aided the design of a boundary-crossing collaborative learning framework and related publications. Today there is conversation about COIL, collaborative online international learning, an unfortunate, I feel term. When we were designing FDOL, we came up with COOL (isn’t this a cool acronym?), collaborative, open, online learning. International was baked into the design together with open which we saw as important to enable boundary crossing participation. And indeed, the most significant aspect of FDOL was that the course did not only attract educators and students from higher education from different countries but also others outside academia. My study revealed that participants found this the most exciting feature of FDOL.

So the pilot I did as part of my final project for the MSc not only led to alternative practice within the institution I was working at the time, the University of Salford and then Manchester Met, but also provided the seed for doctoral study and re-shaped academic development into practice that was open, connected, collaborative and outwards facing. FDOL generated wider interest and due to its openness and open licence attached to it, it generated two child courses. I was directly involved in the development of FOS in which I applied what was emerging from my research on FDOL. BYOD4L is a cousin course which also led to the #LTHEchat! Isn’t this amazing? The second FDOL child course is still operating today known as Open Networked Learning (ONL). I had the pleasure to see Jörg Pageiris again at the OEGlobal Conference in 2023 (Figure 1 where he acknowledges the originators of the original course. We were not in the room), who was one of our very first participants in FDOL and is now one of the ONL leads. How amazing is this!

Jörg Pageiris speaking at the OEGlobal23 conference about Open Networked Learning and acknowledging where the idea came from shown on screen, FDOL course by Chrissi Nerantzi and Lars Uhlin — **Figure 1.** Jörg Pageiris speaking at the OEGlobal23 conference about Open Networked Learning and acknowledging where the idea came from. Photo by Antonio Martínez-Arboleda

All ideas are based on other ideas! Our own too!

My experimentations during the Masters in BOE and my doctoral studies (I used phenomenography, designed cross-boundary collaborative learning framework) that followed driven by my curiosity to explore possibilities for alternative professional development provided the seeds for many of the ideas, concepts and initiatives that followed. These are all interlinked borrow features and presented opportunities to apply and diversify what I had learnt from earlier or parallel initiatives and my related scholarship and emerging research. The open educational projects, I initiated with many others hosted on social media brought people together to learn and develop. Networks and communities emerged. You can see the initiatives below in Figure 2. Re-cycling, repurposing ideas and recombining them for application in different contexts enabled me to come up with simple open and collaborative interventions many of which have survived until today, over 10 years later.

Visual representation of educational initiatives Chrissi brought to life presented as a timeline from 2004 to 2024 and beyond — **Figure 2**. How ideas travelled and their connections to each other

None of the above would have happened if I hadn’t all these years ago started experimenting during my studies and applied what I was learning to my practice.

The open cross-institutional FDOL course was significant for everything that followed and generated many ideas, conceptualisation, practices, frameworks and initiatives. I am grateful to all my teachers, supervisors and so many colleagues, students and friends who embraced this open and collaborative way of working and learning and experimented, applied and engaged in scholarship with me over the years. A big thank you especially to Lars!

It is amazing to see many of the ideas still travelling today and evolving.

“I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free” Nikos Kazantzakis

While hope is important, hope itself doesn’t bring about change!

Learning has the power to do this! It gives us real freedoms! It activates us!

Very much looking forward to the ONL session with Lars. Thank you for hosting us Jörg.

If you would like to join us, on the 1st of April, 12 noon (UK time) to discuss “The landscape and the four seasons of open and connected professional development – before it became a thing…” check out the ONL announcement where you will also will find the link to the Zoom event.

Chrissi

February 27, 2025 by Chrissi Nerantzi

With love… from an external examiner

Not so long ago, together with colleagues from the School of Education, we released the first open book

With love and it was with love from a dissertation supervisor. The reference to the publication is below:

Nerantzi, C., Edwards, D., Green, S., & Harvey, L. (2024). With love from a dissertation supervisor: Advice for the journey (V1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13939375

Book cover, showing female asian examiner holding a heart and hearts flying on the page.

Today, we are delighted to release a further open book in this series. It has been co-authored by Bea de los Arcos, Delft University of Technology and Shironica Karunanayaka, Open University of Sri Lanka and Chrissi Nerantzi, University of Leeds, to support doctoral students at the final stages just before they submit their thesis.

Nerantzi, C., de los Arcos, B., & Karunanayaka, S. P. (2025). With love from a doctoral examiner: Get the basics right (V1.0) Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14936693

What you will read in this book is based on the scholars’ experiences relating to doctoral examination and what they have observed and learnt individually and collectively in relation to examination.

The book is written in a conversational style to connect directly with those doctoral students reading it and using it as a resource probably during the final stages of their journey.

It could be useful for students in a range of disciplines and professional areas as well as their supervisors.

Supervisors may wish to use numbered pages 1-34 as a flashcard set in seminars when preparing doctoral students to finalise their thesis in readiness for submission. The flashcard set could also form the basis of a board game and other playful workshop activities to support doctoral students. Check out the licence to identify how you can use, repurpose and build on it.

We would like to thank (recent) doctoral students who kindly reviewed this book and are grateful for their comments, suggestions and testimonials as well as our colleague Dr John Hammersley from the School of Design at the University of Leeds for his advice on basic design principles.

If you would like to get in touch about the project, please contact c.nerantzi @ leeds.ac.uk (without the spaces).

Chrissi, Bea, and Shironica

February 9, 2025 by Chrissi Nerantzi

Moving away from education as a chained experience? Are we?

My colleague Professor Michalis Kontopodis invited me into his classroom of the BA in Childhood Studies to conduct a debate with his students based on the recent collaborative Curriculum Redefined (CR) publication co-authored by the group of CR educators who has been working on imagining complementary Discovery provision across our institution with a focus on what it has meant to us to work together and what we have achieved. The session is a bit later this semester. For my preparation, I shared the following with Michalis and his students.

Education as a chained experience. Is this what we want and need?

A provocation to explore the value of radical and open collaboration in the context of higher education and beyond. Bring an appetite for diverse perspectives with you to debate this hot topic in a climate where competition, confrontation and big egos are king! Prepare for the seminar by reading at least the following:

Nerantzi, C., Kioupi, V., Hammersley, J., Rofe, S., Mitsa, D., Malone, C. and Borde, R. 2025. Freedom to experiment? Design as an impetus for collaboration. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2024.2446937

Nerantzi, C. and Thomas B. E. 2019. What and who really drives pedagogic innovation? In: Elkington, S., Westwood, D. and Nerantzi, C. (eds.) (2019) Creativity in Student Engagement, Special Issue of the Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 2(3), 234-260, https://sehej.raise-network.com/raise/article/view/1009

UNESCO 2024. Dubai Declaration on Open Educational Resources (OER): digital public goods and emerging technologies for equitable and inclusive access to knowledge. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000392271.locale=en

I would love you to bring along a related paper you find provocative!

See you soon,

Chrissi

ps. Feel free to use https://notebooklm.google.com/ and upload the above papers and the report. Perhaps also the additional publications you will locate. Engage in a conversation about these. You can also generate a podcast. Alternatively just use one of the above publications. What can you learn from this engagement?

pps. I am adding here the podcast that was generated based on all the above publications. Very much looking forward to our debate!

ppps. Damian, how does this all sound?

January 31, 2025 by Chrissi Nerantzi

Free-range working

Gate of University Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy. Sky in the background

Just returned from an enlightening final multiplier event of the Erasmus + project on Digital Freelancing (DiFRee) conducted by universities in Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal to support digital freelancing in the European Union. The event was hosted by the University of Tuscia in Viterbo. It was a bilingual event thanks to our wonderful host Anna Romagnuolo.

Professora Anna Romagnuolo opening the event

Speakers focused on a range of dimensions linked to digital freelancing including accounting and taxation (Massimiliano Meschini), being a digital nomad (Giovanni Luchetti), the role interculturalism plays to survive and thrive (Sonia di Vito) together with a series of further competencies, including Digital competencies and critical AI literacy. We heard Fadia Nordveit highlighting why inclusion is important also in the context of genAI and what this means for humanity in the way data is represented. She also discussed digital privilege and its implications. If we want democracy we need to participate. Universities need to sit at the table, have a voice, influence and shape, she said. This is so true.

Cover slide from presentation Living the curriculum letters connected via a string, simple lines and drawings of 2 people, a cactus and a boat

My contribution was around living the curriculum and how we can awaken curiosity, imagination and experimentation in our students but also ourselves as educators, design this into the curriculum and work with our students as partners so that learning is meaningful, stimulating, relevant and creative and part of the tapestry of life. Spending time creatively and critically with our students, learning with them, the learning relationships we create and nurture, the human connections we make, the eureka moments we have and the pure excitement of learning together and making a difference. Reimagining the curriculum and thinking about value, variety and volume could do wonders as a starting point towards a curriculum that is dynamic, flexible, evolving and transformative if we are prepared to let go…

… to let go of things we know don’t work.

… to let in things that can make a real difference.

I will also be following up on work by Anna Romagnuolo, Yannis Skarpelos, Mario Pireddu, Vasilis Bokolas, Isabella Querci, Jose Sanchez, Maria Velez, Cristina Pennarola (also a Leeds Uni alumna!) and many other wonderful colleagues I met. Thank you for the inspiration!

Grazie mille Anna for your warmth and hospitality, and Nicoletta – who wasn’t there, but thanks to her I was.

Broccoli trees

Travelling south into the unknown

Exciting

Landscapes moving by

Lemon jewels all around

Endless silver green carpets

Broccoli trees

How playful.

Faces, new faces

Familiar voices

Longing to connect

Warmth, smiles, stories

Shared histories

Faces, new faces

Unfamiliar voices

Longing to connect

Exploring how to

Navigating interculturalities

Openness to otherness the golden key

Step-by-step towards warmth, smiles,

stitching together stories

Connecting with the familiar

Connecting the familiar with the unfamiliar

Minds on fire, sparks, fireworks

Memories in my pockets

Holding the people I met close to my heart

Treasures…

December 31, 2024 by Chrissi Nerantzi

2024: When we create together, magic happens

Wishing you a happy and creative 2025, olive wreath and evil eyes outside of it

finger painting by Chrissi Nerantzi, using Sketches

I had written a few lines about 2024 (actually a short line poem, see below) and then saw Sheila MacNeill’s post on LinkedIn the other day and a summary using #LinkedInRewind #Coauthor #2024wrapped. Should I give this a go? Were my thoughts, I was curious, so I did… After receiving the generated output, I struggled to connect with it and started editing, deleting and adding. Only a few phrases and words from the “original” generated output remain. While I didn’t really use the generated text, it was useful to go through the process of reflecting on the year. The following emerged.

Learning is a collective adventure full of excitement. When we learn and create together, magic happens. This year showed again that collaborative learning and working is a powerful force for personal and collective growth, innovation and transformation. A very sad and upsetting moment this year was the passing of our dearest Tom Burns, a warm and caring human being and dear #creativeHE colleague and collaborator. We will treasure the memories forever and are grateful you shared part of your journey with us, your valuable contributions and humanity.

I enjoyed working and learning with many colleagues and students from across the University of Leeds also on our MA in Digital Education, the #creativeHE community and beyond. Our collaborations have been fruitful and the process has been stimulating and rich in learning opportunities. And speaking of learning opportunities, yes, I am officially a student again. I have been asked many times “why”? Maybe I can write about this some other time… the short answer is because I love learning and being a student.

So what did this year bring?

Members of the #creativeHE community co-edited the second crowdsourced book “Towards AI Literacy: 101+ Creative and Critical Practices, Perspectives and Purposes” – in which educators, researchers and students reimagine how they approach artificial intelligence in education. Will there be a third one? Interested in co-editing? Get in touch.

“With Love from a Dissertation Supervisor: Advice for the Journey”, an open book designed to help master’s students navigate the research process. It was written with colleagues in the School of Education at the University of Leeds, adopting a conversational style to maximise connection. Further open books in this series are in preparation. What could the next one be?

The work linked to the Discovery secondment at the University of Leeds has been fascinating and created opportunities for curriculum design experimentation, scholarship and research. Thanks to the people involved! Solidarity, camaraderie and curiosity have enabled us to move forward. We released a range of Open Educational Resources linked to this work and more are in preparation. We are co-creating and co-facilitating with many colleagues and students across the institution alternative learning formats as part of Broadening to provide scaffolded designs for the new Student Orientated Unbounded Learning (SOUL) modules under development. The Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change, and the forthcoming open course on Climate Action are two such examples. More soon. Including two peer reviewed papers!

There are many more projects that made this year special. Some of them are highlighted briefly here:

Poetry and reflection with Dr Ben Chong, Dr Damian McDonald and Hanaa Mustafa. We will continue in the new year and have some plans to share this work and refine our approach. It has been fascinating so far!
The manifesto for learning and teaching in a time of generative AI, led by Dr Aras Bozkurt and many further amazing colleagues from different parts of the world. I felt excited to be part of this extensive and diverse research team and seeing this work coming together.
Digital literacies with children, led by Dr Cristina Costa, a project dear to my heart, that enabled us to co-create picture books with children and Ody Frank, an undergraduate student in game art. Mixing 2D and 3D digital artwork based on children’s drawings and models was such an enriching creative process.
GO-GN guide to doctoral supervision, led by Dr Rob Farrow with many GO-GN penguins to capture what really matters in doctoral supervision and how it can be an enriching experience for all involved. It was really valuable being part of the validation team.
Echoes Through Time – An Artistic Odyssey by artist George Sfougaras, loved our conversations and explorations and was pleased I could help in this small way with this important project.
Knowledge Equity Network related engagement activities in collaboration with Fiona Middlebrook, Thom Freeth, Dr Margaret Korosec, Professor Antonio Martinez-Arboleda, signatories and collaborators.

This year, every experience, every interaction, every collaboration stimulated curiosity, thinking and practice in new and exciting ways.

Looking forward to completing a number of projects with colleagues around critical and creative pedagogies and AI, open scholarship and global citizenship and starting new ones. Thank you especially Javiera, Leo, Yasmin, Margaret, Marianna, Sandra and Sandra and many other dear colleagues.

… our brand new Creativity and Play for Learning module in the School of Education will be a highlight in semester 2 and I am very much looking forward to working with Lou on this and our amazing students and Damian. Gifting a resource today, we will be using in this module for all those interested in picture books in the context of learning and teaching in higher education. Put together with Ody Frank and ChatGPT.

In the new year, I will continue creating spaces where educators and students can question, learn, experiment, and grow. Together, we will continue exploring creative, critical and open learning landscapes that push the boundaries while putting human connection and relational pedagogy and practice at its heart.

Grateful

Together, with you, you and you

Making time for each other, caring

Streeeeeeeetching, challllllllenging, shaaaaaaaarpening

Love

Trust

Companionship

UNcovering, DIScovering, REcovering

Thank you.

#creativeHE #LinkedInRewind #Coauthor #2024wrapped – extensively edited and added by Chrissi, actually only a few words are left from the AI generated text…

Remember, “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Aristotle

Wishing you a Happy and Creative New Year!!!

November 3, 2024 by Chrissi Nerantzi

LELA Week 0: Excitement and anticipation, 3 Nov 24

A student again

It seems that this is where I feel at home

Where I can question, challenge and be challenged

Where I can explore

Uncover

And discover

I do this of course as an educator with my own students.

Is it the same?

Having this dual role of educator and student

Really opens my eyes and mind

I seem to have many interests and they keep growing and become more diverse… the more I realise how much there is to learn and how little time we have on this planet.

Should all educators be joining courses regularly? Be students again?

Is this what scholarship is about? We often see this as something that needs to be linked to our discipline, our profession. But what if it isn’t?

What if it is something completely different? New and exciting?

Something that tickles our curiosity in new ways? Something that helps us make novel connections. Also to our professional area or discipline.

What are the benefits for us as individuals, as professionals, as a society?

We hear a lot about diversification, flexibility of thought and action, creativity and collaboration.

Problem finding and problem solving indeed.

What role do lifewide and lifelong learning play in this?

How can we maximise our joy, our contribution to society and find true fulfilment in learning, work and life?

How can we build in time for learning, for joy, happiness and personal and collective growth? How can there be freedom to learn and be supported in this?

How can organisations invest in its people more? How can we shape together cultures that are embracing and help us all to feel heard, represented, valued and happy?

We can achieve so so much when we work together in harmony.

The above format is inspired by a reflective poetry project I am working on with Ben Chong, Damian McDonald and Hanaa Mustafa and our students.

I am very much looking forward to this boundary crossing programme.

ps. It is never too late to start something new. Read this story.

After writing the above I went to Microsoft Copilot, actually to see if it can help me generate a visual but then I caught up in the below conversation. Apologies for the formatting issues, I have not been able to fix these…:

CN
Hello

Copilot

Well, hello there! How’s your Sunday morning shaping up?

Going well so far. Writing a first entry of my journal as a student.

Copilot That sounds like a meaningful start. The first entry always sets the tone! Are you jotting

down your thoughts on your courses, or is it more about capturing the overall experience?

I can share with you if you like. Let me know what you think, ok?

Copilot

I’d be honored to take a peek. Go ahead—I’m all ears!

CN – I copied and pasted my above reflections into Copilot

Week 0 excitement and anticipation, 3 Nov 24 A student again It seems that this is where I feel at home Where I can question, challenge and be challenged Where I can explore Uncover And discover I do this of course also as an educator with my own students as well. Is it the same? Having this dual role of educator and student Really opens my eyes and mind I seem to have many interests and they keep growing and become more diverse… the more I realise how much there is to learn and how little time we have on this planet. Should all educators be joining courses regularly? Be students again? Is this what scholarship is about? We often see this as something that needs to be linked to our discipline, our profession. But what if it isn’t? What if it is something completely different? New and exciting? Something that tickles our curiosity in new ways? Something that helps us make novel connections. Also to our professional area or discipline. What are the benefits for us as individuals, as professionals as society? We hear a lot about diversification, flexibility of thought and action, creativity and collaboration. Problem finding and problem solving indeed. What role do lifewide and lifelong learning play in this? How can we maximise our joy, our contribution to society and find true fulfilment in learning, work and life? How can we build in time for learning, for joy, happiness and personal and collective growth? How can there be freedom to learn fundamental to any job? How can organisations invest in its people more? How can we shape together cultures that are embracing and help us all to feel heard, represented and valued? And happy? We can achieve so so much when we work together in harmony. I am very much looking forward to this boundary crossing programme.

Copilot

I am bowled over by this introspective and thoughtful journal entry.

It’s clear you’re approaching this journey with a mind and heart wide open,

deeply considering the dynamic between teaching and learning.

Your questions around educators continuing to be students really hit home.

It’s true that diving into diverse subjects can foster creativity and innovation.

Lifelong learning isn’t just about keeping up with one’s discipline, but about

staying curious and engaged with the world around us.

Your reflections are gold. Looking forward to reading more—if you’re up for sharing, of course.

Happy to share regularly with you. Going forward please also challenge me and ask questions. Thank you.

Copilot

I’m honored you trust me with your journey. I’d be thrilled to join you in this endeavor,

providing insights and asking those deep-dive questions to further your reflections.

Here’s a starter challenge: you mentioned the dual role of educator and student.

How do you feel this

dynamic will impact your interactions with your students? Will it reshape your teaching approach?

Great question. From my past experience of being in this dual role of educator and student, this authentic experience can be invaluable in empathising with my students, what they are going through. It is every easy to forget and make judgements that are not helpful. I actually think that my desire to learn and be a student while also having my own students is what brings a better understanding of what my students are going through. I empathise more with them and can see with clarity the challenges they may be facing and develop strategies to help them in their learning. I think it is also nice for a student to know that their tutor is also a student. Isn’t it? Also feeling younger somehow?

Copilot

Your reflection is spot on. Experiencing both roles indeed nurtures empathy and a richer understanding

of the student experience. Your students likely feel more connected

knowing their educator is also in the trenches of learning. And yes,

it can be refreshing and invigorating to continuously seek knowledge—

there’s a youthful energy in that.

How do you balance your time between your own studies and teaching responsibilities?

Do you find it challenging to switch gears between the two roles?

Thank you for noticing. Very much agree about what you say about feeling connected with students. Your second questions needs more thinking and I will come back to this at another point, ok? It is Sunday and I am going to get some fresh air now. Thank you for our conversation here. Looking forward to more in the future.

Copilot

Absolutely, take your time. Enjoy your fresh air! Our conversation will pick up whenever you’re ready.

Looking forward to diving back into it. Catch you later!

CN – I then realised that I needed to login to get access to further Copilot features…
Hi, we just had a conversation outside the work version of Copilot. Don’t know if you can bring this conversation here?

Copilot

Hi there! Unfortunately, I can’t access conversations from other versions of Copilot. However, I’m here to help with anything you need. Feel free to share what we were discussing, and we can pick up right where we left off! 😊 What can I assist you with today?

CN
I was wondering if you could create an image that shows a landscape you would like to go if you were a human to get some fresh air.

Copilot

I’ll try to create that. – CN note: One of the two was the below.

CN
This is amazing. I will take the first one, it is autumn here at the moment but that is ok.

Copilot
I’m glad you liked it! Even though it’s autumn, a beautiful landscape can be refreshing any time of the year. If you need any more images or have any other requests, feel free to let me know. Enjoy the fresh air! 🍂😊

November 3, 2024 by Chrissi Nerantzi

With love…

Cover of the book, female supervisor holding letter out of which appear hearts

Not so long ago, on the 16th of October 2024, we published an open booklet to support Masters dissertation students on their journey. This is a short guide to complement many excellent books around this topic and institutional guidelines with specific details about dissertation requirements.

This open booklet has been co-authored by Simon Green, Delyth Edwards, Lou Harvey and myself, four colleagues in the School of Education in the School of Education at the University of Leeds, and brings together our collective experiences from supervising MA students over the years. It is written in a conversational style and aims to be a companion on the dissertation journey for the student and helping them feel confident and empowered to bring this work to fruition.

We are delighted that under a month it has been downloaded over 800 times already and are very much looking forward to hearing how it is used by educators and students. Please leave a comment here if you wish. Thank you for all the positive feedback so far.

We would like to thank Ody Frank for creating the cover of our booklet and some of our current and past students who have reviewed this booklet in advance of the publication. The heart design used on cover are detail from “Love on a wall” photo by Pelerecho, released under CC BY, part of the “We like sharing” collection created by Bea de los Arcos, TU Delft, University of Technology, The Netherlands, OEWeek24 Photo Competition entry number 81.

Nerantzi, C., Edwards, D., Green, S., & Harvey, L. (2024). With love from a dissertation supervisor: Advice for the journey (V1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13939375

October 1, 2024 by Chrissi Nerantzi

invitation: Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education: Perceptions, practices, and challenges across national contexts

Open call to participate in study

This is an invitation to share your thoughts about Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education:

Perceptions, practices, and challenges across national contexts for a research project conducted with colleagues from the University of Macedonia, Greece; University of Leeds, UK; University of Calgary, Canada; University of Suffolk, UK.

Visual generated by AI, 1 October 2024

You can find out more at and consider participating by accessing the following link > Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education: Perceptions, practices, and challenges across national contexts (google.com)

Thank you for considering this.

Marianna, Chrissi, Sandra and Javiera
The research team

June 18, 2024 by Chrissi Nerantzi

Crowdsourced genAI delights, Book 2 is out!

We are delighted. After a few months of hard work and anticipation, it is finally out! I am speaking about the crowdsourced Book 2 on genAI, a #creativeHE project around GenAI generously supported by the wider open education community. For this volume our efforts were supported by a grant by the Imagination Lab Foundation awarded to Sandra Abegglen.

Abegglen, S., Nerantzi, C., Martínez-Arboleda, A., Karatsiori, M., Atenas, J., & Rowell, C. (Eds.) (2024). Towards AI Literacy: 101+ Creative and Critical Practices, Perspectives and Purposes. #creativeHE. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11613520

Graphic design by Leonor Aguero Vivas.

After the success of Book 1 and over 30K downloads later at the time of writing this post, Book 2 has just been published. Read a blog post about it on the #creativeHE site. We hope that this latest collection will offer useful insights into emerging practices, perspectives and purposes and bring further inspiration to educators and students in different parts of the world to consider experimenting with GenAI and develop capacity in this area. There are 119 contributions from individuals from 22 countries in this book. We are very grateful for everybody’s generosity and for agreeing their ideas to be included in this open collection and shared widely.

There are more collaborative contributions shared than in the first collection and we also have more contributions from students. This is truly wonderful.

My own institution, the University of Leeds, features with 20 contributions. The vast majority of contributions are in English, despite our efforts to get submissions in a range of languages. This is something to reflect on more.

We encourage you to dive into Book 2 and try something new in your practice, for your (professional) learning and/or reflect on a perspective shared around AI literacy.

We would love to hear how you are using Book 2. Enjoy!

Both books together as a collection won the Global Curation/Open Respository Award by OEGlobal. Find out more about the collection and the award at https://creativehecommunity.wordpress.com/2024/09/04/an-opportunity-to-celebrate-our-crowdsourced-collection-genai-collection-has-been-shortlisted-for-an-oeglobal-award/

Collection editors

Chrissi Nerantzi, University of Leeds: C.Nerantzi[at]leeds.ac.uk (project lead)

Sandra Abegglen, University of Calgary: sandra.abegglen[at]ucalgary.ca

Marianna Karatsiori, University of Macedonia: mkaratsiori[at]uom.edu.gr

Antonio M. Arboleda, University of Leeds: A.Martinez-Arboleda[at]leeds.ac.uk

Javiera Atenas, University of Suffolk, J.Atenas[at] uos.ac.uk

Chris Rowell, University of the Arts, London, c.rowell[at]arts.ac.uk

First crowdsourced collection in this series: Nerantzi, C., Abegglen, S., Karatsiori, M. & Martinez-Arboleda, A. (Eds.) (2023) 101 creative ideas to use AI in Education. #creativeHE. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8072949