AmplifyFE Community Space

For this AmplifyFE episode we are doing something slightly different, this podcast has been written, recorded and produced by the Access and Assistance for All (AAA) Youth Champions.

Written by AAA Champion Charlotte

Join the Access and Assistance for All (AAA) Youth Champions and listen to them promote their campaign. The AAA campaign aims to make further education more accessible by design, and to increase awareness about assistive technology. Since the start, 19 colleges have signed on to the campaign so far, and you can read the success stories from students on the Access and Assistance website! Come and listen to Charlotte, Tim, Zehra and Tom explain what the campaign is all about and share their own experiences of using assistive tech to improve their access to education.

If you’d like to find out more about the campaign, click on the links below. Alternatively, you can email educationpolicy@pocklington.org.uk to find out more.

Useful links

For the final podcast of the year, Chloë met with Tony K. Silver a LinkedIn afficionado to discuss why LinkedIn is a valuable tool for all professionals including those at the beginning of their journey i.e. our students!

To follow on from this podcast, Tony will be facilitating a webinar for us on 14 Nov 2025 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM to help you master LinkedIn and make it work for you. Book here:

A special episode of the podcast featuring two members of the AmplifyFE team (Chloë and Emma) as they share ways we have connected as a sector in recent years regardless of goegraphy. Listen as Chloë and Emma reflect on ways in which we may continue to connect these dots now the social media landscape is changing...

This month Chloë talks to Gavin Lumsden of Essential Teaching UK about the new Level 5 Diploma in Teaching (FE and Skills) or 'DIT', previously known as the Diploma in Education and Training or 'DET'. Their conversation spans what has been as well as what the newly revised spec looks like specifically focusing on the digital and sustainability aspects of ITT both past and present. Lastly, they present a few recommendations and ideas for the future.

In this episode, Chloë speaks to Pete Dunford about the action research he did in his teaching practice alongside his Biology learners exploring the potentialities of AI.

Follow Pete on socials to find out more about how his research progresses:

To kick off the new academic year, Chloë speaks with Mara and John, two tech-tastic geeks and educators about the importance of developing our learners digital literacies.

Chloë speaks to Rob Treharne, one half of the innovative new approach to taking and monitoring attendance, 'Fizzy Newt'. Listen in to find out why Rob, a lecturer in HE, decided to take on such a momentus challenge in the first place.

In this episode Chloë is joined by Chris Morris a FT lecturer in a college in Devon. Whilst working full time in the sector he is also undertaking research into an emotive subject that impacts us all as FE practitioners: Observations.

Have a listen as Chris and Chloe talk about their own experiences of observation practice in the sector and how it might be improved.

This episode, Chloë is joined by Zoe, Alisha, Dawn, Lindsey and Sophie from Burton and South Derbyshire College.

These inspiring women in tech form 2/3rds of the college's brand new AI Working Group. Formed earlier this year, they have already been making waves across the college, empowering their peers and colleagues to harness the power of AI.

Chloë meets up with James Pallister to talk about exciting developments in AR, VR and VE at Metaverse Learning with a specific focus on creating authentic learning opportunities for ESOL and SEND learners.

How can we harness the technology used in weather reports, 'Nightmare' and gaming, in our own organisations and our own classrooms - in a way that is both meaningful without getting distracted by flashy features?

Chloë meets Joe Stafford of Instructure (and Canvas) to share the trials and tribulations of virtual learning environments. Many hear the word VLE or Moodle and groan from bad experiences of misused platforms, poor integration and visions of extra workload. However, take a listen to this chat to see if Joe can win Chloë over in exploring the true value of an effective VLE.

In this episode, Chloë chats with Jason Boucher (co-founder of #RevEdlution) about the impact and value of Twitter chats for practitioners in FE, how the platform lends itself to the both live and asynchronous aspects of the format, and what on Earth will we do going forward if X doesn't play ball?

Meet Vikki Liogier, who for the past few years has been working at the ETF (Education and Training Foundation) making waves as the National Head of EdTech and Digital Skills. In thie episode, we chat about the buzz of having an inquisitive mind, remaining open to play (at any point of your career) and being curious.

In this episode Chloë seeks to learn from maths teacher Chris Barnett about the many innovative ways he has been using digital in his classroom. Take a listen to hear about his latest project which aims to get away from the age old ‘sage on the stage’ and instead decentralise the classroom.

This episode I am chatting with two old friends (Joss Kang and Lou Mycroft) about their recent passion project: FE Constellations; a a freshly-designed free to access online membership community designed for Changemakers in Further Education to connect, collaborate and co-create.

To kick off the new year Chloë chats with Peter Kilcoyne, a man with a rich history in TEL/digital within FE. However, for the purpose of this podcast, we focus on this year's hot topic as we learn more about his recent project Teachermatic (which like AmplifyFE was also funded by UFI) which aims to democratise and demystify AI for hardworking practitioners.

References in this podcast you might like to explore further:

Chloë chats with Sandra Smith as she shares stories of digital exploration with us; highlighting the importance of being given permission to play, make mistakes, interrogate and unpick digital tools and pedagogies. As an added bonus: Chloë and Sandra are joined by Lynne Taylerson with her 'action research mentor' hat on, speaking highly of the research Sandra did last year as part of the OTLA programme.

In this episode we meet Joyce Hui-I Chen @JoyceIHuiChen1 as she tells us her FE story; leading to our reflections on the need to take time to ourselves in our personal and professional lives, whether that's a sabbatical, carving out time to spend with our communities of practice or a walk in the park listening to a podcast.

For this episode, Chloë is chatting with Abbie Cairns (@AbbieCairnsArt) an artist teacher who works in community learning and is on a mission to bring other artist-teachers together!

If you're up for the challenge set by Chloë and Abbie at the end of the podcast, please do share on social media via #AmplifyFE or send to us an email at amplifyFE@alt.ac.uk and we'll share for you!

For this episode, we decided to give something new a try (inspired by Amy from the ESOL Podcast who we spoke with on the last episode) by gathering some of the Jisc Community Champions (Samantha Ahern, Angela Dynes, Joy McLean and Rachel Öner) together to talk about the theme of DigiFest 2023: innovation. 

Notes on the recording

You may notice that the sound isn't our usual quality (I recorded it in a room at a conference with my phone in the middle of the table) but we hope you're still able to enjoy the episode and appreciate the approach. I decided not to edit this so you have the full authentic recording in an environment that was less than ideal for recording. For example, you can hear the tannoy telling us to get to our session call out twice as well as the tinkling of tea cups. I also enjoyed the brief moment of laughter at the beginning (after I say "I think that means we're recording!") because it was a lovely introduction to the group of ladies I did this with. For context: I roped them in to do this recording with 13mins to spare before our next session and with very little prep at all; Thank you for trusting me!

As we're a few podcasts into the new AmplifyFE Community Space podcast, we thought it would be interesting to do something a little meta! For this Chloë invited Amy Jowett (from ESOL Podcast) and SJ White (from E+M Booth) to share our different experiences with podcasting and consider how it can be used in our sector with practitioners and learners.

In conversation with Andrew McFadyen (Jisc's FE and Skills Senior Consultant) with buckets of shout-outs to practitioners and organisations doing great things in FE. You can also find out about what the FE team at Jisc are up to at the moment; developing great things to make your life easier!

Chloë chats with Lynne Taylerson as they share their experiences (with FE spectacles) of attending the Association for Learning Technology Conference ALTC 2022.