GenAI and beyond: inventing and re-imagining Higher Education practice
The twenty-third Academic Practice and Technology (APT2025) conference took place on Tuesday 1st July 2025 hosted at the Coin Street Conference Centre, Waterloo.
Conference Sub-Themes
The sub-themes invited participants to critically reflect and explore ways in which they are developing their practice in response to growing use of AI. Through a range of discussion and interactive formats, the event showcased and celebrated examples of academic practice that can inspire academic and professional services staff.
APT2025 showcased research papers/work in progress, case studies, and workshops that interpret the conference theme of ‘Implication of the use of Artificial Intelligence in teaching, learning and assessment’, aligned to one or more of the following sub-themes:
- Transforming assessment and feedback using Generative AI
Work submitted in this sub-theme may explore methods for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of AI in education, ensuring its alignment with learning outcomes and assessment criteria. Work could also explore the challenges and opportunities of using AI in assessment, marking and feedback, and the HE-policy landscape regarding the use of AI within assessment structures.
- Generative AI for inclusion and accessibility
Work within this sub-theme could demonstrate how AI can enhance inclusion and accessibility of education, and how to provide personalised and adaptive learning experiences for diverse learners. It may also explore how AI can support equity in education, and how to overcome the barriers and challenges of using AI for all learners. It may also consider questions of equity of access, both for students and educators.
- Responsible and ethical considerations of Generative AI in education
Work within this sub-theme may address the phenomenon of data-centricity and the kinds of knowledge it privileges. Mindful use of AI in higher education would be relevant for this category, particularly given its resource-intensity and considerations of ethical practice. This sub-theme may include ethical procurement in a growing and increasingly concentrated market, how ‘big tech’ is conceived and promoted as a solution to problems in higher education, and practitioners’ transparency in using tools with their students . As above, this sub-theme may also consider questions of equity of access.
- Generative AI in teaching practice
Work presented in this sub-theme may focus on individual initiatives or wider projects on activities, strategies, policies, or designed activities that have utilised AI. We welcome work that has utilised AI in applied ways, within new pedagogies, or that has involved teaching students how to use AI tools.
The evaluation of, and critical reflection on, such work should be emphasised. Work involving students in co-production or design of the teaching would also be particularly welcome.
- Academic technologies and digital pedagogies (non-AI)
The inclusion of this sub-theme would allow participants to submit for consideration work that may not fit within work related to AI, but is relevant to APT’s overarching aims to offer a platform for contributions to the broader discussions. This is to ensure that work on academic technologies and associated practices that are not related to AI can be highlighted and disseminated at this time.