The Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement (RAISE) Podcast

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠⁠TimeEdit⁠⁠

⁠⁠Jisc ⁠⁠

⁠⁠Explorance⁠⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠⁠conference sponsor pages⁠⁠ of the website.

This episode discusses an emerging ‘fluency paradox’ in GenAI-supported academic writing, where frictionless outputs risk metacognitive atrophy and over-reliance on AI among international L2 students. It discusses how a citizen-centred AI tutor might be able to reintroduce ‘desirable difficulty’ into AI-mediated learning by positioning AI as a coach rather than a proxy writer.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠TimeEdit⁠

⁠Jisc ⁠

⁠Explorance⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠conference sponsor pages⁠ of the website.

Shahjahan et al. identify a distinction between the visible (formal epistemic knowledge) and hidden curriculum (invisible values and epistemes embedded in institutional or disciplinary structures' (2021: 76-77). This podcase discusses how to create personalised approaches to negotiating the hidden curriculum in order to improve attendance and inclusion.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠TimeEdit⁠

⁠Jisc ⁠

⁠Explorance⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠conference sponsor pages⁠ of the website.

An innovative approach to meeting student demand for guidance on how and when to use GenAI has been developed by Learning and Teaching and Academic Skills Mentors. Whilst initial workshops focused on basic understanding and academic integrity, increasing student queries regarding prompt creation techniques necessitated further in-depth provision.

Feedback from students and input from staff with relevant expertise was filtered through the lens of Skills Mentors - individuals who occupy dual roles as both postgraduate students and employed trainers. The permeability of the staff/student boundary offered comprehensive oversight, facilitating the creation of intermediate and advanced workshops which reframe technical knowledge around topics such as meta-prompting into purposeful activities, allowing students to practice AI skills in a supportive environment. Success of this approach has been measured by demand for workshop and one-to-one bookings, student evaluations, and data evidencing the use of the collaboratively created resource pack and prompt-bank.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠TimeEdit⁠

⁠Jisc ⁠

⁠Explorance⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠conference sponsor pages⁠ of the website.

Solent Future Learning (SFL) is a curriculum transformation programme at Southampton Solent University which responds to the changing needs of learners by ensuring that every course is practice-led and flexibly delivered. During September 2025 to March 2026, 131 course teams from across all academic departments participated in collaborative sprint workshops, to redesign their curriculum to meet SFL principles.

In the final day of the Sprints, staff were joined by Solent Student Partners who partnered in the process and gave feedback on course redesign pitch proposals. In this podcast, the Solent Student Partners discuss their involvement in this strategic institutional curriculum change initiative and reflect on the role they played in co-creating curriculum for the future as well as how they support other students and empower them to have a voice.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠⁠TimeEdit⁠⁠

⁠⁠Jisc⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explorance⁠⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠⁠conference sponsor pages⁠⁠ of the website.

This podcast centres on an innovative application of the Listening Rooms methodology (Heron 2020) to evaluate staff-student partnerships focussed around a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to address barriers to the student experience at Northumbria University.

Every year, student-staff pairs are invited to take part in an inclusive reciprocal insight scheme based on the principles of a critical friend.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠TimeEdit⁠

⁠Jisc ⁠

⁠Explorance⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠conference sponsor pages⁠ of the website.

This podcast explores how partnering with students as co-creators can reshape the future of higher education, drawing on Undeb Aber's involvement in a Medr funded NUS Charity experiment to develop community based academic representation.

In this episode, Rosie Hunnam, Jacob Webb, and Cari Davies discuss how academic departments, students unions, and students themselves can work together to co-create meaningful, future ready academic communities.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc⁠

This years conference sponsors are

⁠TimeEdit⁠

⁠Jisc

⁠⁠Explorance⁠

More details can be found on the ⁠conference sponsor pages⁠ of the website.

This is a short taster episode for second season of the RAISE podcast that aligns to the RAISE conference, taking place on the 9th and 10th of September 2026.

An episode will be released each day across the week of the conference.

Many thanks to everyone who took part this year.

⁠Music used courtesy of Pixabay.⁠ ⁠Created for Pixabay by Liderc

This years conference sponsors are

TimeEdit

Jisc

Explorance

More details can be found on the conference sponsor pages of the website.

The war on Gaza has devastated universities, forcing students and faculty to navigate immense disruptions to education. Despite these hardships, Palestinian universities persisted with online learning, ensuring students could continue their studies. This study amplifies the voices of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Gaza, most of whom are female learners, alongside the educators who sustained learning under extreme conditions. Using resilience theory, the research examines how both groups adapted to technological barriers, emotional strain, and instability. Data were gathered through an online survey of 81 students and 22 semi-structured interviews, supplemented by the instructor’s reflections. The findings reveal how students did more than endure adversity. They actively shaped their own learning journeys. They exercised agency by creating peer-support networks, developing strategies for navigating online platforms with limited access, and finding ways to remain motivated despite personal and collective trauma. Their input not only informed the learning process but also influenced how instructors adapted their pedagogical approaches in real-time. Educators, in turn, demonstrated resilience by responding to students’ evolving needs, fostering engagement, and providing emotional support. Their experiences highlight the need for student-centered, flexible teaching models and stronger institutional support in contexts of crisis. Focusing on the voices of both students and educators in one of the world’s most challenging learning environments, this study contributes to discussions on inclusion, representation, and learner-driven engagement in higher education

Heritage is an intrinsic part of anyone’s identity, constructing and influencing the interactions one has throughout their life.

Contextualised under the Eugenics Legacy Education Project theme within the UCL ChangeMakers Funding Initiative, the project created by Maria Popa, Ramona Gonczol & Rares Muscar enabled active student-staff engagement in the construction of knowledge and learning through the interpretation of museum object-based learning of Romanian artefacts.

The idea was that it could act as a catalyst for future initiatives, which can challenge curricula covering difficult topics such as migrant prejudices, misconceptions and injustice, contributing towards reshaping societal perceptions, and enriching academic and public discourse around underrepresented and misrepresented heritage cultures.