This week I had the privilege of attending the national Higher Education Authority Open Education conference, hosted down the road from me at the MTU Bishopstown campus, Cork. When registering a few weeks ago I knew this would be a busy week trying to wrap up grading but it was too good an opportunity to miss out on and so I rescheduled my week to fit the event in.

As an alumna of the Educational Research Department at Lancaster University I regularly attend the Saturday PhD Study Days, hosted by Dr Ann-Marie Houghton. With my PhD now in the rear view mirror, these days are dedicated to writing and research projects. Late in 2024 I was thinking about what conference I might attend in 2025 for personal and professional purposes and at one of these days, my Lancaster colleague Sue Beckingham, suggested the Assessment in Higher Education Conference held annually in Manchester, might be of interest:

Until this semester I had not taught a class on campus since Spring 2022. Back then, and in the preceding decade, my classes consisted of about 30 postgraduate students, and I included a mix of sli…