Conference Zone – Technology & Innovation | AELP National Conference 2026

Making learning technology work: practical insights for providers

Technology & Innovation
Session 1

This session gives independent training providers a practical look at how learning technology is improving delivery and outcomes. Led by Uﬁ VocTech Trust, we’ll share short examples from funded projects and investments, highlighting tools and approaches you can use or adapt in your own organisation. You’ll reﬂect on common challenges, explore what’s working across the sector, and pick up ideas to take forward. We’ll also introduce Uﬁ as a funder and outline the new VocTech Together support programme, offering practical support to help you take a confident, low-risk approach to adopting learning technology.

AI That Works: Practical Strategies for Training Providers

Technology & Innovation
Session 2

AI is everywhere, but what does effective adoption actually look like for training providers?
Join Chris Greatorex and Alistair Wakefield from Bud, alongside Joshua Chesterman from Decoded, for an interactive
workshop exploring the realities of AI in the funded learning sector.
Through live audience polling, group discussion and practical exercises, they will examine where providers are on their
AI journey, separate hype from reality and explore the opportunities and challenges AI presents for learners, employers
and organisations.

AccXel Training: building an employer-centric curriculum & delivery

Technology & Innovation
Session 3

Employer expectations are evolving, learner needs are changing and training providers are under increasing pressure
to deliver programmes that are both impactful and flexible.
Join Bud’s Head of Customer Success, Gary Harvey and Dean Matthews, Operations Manager at AccXel Training, as
they explore how the organisation has adapted its curriculum and delivery model to meet the changing needs of
employers and learners. Together, they’ll discuss the move towards more flexible and shorter-form learning, the
challenges encountered along the way and the lessons learned from implementing change at pace.

Using AI to support assessment and feedback. Lessons from the Jisc assessment pilot.

Technology & Innovation
Session 4

The session will include a demonstration of tools that have been used in the project. It will also examine lessons learnt about how to successfully implement an AI / Human in the loop approach to assessment and feedback.

How to be work ready, in the age of AI, through a digitally empowered UK workforce

Technology & Innovation
Session 5

FutureDotNow launched a new report in May 2026, demonstrating that embedding essential digital and AI skills into employability programmes can almost double jobseekers’ chances of entering work, while delivering a highly replicable model that strengthens existing provision rather than creating new systems.

The report, ‘How to be work-read in the age of AI: A replicable model for digitally upskilling jobseekers’, sets out findings from a rapid proof of concept delivered in partnership with Cosmic and Accenture, and funded by the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund.

Working with Restart Scheme participants in the South-West, the proof-of-concept explored whether targeted enhancements to current employability programmes could boost job readiness in a labour market where digital capability is now a baseline requirement.