Sandi Donnelly

A presenter at ALDcon25.

Want to get on your LD soap box this year? Do you have research to share or want to facilitate a dialogic discussion about LD? We're looking for 30-60 minute online sessions for ALDinHE's LDat3 programme. Submit your proposal >> https://aldinhe.ac.uk/research/facilitate-a-webinar #LoveLD

Gaining Clarity Mixed media abstract, 12"x12" By Nicole Simmons 2024 Artist statement: "Gaining Clarity is an abstract piece shaped entirely by presence. I worked on it slowly, layer by layer, only after meditating—curious to see how stillness might shift my creative process. The result was softer, less rigid, and more intuitive than my usual pace. This piece is a reflection of what can emerge when we quiet the noise and let clarity rise on its own terms" Attempt to describe: colours include blue, white, black, pink, sand, green, yellow, orange, brown. Blue/white/black shapes, lines, & swirls make me think of moving water & the constantly changing skies - maybe because I live near Morecambe Bay & the Lake District. It feels a very organic painting with yellow, sand, brown, pink shapes around what feels like water to me. But I can imagine that in different light on a different day & in a different headspace it could be something different that I feel, see, imagine. https://ko-fi.com/nicolesimmonsart www.nicolesimmonsart.com Artist statement: "My art is a practice in presence—an invitation to pause and feel what’s often overlooked. Through layered texture and intuitive color, I explore fleeting moments, emotions, and the beauty of the now. Each piece is a reflection of something I chose to notice and honor, a way of expressing life as it is."

Inspired by your Frosty Twilight, I took a punt on Gaining Clarity which drew me in online. So pleased I did - your gorgeous work is now in UK & love the textures, strokes, colours & the back story - thank you!

ChatGPT’s signature writing style is everywhere now, and I hate it. It reminds me of when we tried mixing all the beverages at the soda fountain in middle school. We didn’t actually create the perfect drink, we just made a cloying monstrosity that lost everything good about its constituent parts.

Very excited to announce that tickets are now available for the book launch of my new book on Beatrix Potter. Taking place at the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus, 2-4pm on Saturday 10 January, further details and booking link can be found here: www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

The Home Secretary says "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world"

That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims

AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.

“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”

“We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically.”

Expelling legal migrants is a move straight from the Idi ... Katie Lam’s plan for expulsions opens the door to curtailing the rights of us all

observer.co.uk/news/columni...

There are a lot of cowards in elite positions. There is a lot of courage in civil society. People aren't just taking career risks--though the spate of recent resignations and denunciations might rep. that--they're taking physical risks confronting ICE. They're organizing. Suing.

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

Large Language Muddle | The Editors The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

YES! THIS on GenAI!

Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

A globe made out of world maps.

Free online event for #ALDinHE members: Supporting our international students by supporting our staff with Amy Coryat, Learning Development Manager (International), UWE Bristol. 30 September 2025 12... aldinhe.ac.uk/product/events/supporting-our-international-students-by-supporting-our-staff #LoveLD

@zoejardiniere.bsky.social

Questioning AI Resource List Excellent summary of major problems with companies’ focus on AI written by expert in machine learning: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ Another g...

If you need any sources on AI being shitty, I've been collecting and compiling them: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

"EVENTS" written on a notepad on a desk. There is also a tablet, keyboard, plant, pencils, clock, notebook & sticky notes.

We invite you to attend an ALDinHE Events Working Group drop-in session, Thursday 10 July 1-1.30pm, where you will have the opportunity to learn more about the Events Working Group, its purpose, and how you can become invol... https://aldinhe.ac.uk/product/events/events-working-group-drop-in #LoveLD

Stories of Hope: Reimagining Education Bringing together a diverse range of educators and practitioners, this collection showcases real-world innovations that challenge the status quo and offer glimpses of a more humane and inspiring educa...

#LoveLD Our co-edited book: Stories of Hope: Reimagining Education is out now - freely available from www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116... - and dedicated to my wonderful partner Thomas Burns: "In loving memory of Tom Burns who teaches us to dance with hope and joyful practice even now."

Many people I meet don't know the history or meaning of the #neurodiversity movement or #neurodivergent paradigm. It's not a criticism tbh understandable given it's been very, very changed from its intent. So here's a short guide for when you're talking about #inclusion and neurodiversity ⬇️

ALDinHE Summer Fair in July 2025 poster.

Let's not end #ALDcon25 here! The whole of the LD Community are invited to our July Summer Fair - online. Join us for our "Get Involved in ALDinHE" month with taster sessions, events, training, a lunchtime quiz and lots more! https://aldinhe.ac.uk/summer-fair #LoveLD

Great to meet Rachel in person at #ALDCON25 #Greenwich

#LoveLD The ALDinHE AGM 12 June 2025 3-4.30pm.

Visit aldinhe.ac.uk/about-aldinhe/agm for details.

Contribute your views on ALDinHE to our padlet: padlet.com/ALDinHEcommu...

See what other people say about our Association there!

A6 heard someone who'd been a student 40 years ago who has gone back to uni recently talk about how much content he thinks students have to cover now & there's no time for thinking - Slow Learning movement needed? #LTHEchat

A5 as student services/library services, how to respond to 'be more critical' feedback from tutors is our top enquiry from students. an academic colleague saw it as our role to unpack 'be more critical' feedback whereas I think students need subject discipline input - its collaborative #LTHEchat

A3 but maybe it will mean that some leaders won't be so enamoured of gen AI, question it more, see that speed doesn't equate to quality & not just keep the human in the loop, but prioritise human over machine #LTHECHAT

A4 participating in balloon debates, mock trials of particular papers/theories/practices where they defend something they struggle to agree with, Dragons Den pitch on which author/paper makes best case ##LTHECHAT

A4 become more conscious of how they might b critical thinkers in unconscious ways - from choosing cereal (that Hurt Locker film scene!), to enacting Gogglebox in their own viewing, working out why they follow who they follow on social media & then transferring that to academic studies #LTHEChat

A3 some people talk about using gen AI as a critical friend/socratic dialogue facilitator etc. I am struggling to process how something that has just hoovered up whatever content it can lay its hands on unthinkingly represents the best of human critical thinking #LTHEChat

A2 Not trusting themselves to be allowed to question the 'experts'; wanting to know what the answer is rather than create their own line of thinking (time & confidence factors); finding reading enough to have informed views challenging #LTHEChat

Does this feel like finding "the answer" rather than creating their response?

A1 curiosity, asking questions, considering different perspectives, evaluating reliability of info, taking a 360 degree walk around whatever it is #LTHEChat