News and Updates

Last Monday, The University of Edinburgh ’s ELM® community came together for our fifth Town Hall.

ELM® is our institutional AI platform. The turnout was the biggest sign of how much appetite there is for open conversation about AI in higher education. 750 colleagues registered, and more than 400 joined us live to hear a series of talks and presentations on how ELM® is making an impact with users at The University of Edinburgh. 

Starting with the student voice 

For the first time, we gave students a central place on the agenda. JOANA MENDS , Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) VP Education, set out what students need from us. They want clear, consistent expectations on AI, and they want to know where they stand. Pragya Modi (AI Training Support Officer) then shared findings from this summer’s student focus groups. Students are thoughtful and aware of AI’s downsides, and they are asking for guidance they can act on with confidence. 

Practical lessons from across the university 

The rest of the programme showed what AI looks like in day-to-day practice: 

• Professional services: Shian Holt (Senior Portfolio Manager at Bayes Centre ) offered a practical introduction to using GenAI with confidence. 
• Web and content: Emma Horrell (User Experience Manager, University of Edinburgh Information Services Group ), shared “small experiments, big lessons” from using ELM® in the University’s User Experience Service. 
• Cost: Bart Pohorecki (AI Training Support Officer) showed how to get the most from your AI budget. One tip: the newer, lower-cost models often do the job as well as the pricier ones. And the ELM® platform benefits from powerful locally hosted models for even greater cost control and data security 
• Assessment: Victoria Lindsay-McGee, PhD (Lecturer in Applied Animal Science and Husbandry) showed how ELM® supports error-carried-forward marking in data analysis assessments. It saves time on repetitive checks while academic judgement stays firmly with the marker. 

We closed with an ELM® update from our product owner, Andrew Hayward . It covered the improvements since our last Town Hall and what’s coming next. Spend with third-party providers has roughly halved since August, even as thousands of new users joined. 

The conversation didn’t stop 

The most encouraging moment came after the event. The live chat kept going for more than 24 hours. Colleagues shared resources, answered each other’s questions and swapped ideas on everything from student guidance to running models locally. Much of the most useful advice came from the community, not from the stage. Feedback has been very positive with several attendees expressing an interest at presenting their own work and experimentation at a future event. 

What we’re taking away 

Three themes stood out: 

• Students want clarity, not catching out. Transparent, well-explained expectations build trust. 
• Good practice is local. The best examples came from colleagues solving real problems in their own context. 
• Community matters. Sharing openly and learning from each other makes everyone’s use of AI more confident and more responsible. 

Thank you to our speakers, to everyone who joined us in person and online, and to the colleagues whose questions and ideas kept the conversation going.

If you’d like to know more about ELM® and the impact it could make at your institution please get in touch.