Annual Reports
Each year, we take stock of digital education milestones at the University of Leeds. Browse the Annual Reports to discover how we have supported the University's strategies for digital transformation and student education, as well as working in collaboration with external partners to deliver flexible online learning in both academic and professional settings.
Annual Reports 2021-26
Annual Report 2025-26
Executive Summary
Reflecting on activity throughout 2025-26, it is inspiring to see how digital education has championed a holistic approach to accessible and inclusive learning whilst supporting key priorities for Student Education and Experience at Leeds over the past year.
the University has moved from reviewing and refreshing its ten-year strategy into implementation through ‘One Leeds’. Digital education is contributing directly to that work, supporting our institutional ambitions for better student experiences, stronger digital capability and the responsible use of emerging technologies.
The human-centred approaches highlighted throughout this report demonstrate how these ambitions are beginning to translate into practical improvements for students, staff and lifelong learners.
Working closely with faculties to promote thoughtful learning design has helped to embed opportunities for active learning that we know have a positive impact on student engagement, understanding and sense of belonging.
Continuous improvements to the Virtual Learning Environment and other core tools have simplified processes, helping to reduce confusion and enable students to learn and teachers to teach.
Equally important has been the provision of skills support for staff. The work that has been done to enhance our capabilities and set clear expectations for digital accessibility and responsible use of Gen AI has laid the groundwork for all colleagues to feel more confident in their roles.
HELIX’s frictionless access to technology, equipment and space is supported by step-by-step guidance and inspirational showcases of effective use in teaching, independent learning and assessment.
Looking ahead, the rollout of the new multimedia management platform Panopto has put in motion a transformation of the way we use digital media in learning. Alongside this, development pathways for teaching staff to explore digital education enhancement have been finetuned to align with both faculty priorities and institutional ambitions. We look forward to furthering these successes in 2026-27, and we are grateful to the teams who made them possible.
Annual Report 2024-25
Executive Summary
We’re pleased to introduce the Digital Education Annual Report for 2024/25, celebrating the impact and achievements of colleagues across academic and professional services over the past year.Together, we’ve made significant progress in advancing digital innovation for learning at Leeds.
Digital Education is a cornerstone of the Student Education and Experience (SEE) directorate, alongside Student Curriculum and Operations, Student Experience and Support, and Student Success and Educational Engagement.
By strengthening collaboration across these areas, the SEE directorate is driving forward the University’s strategic ambitions for Digital Transformation and Student Success, including:
Enhancing Educational Technology and Innovation
Built on strong foundations and a commitment to continuous improvement, enhancements to the Minerva VLE and the wider digital ecosystem are delivering a more consistent, inclusive learning experience shaped directly by student feedback. At the same time, HELIX’s innovative learning spaces are cultivating connections and collaboration, helping to foster a vibrant and engaged academic community.
Growing Our Online Learning Portfolio
Flexible and scalable online learning remains at the heart of our mission, enhancing virtual environments and advancing inclusive digital pedagogy across everything from short courses to full online degrees. Through close collaboration across Professional Services, we’re building the capabilities needed to deliver a seamless, end-to-end online student experience, wherever students learn. This portfolio continues to grow, expanding our reach and deepening our impact.
Supporting Pedagogy and Curriculum Design
Digital education initiatives champion equitable teaching practices that foster a deep sense of belonging for all students. These priorities underpin the development of an inclusive curriculum, shaping the design and enhancement of learning through collaboration with educators and students in co-creating meaningful educational experiences.
Enabling Student Success and Opportunity
Digital innovation continues to serve as a powerful enabler across a wide range of projects, helping us connect students and learners with key messages, broaden access and create opportunities for engagement. The latest National Student Survey results highlight the tangible impact of this work, reflecting our commitment to enhancing the student experience in future-focused ways.
Building Global Partnerships
By sharing expertise with diverse audiences, we’re actively supporting vital capacity-building efforts, both globally through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women programme, and nationally in partnership with KPMG and the Civil Service. These collaborative online learning projects extend our impact beyond institutional boundaries and enable knowledge exchange at scale.
Annual Report 2023-24
Executive Summary
In this report, we highlight the wide range of achievements and progress made across digital education at the University of Leeds - a testament to the collective commitment of our community and the energetic, innovative spirit of colleagues who continually inspire us to go further.
This year has been focused on sustaining excellence and continuing to build on the foundations established so far. The university-wide digital education community is central to this work and has grown rapidly over the last 12-months through the development of the new Digital Education Network (DEN) - an open forum for colleagues to share practice and explore new ideas - and through HELIX, a space for innovation and experimentation in educational tools and learning.
Both initiatives have created spaces for like-minded colleagues to come together and share best practice and new ideas for digital education. From creating podcasts to filming short videos, trying VR or even using 3D printing to prototype products for market, HELIX has helped over 2,000 students and staff embrace digital creativity in their learning or teaching practice. At the same time, DEN has attracted over 900 staff as part of a community of practice with colleagues who are learning from each other.
Collaborative approach
It’s exciting and inspiring to see that this support is part of our broader digital transformation. But providing the right tools and technology is only part of the challenge. For digital education to truly transform our pedagogy, design-led approaches and the support of peers and colleagues
is essential. This has grown further over the last year as facultybased digital education specialists work closely with academic and professional services colleagues from the library to OD&PL. Together, they have collaborated on key university initiatives, from training and support for Generative AI to building our digital skills and capabilities aligned with the national Jisc Digital Capabilities framework.
Impact and results
The impact of our collective efforts is evident in positive outcomes. This year, 85% of students rated the quality of digital learning positively in this year’s Jisc Digital Experience Insights Survey, a 3% increase from the previous year. We’ve also celebrated award-winning teams and individuals who have been recognised by the Association for Learning Technology, the Media and Learning Association, and AdvanceHE - fantastic acknowledgement of our high standards and the quality of digital education across our campus-based provision and online learning programmes.
Annual Report 2022-23
Executive Summary
This annual report reflects our deep commitment to digital education for the benefit of staff and students at the University of Leeds. Amidst a period of rapid change in society, we can be confident in the collaboration and partnership model that supports our bold ambitions and strategic alignment in Digital Transformation and Student Education. The collective achievements of our community inspire and challenge us. Whether we learn something new following a chance meeting in the corridor or through an intentional workshop, we will never stop learning.
At the heart of that ambition is our people. The specialist teams represented in the Digital Education Service work in partnership with the academic community to support a high-quality student experience, independent of the mode of learning. Experimentation and curiosity paired with research and evidence have expanded the foundation on which we can engage with the future.
So much of the past year was about community and our students. This summer, I was delighted to sponsor an intensive 2-day workshop on Learning Experience Design with expert Niels Floor. The workshop provided a space for academics, professional services and students to join together and explore the design of meaningful activities to help the curriculum, regardless of the mode of study.
We launched the first Online Learning Summit at Leeds - a collective milestone in building an international community of practice around online learning. At the Summit, we highlighted the excellent work already underway in online learning and learnt from others about their successes and challenges.
Finally, this year marked the opening of HELIX, our new digital learning accelerator and a space designed for the wider digital education community to come together for engagement and innovation. This development represents deeply collaborative work to bring HELIX to life. HELIX is already exceeding expectations and proving to be a vibrant and invigorating space for radical collaboration and transformative practice.
We are at an exciting time in education where learning experience, ways of knowing and the opportunities afforded by innovative technology have created thresholds of excellence previously unknown. The time spent building connections and capacity has prepared us to remain responsive and flexible – we are navigating an emergent future of education with intentionality. It is time to explore!
Annual Report 2021-22
Executive Summary
I am very proud to welcome you to the second annual report for the Digital Education Service. We hope this report will demonstrate some of the key achievements and successes delivered this past year, and provide insight into our strategic priorities and planned activity
over the next year.
The Service has been through substantial change and growth over the past 12 months. This has been positive with the addition of new expertise and capacity, and with us welcoming Margaret Korosec, Holly Shiflett, and Arunangsu Chatterjee as new Digital Deans earlier this year, providing vital academic leadership and ambition to our areas of activity. Change can also be difficult, and growth brings with it its own set of challenges. We have been sad to say goodbye to a number of colleagues including Carol Elston and Bo Middleton, who both made a huge contribution to the University over several decades. Since taking on the role of Interim Director in November 2021 I have led a renewed focus on the wellbeing and development of our staff, aligned with the University’s values of Community, Culture and Impact. In this report you can read more about our service wellbeing strategy and the work done by our people development group to map progression pathways for our staff.
Following the successful realignment of Faculty-based learning technologists during 2021, we have recently undertaken a round of focused recruitment to grow our capacity in our Faculty-based teams, doubling the size of the new Digital Education Enhancement function, and joining forces with our central Blended Learning Support team to ensure that we can provide specialist learning design and enhancement support to colleagues in line with Curriculum Redefined. Led by Phil Vincent, these teams will also work closely with our Digital Education Systems team to provide a joined-up
support model.
Our award-winning project team, including colleagues from IT, have successfully delivered the move the Blackboard Ultra course view as part of the Minerva Ultra project. This is the culmination of several years of foundational work and will result in a vastly improved experience for students and staff. The Learning Analytics, ePortfolio, and Digital Assessment projects have all progressed hugely this year, and pilot projects have included Buddycheck and Class for Zoom.
This year saw the welcome return of graduation celebrations and ceremonies to campus, and we were
thrilled to be able to welcome graduates from the fully online MSc Engineering Management to Leeds
to join the celebrations. In March we launched a third fully online degree programme in partnership with Leeds University Business School and the School of Earth and Environment, and have two programmes with the School of Design in development, both due to begin teaching during the upcoming academic year. Led by Matt Cornock, our Online Learning team have developed a design philosophy and pedagogic framework to enable us to continue to develop high quality online education but working at increased scale as we prepare to support delivery of the University’s
strategic ambitions in fully online education.
Specialist teams within DES continue to support our successful strategic partnership with the Goldman Sachs Foundation to deliver empowering business education to women entrepreneurs worldwide. This year saw the welcome return of an in-person Growth Fellowship event, bringing 16 women from across the world together with expert coaches and mentors from Goldman Sachs and beyond. The English, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese versions of the 10,000 Women courses will shortly be joined by a Hindi translation, expanding the accessibility of the program to an even wider audience.
I am very much looking forward to the next 12 months as we work to define and embed an operating model that enables us to best support the University’s strategies for digital transformation and student education. There is more change to come, so expect to hear much more from us as we reach out to understand your needs so that we can ensure we are positioned to provide an exemplary user-focused service.