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Michael Webb

@mwebb.bsky.social
849 followers 824 following 177 posts

Mostly AI and technology in education. Director of AI at Jisc. Might post the odd music and cat thing too.

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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Rebecca Flook and me on the power behind gen AI tools. "The systems now being woven into education are shaped by a remarkably small group of people." wonkhe.com/blogs/the-ch... #jisc
wonkhe.com
The choices universities and colleges make about AI are political
Ahead of this week's Digifest, Michael Webb and Rebecca Flook confront the complex values systems behind general purpose AI technology
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Digifest is almost here. I’ll be in conversation with Rebecca Flook and Lawrie Phipps on “The Power and the Principles: Who’s really shaping AI?” A timely discussion given everything happening in the world right now. Tuesday, 12:30 (Hall 8B) #jisc
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
A follow-up on Claude Cowork. Two weeks in, it's the most genuinely useful AI tool I've used so far. The browser automation actually works. mwebb.blog/2026/03/02/c...
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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Here’s my handout for the webinar I did a while back in AI’s environmental impacts & putting stats in context). docs.google.com/document/d/1... #AI #environment #DataCenters
docs.google.com
AI’s Environmental Impact: Understanding the data and acting sustainably
AI’s Environmental Impact: Understanding the Data and Acting Sustainably Nicole Hennig (nicolehennig.com) Handout for Oct. 17 and Dec. 5 webinar, 2025 1. Individual use of generative AI is a drop i...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
A quick overview of a really good All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting on AI horizon scanning: mwebb.blog/2026/01/26/a...
mwebb.blog
AI APPG Horizon Scanning
I’m on a train heading back from a crowded committee room in the House of Lords for an AI APPG (all-party parliamentary group) evidence session on horizon scanning. AI events always draw a cr…
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Random thought but I wonder if social media bans for U-16 are the wrong approach and instead we should regulate toxic design patterns like the infinite scroll.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Another busy week with lots of travel. Good to be home with the kitty cats :-)
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Should be an interesting day at the Federation of Awarding bodies conference - I'm on a panel looking at how AI can be used in assessment, with a focus on the assessor, rather than the student, which has perhaps been the focus of most conversations so far.
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EDLAB – Maastricht University Centre for Teaching & Learning @edlab-ctl.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Maastricht University teaching staff: test your digital skills in 20–25 minutes with the Jisc Discovery Tool. Get a personalised report on online teaching, collaboration, media literacy, AI use and digital wellbeing — plus trusted resources. Voluntary & anonymous! maastricht-uni.potential.ly/signin
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Pretty wet on this morning’s ride. This is a road.
A swan landing in a flooded road
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
This is interesting - when I try to get ChatGPT to give me song lyrics without searching it gives me a few lines and then errors. Does anyone know if it's always done this? Or is it a rapid response to the German court ruling?
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Has anyone found a fix for the iPad iPadOS26 scrolling issue by any chance? The one where scrolling from anywhere apart from the edge of the screen stops working until you reboot?
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
iOS 26 has made my iPad mini 6th gen pretty much unusable. Slow, screen barely responds. Anyone found a fix?
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
My colleague Sue Attewell leads our stream of work looking at staff and student perceptions of AI. In a new blog post the focus is with a group of pre-sessional international students. nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/09/0...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
Student Perceptions 2025: Insights from a Group of Pre-sessional International Students at the University of Manchester - Artificial intelligence
How do international students preparing to study in the UK view AI? Sue Attewell spoke with a group of pre-sessional students at Manchester, mostly from China, about their hopes, worries and everyday ...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
In a perfect world, maybe we’d all be able to accept everyone’s authentic self and not judge people by how they communicate, including how they write and express themselves. But we don’t live in a perfect world, do we? #jisc #aied nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/07/0...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
Opinion: how generative AI can help us address linguistic inequalities - Artificial intelligence
Within the theme of AI and social inclusion, Tom Moule discusses how generative AI can address linguistic inequality.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
The US have released their AI action plan. We need to take notice as it has profound implications for academia. More here: #jisc #aied nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/07/2...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
Comparing and contrasting the US and UK AI Action Plans - Artificial intelligence
The US Government has just published its AI action plan.  Given the UK’s own AI Opportunities Action Plan was published earlier this year, and that both plans touch directly or indirectly on education...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
AI detection, assessment and learning to use electricity. If we rely on scales/traffic lights and ignore assessment redesign then the logical conclusion is we have to detect AI misuse. Tools aren't great at it, and nor are people. nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/06/2...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
AI Detection, assessment and learning to use electricity - Artificial intelligence
This blog post is an update to two previous entries that focused on AI detection tools: ‘AI Detection: Latest Recommendations’ (September 2023) and ‘AI Writing Detectors – Concepts and Considerations’...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Have you heard of wooden data centres? nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/06/0...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
Artificial intelligence and the environment: Looking ahead - Artificial intelligence
In our AI and the environment blog series, we’ve covered taking a responsible approach, provided an update on the current landscape, and looked at putting the numbers into perspective. In this final b...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
How often does this lift break down that this signed is needed? Didn’t fill me with confidence!
Don’t panic
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
How often does this lift break down that this signed is needed? Didn’t feel me with confidence!
Don’t panic!
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Can image generation be more than a gimmick? We think so. We ran a pilot exploring imagine generation with 44 institution late last year, and we've now released our report blog post, which includes a nice gallery of images and their prompts: nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/05/1...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
Guidance on AI Image Generation: learnings from our pilot - Artificial intelligence
Following Jisc's Image Generation pilot, this report provides guidance on how colleges and universities can use image generation effectively.
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Jisc @jisc.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Two wins for the Jisc cyber team at last night's Security Excellence Awards! Winning both CISO and security team of the year, the judges remarked "exceptional leadership defending not just one organisation, but the entire academic sector, while building a security community."
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
A new blog post from my colleague Catherine Barker. Well worth reading, especially to see the striking fashion images that it can create and how they compare to those possible when we did our image generation pilots just a few months ago. nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/04/0...
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
ChatGPT image generation: What’s changed and why it matters - Artificial intelligence
OpenAI have built their most advanced image generator yet into GPT-4o, which ‘excels at accurately rendering text, precisely following prompts, and leveraging 4o’s inherence knowledge base and chat co...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Got round to trying Perplexity deep research. The name overhypes its ability but still a decent enough tool to help with some search activities.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
It’s snowing in Birmingham this morning! Ok, just a tiny bit but still… #digifest25
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Jacqui Bartram @jaxbartram.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
So much in Sana Khareghani’s wonderful keynote on where we are with AI that I could only capture a fraction! #digifest #digifest25 from @jisc.bsky.social
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Fantastic session sharing examples from our Learnwise pilot, with a message around both how useful it is and how quick to deploy. #digifest25
View of the stage and a slide with 4 people.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Standing room only in our Kaltura workshop around personalised learning and their AI Class Genie beta. #digifest25
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Jisc @jisc.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Hall 3 is starting to take shape and there's a buzz in the air. Make sure you tag us in your posts if you're joining us at #Digifest25 so we can share our favourites 🧡
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Who’s coming to Jisc Digifest next week? If you are come and add to our AI map!
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FE Week @feweek.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
🤖 'We need to learn from the sudden leap we saw with ChatGPT – we're likely to see a similar leap in robotics, which will broaden the impact across many of our skills areas' @mwebb.bsky.social of @jisc.bsky.social tells colleges feweek.co.uk/with-the-rig...
feweek.co.uk
Preparing for the AI Era: How UK colleges can lead the way
The AI automation age will create stronger demand for uniquely human skills
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Engineering Responsible AI:foundations for environmentally sustainable AI. An excellent new report: nepc.raeng.org.uk/media/2aggau...
nepc.raeng.org.uk
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Edtech McKean @paulmckean.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Jisc's @mwebb.bsky.social initial top level advice on #Deepseek nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/01/2... #AIEd
nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org
DeepSeek - Initial Thoughts and Advice. - Artificial intelligence
Another day, another new and slightly unexpected AI development. This time, it’s DeepSeek. It’s been hard to miss the news, but in case you have, here’s a quick summary: Chinese company DeepSeek has s...
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
I’m sure there’s some metaphor or story here - but anyway, I love the inventive use of an upside down gym bench to fix the velodrome track.
Man climbing a bench to fix the track
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Today's announcement at BETT from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson: Phttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/education-secretary-outlines-plans-to-modernise-education-sector
gov.uk
Education Secretary outlines plans to modernise education sector
Education Secretary to announce plans for digital revolution in schools at the Bett Show in London.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Loved the new Bob Dylan film.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Out of interest, has anyone seen Meta's fact checking in action recently? I don't really ever see anything that would warrant fact checking. Updates on our village, friends days out, music updates from the 1990s etc. Where does it actually happen? Is it in some of the groups?
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Wow! "6/ Work with President Trump to push back against foreign governments going after American companies to censor more.... the best way to defend against the trend of government overreach on censorship is with the support of the US government."
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Jisc @jisc.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
The rapid advancement of AI is transforming the landscape of workforce development, especially in FE and skills. This new blog post explores the challenges and opportunities presented by AI and how we can shape a future-ready workforce. #AmplifyFE
jisc.ac.uk
Shaping the future: FE and skills workforce development in the age of AI - Jisc
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
And in non-AI related things as it’s Xmas eve... probably the nearest I’ll ever got to co-writing a Christmas song. It’s got twinkly bells at the beginning anyway…
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Working on presentations for next year. In 2025 the term 'Artificial Intelligence' will be 70 years old, so I something i'll probably be weaving in. www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/history/...
www-formal.stanford.edu
A PROPOSAL FOR THE DARTMOUTH SUMMER RESEARCH PROJECT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
A PROPOSAL FOR THE DARTMOUTH SUMMER RESEARCH PROJECT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
I’m currently writing our AI review of 2024. Jon Hopkins is good writing music.
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Hmm. Apple Intelligence on my Mac is underwhelming. Anyone found anything useful or interesting?
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
This thread nails it. I wonder if Microsoft can turn it around?
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Jisc @jisc.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
It's the most hotly anticipated end-of-year report and no, we're not talking about Spotify Wrapped. Our annual review is out now. Read on to see how we've been saving you money, keeping you secure, and leading the conversation on AI in 2024.
jisc.ac.uk
Annual review 2023/24 - Jisc
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Our expenses system has just asked me if I love it. I’m scared what may happen if I say no…
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Maha Bali, PhD @mahabali.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
I just noticed a mirror situation here: *Faculty don't want students to use AI. **Students use AI anyway. * Educational developers don't want Faculty to use AI detectors. **Faculty use AI detectors anyway. SIGH
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AmplifyFE @amplifyfe.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
It's Day 4 featuring an @AmplifyFE Insights #AI case study. Hull College's @DebKellsey's award-winning #AITranslate is a cross-college initiative enabling all staff to confidently use translation apps to help learners #AmplifyFE #25DaysofAmplifyFE buff.ly/4f6awA2
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Michael Webb @mwebb.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Nice morning for a bike ride.
Lighthouse
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Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Researchers working in critical edtech studies - just over 2 weeks to send proposals for our conference in Zurich next June. Help build a community of critical edtech research. Especially hope it appeals to doctoral and early career researchers www.de.ed.ac.uk/news/call-ab...
Decorative image of a crowd of people on steps, with a graphic of a raised hand pressing a green target in the foreground
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