Jamie Auld Smith

Learning Technologist

Biography

Background

I've worked in a range of education-related roles since 2005, primarily focused on language teaching, assessment design, and community-based education. This has included supporting community-led projects on climate change mitigation, teaching ESOL to Syrian refugees with Edinburgh Council, and teaching, assessing, and designing curricula for English language and vocational qualifications in the UK, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia. In my previous role, I managed distance learning programmes and an exam centre for international students taking A Level, GCSE, and vocational qualifications. 

As a learning technologist, I lead local change initiatives related to virtual learning environments, supporting Learn Ultra, Canvas, Moodle, PebblePad, and Xerte. I work closely with course teams to support curriculum and course (re)design, deliver learning design workshops, and pilot new tools related to assessment and feedback such as digital rubrics, skills articulation, dropbox integrations, and GenAI. I promote inclusive education through Universal Design for Learning, lecture captioning, and accessible hybrid events, while collaborating with Deaf education practitioners to pilot classroom technologies that support BSL users and the wider Deaf community. I also contribute to policy-aligned projects at both College and University level which aim to enhance student experience in assessment and feedback.

Qualifications

  • MA Mental Philosophy (Hons), University of Edinburgh
  • MSc Human Ecology, University of Strathclyde
  • Cambridge Delta (Distinction), CELT Athens
  • HSK 3 Mandarin, Centre for Language Education and Cooperation
  • HSKK Intermediate Mandarin (Speaking), Centre for Language Education and Cooperation

Responsibilities & affiliations

As a learning technologist, my main areas of responsibility and interest include:   

VLE Adoption & Change Management 

  • Provide consultation, training, and support for staff and students on good practice use of Learn, Canvas, PebblePad, and Moodle for learning and teaching 

  • Develop and implement local change management strategies for Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) adoption 

Course & Programme (Re)Design 

  • Deliver collaborative learning design workshops for course and programme teams

  • Provide pedagogical and technical expertise to support course and programme development

Assessment & Feedback Enhancement 

  • Evaluate, advise on, and pilot new VLE features to enhance assessment and feedback, such as guidance, rubrics, feedback tools, and dropbox integrations

  • Contribute to university-wide initiatives to redesign assessment workflows to enhance student experience of assessment and feedback 

Accessibility & Inclusive Learning 

  • Promote Universal Design for Learning to help ensure accessibility compliance

  • Use lecture capture software to caption multimedia resources in line with students’ Schedules of Adjustment

  • Collaborate with colleagues in the British Sign Language teaching community to design and support complex hybrid events and assessment types 

Project activity

  • LOUISA Project Board - Professional Services Representative for College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
  • LOUISA Project Team - Learning Technologist Representative for College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
  • CAHSS VLE Dropbox Short Life Working Group - Learning Technology Representative

Conference details

Mapping competencies and nurturing professional identity - PebblePad - PebbleBash 2024, Edinburgh

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