About
PebbleBash

Supporting the ambitions of higher education institutions

PebbleBash 2024 will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland: 11 – 13 June 2024.

As well as celebrating our 20-year milestone, we want to celebrate all of the wonderful ways that PebblePad has supported Higher Education Institutions in pursuing and achieving their strategic ambitions.
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Key Dates

Early January 2024

Early bird registration opens

11 June 2024

Pre-conference workshops

12-13 June 2024

PebbleBash 2024 Conference

Themes

Last year we undertook research on the strategic challenges facing our customers, including a review of how PebblePad is used in practice. This important research revealed five key themes:
  • Authentic assessment and feedback
  • Flexible learning design
  • Belonging, wellbeing and success
  • Employable and future-ready
  • Professional identity and capability

Why you should join us

The event is designed for our community of teaching practitioners and professionals, including senior leaders responsible for student success, heads of departments, learning technologists, academic programme leaders, educational designers, lecturers, academic and support staff.

What typically makes our PebbleBashes so special is bringing together the PebblePad community and the sharing of stories from our customers across the globe – most significantly, showcasing examples of wonderful work happening across institutions and the positive impact it has on students.

The event will include:

Pre-conference Workshops

Programme

Keynote speakers

Case
studies

Pecha
Kuchas

Ceilidh
Evening

What to expect

This will be our first grand gathering in several years (Covid-19 meant we had to put our 2020 PebbleBash plans on hold) so we are working to make PebbleBash 2024 the best one yet! We are currently busy reviewing submissions and will work on crafting an engaging agenda to ensure every guest who attends leaves bursting full of ideas, and recharged.
As with all our community events, we hope to leave you truly inspired by the PebblePad community and how to support student success across the five key teaching and learning themes.
Networking is a key part of all PebblePad events, we have a wonderful community doing great things and you will have the opportunity to chat, mingle and make new connections.
Edinburgh is a wonderful city with lots to see and do, so alongside exploring the city on your doorstep, we plan to build in lots of fun activities across the event schedule which include workshop sessions and interactivity, plenty of breaks and time to celebrate at our evening dinner on Wednesday 12th June (booking is required).
Our guest speakers will showcase inspiring stories, celebrating key milestones achieved across a range of topics, highlighting lessons learnt along the way, sharing best practice and providing useful tips and tricks for you to take away.
Teaching and learning in Higher Education continues to be an area of constant change so we will share what exciting updates are coming up in product, have discussions around how to successfully navigate the ever-changing landscape when faced with challenges and positive change brought around by technology such as ChatGPT.

Curriculum Transformation at the University of Edinburgh: co-creation and the relationship between local innovation and institutional change

Talk description: I will use the themes of reflection and experiential learning, skills development and assessment (including programme level assessment and changes in assessment practice) to explore this process in more detail. This includes the link between disciplinary and institutional curriculum reform, learning from local innovations and changes, and using this to inform University level changes and support.

Bio: My current position is leading the University wide Curriculum Transformation Project. This is a major and long term initiative for the University considering all areas of the University’s undergraduate and taught postgraduate curriculum. Prior to this Jon set up and led the Institute for Academic Development (IAD) at the University of Edinburgh. The IAD provides University level support for teaching, learning and researcher development, including direct support for students and staff, and support for enhancement and innovation in curriculum development, the student and researcher experience. Jon has a PhD in petroleum geology.

Dr Melissa Highton. Assistant Principal, University of Edinburgh

Talk description: A journey through the stories told by wicca data. How a neglected research data set was used by students to overturn historic injustice and shed new light on the lives of women in Scotland.

Bio: Melissa has worked for many years in higher education at some of the UK’s finest and most ancient institutions. In each place she enjoys discovering the hidden histories and less heard voices which can be surfaced in new ways using the most up to date and open technologies. She is a champion of playful and curious approaches to engagement with audiences on campus and online, and is an invited speaker at events about dangerous women.

Education is an Experience That Should Be Designed

Talk description: We have any number of problems and opportunities as universities, and universities must adapt to help students from diverse backgrounds develop the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and make a positive impact in the world. Key to those adaptations is understanding that we provide students with an experience. We ought to design them with intention and purpose. This talk with take up this argument and ground it within a large educational transformation project at the University of Leeds.

Bio: Jeff Grabill is Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Education at the University of Leeds. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, Grabill was at Michigan State University (MSU) in the United States for nearly 20 years. He served Michigan State University as the Associate Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. In that role, he was responsible for facilitating innovation in learning and educator professional development via his role as Director of the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology. Grabill’s research focuses on how digital writing is associated with citizenship and learning. That work has been located in community contexts, in museums, and in classrooms at both the K-12 and university levels. Grabill is also a co-founder of Drawbridge, an educational technology company.

Mission Possible: The DNA of a bespoke professional development program

Talk description: The diversity of students in higher education dictates that there cannot (and should not) be a single ‘silver bullet’ approach to address the complex challenge of career readiness learning. However, the reality of modern university structures is that delivering bespoke experiences for each student is a challenge in and of itself.  And yet, all things are possible with creative use of PebblePad to streamline delivery (for the university) and make it highly personalised (for the student). 

Bio: Gayle Brent is a Learning and Teaching Consultant (Employability) at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Gaye’s specialist area of interest is developing and implementing strategies to enhance staff and student understanding of employability in both curricular and extra-curricular contexts. She completed a Master of Education and Professional Studies Research to explore the potential barriers and challenges to embedding employability-based learning in higher education curriculum and is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy exploring the impact of an extra-curricular employability program on the individual student experience.