Bridgend College was proud to host the fifth international symposium of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Affinity Group earlier this week.

The online event explored how collaborative networks and innovation in technical and vocational education can drive sustainability, shape agents of change and promote social wellbeing. The focus of this symposium was on Sustainable Development Goals 10, 12, and 17, which are Reduced Inequalities, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Partnerships for the Goals. The 17 SDGs address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change and peace, and the aim is to achieve these by 2030. 

The event included a range of international speakers, including: Chris Long, the College’s Head of Sustainability; Dr Jennifer Rudd, Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Engagement at Swansea University; Gabi Hentschke, Sustainability Communications and Engagement Coordinator at Humber Polytechnics in Canada; Francisco Urquiza, Deputy Director of Teaching and an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Sustainable Development at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Lauren Saunders, Sustainable Food Coordinator for Bridgend County Borough; Rory Hill, Sustainability Project Manager for the Central and South Scotland College Partnership; and Steven England, an experienced practitioner and guide in the ‘Art of Sustainability’.

The symposium discussed how best to engage learners more actively in campus-related sustainability initiatives and projects, to enhance their understanding and commitment to SDGs and sustainable practices in their future professional activities. It also tackled a critical and timely topic that may significantly contribute to local, national, and international sustainable development goals by fostering innovation and collaboration in the field of sustainability in education.

“This important and timely event brought together a community of like-minded experts from different parts of the world to discuss and share experiences in bringing sustainability into technical and vocational training and education. We discussed a diverse range of topics including curriculum impact, consumerism and psychological drivers, to name a few. I’d like to thank our speakers for their valuable input into these important conversations and I look forward to being part of future events, to help benefit our students, staff and the community.”

Chris Long, Head of Sustainability

The symposium is available to view on YouTube.

Bridgend College was one of the first colleges in the UK to publicly declare its commitment to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies that face us, and hosting events such as this demonstrates the College’s commitment to this. To find out more about the College’s sustainability leadership, visit: https://www.bridgend.ac.uk/sustainability.

On Wednesday 13th November, the College participated in International Positive Noticing Day, an initiative developed by behaviour expert and author, Paul Dix.

Coinciding with World Kindness Day, students and staff had opportunities to notice and recognise their peers and colleagues, through a range of simple activities designed to have a positive impact. Campus-wide engagement included the ‘tree of positivity’, ‘threads of gratitude’ and ‘pass the positivity’, a unique take on the traditional ‘pass the parcel’!

‘Our organisational values are essential in creating a culture where our students, staff and wider community feel a sense of respect, equity and belonging. Through simple acts of noticing, we know that both the recipient and the person noticing, experience a sense of gratitude and happiness. It has been fantastic to see people positively reinforcing the importance of human kindness across our campuses today.’
Joe Baldwin, Deputy Principal – Future Generations

Positive Noticing is simple, practical and highly effective. The impact of positive noticing is both immediate and long-lasting. It helps build self-esteem and confidence in students and shifts the culture in our learning community, so that the right behaviour is always the most sought-after behaviour.

‘There is no denying that life has become more challenging for many people of late and it is easy to find ourselves thinking about all the negatives. Positive noticing is for every day, but I am in awe of the hundreds of schools and colleges that have used Positive Noticing Day to reset their thinking and remind their communities of the things we have to be proud and thankful for’.
Paul Dix, Behaviour Expert and Founder of When the Adults Change

On Friday 18 October, Dr Scott Morgan, Head of Digital Innovation and IT Services at Bridgend College attended the Google for Education and FE Tech’s Further Education Leadership Summit as a guest speaker. Held in London, the Summit offered a unique blend of strategic insights, knowledge and inspiration, as well as the opportunity to share experiences and best practices with colleagues from other educational institutions. 

The Summit included sessions on strategic insights on using cloud technology and AI to improve teaching and learning, student outcomes, and organisational efficiency, as well as learning how technology shapes student learning in Further Education.

Scott’s session, titled ‘Revolutionising Student Access to Information with AI’, gave insight into how the College is using technology to solve some of its biggest challenges. This was followed by a panel discussion with other FE leaders.

For the past 12 months, Scott and his team have been working on a brand new portal experience for students at the College. Designed from the ground up and integrated with Tribal EBS and Google Workspace, the new dashboard features key information for students, such as their timetable, targets, attendance and praise or concern notes. If they can’t find the information they need from the dashboard, students can ask the portal’s built-in AI assistant free-text questions. Google Gemini powers the responses, which are contextualised to the student’s activity in College. 

The mobile-first interface has been developed in-house by members of the IT Services Team and students have been at the forefront of design through focus groups and alpha testing. The aim was simply to create a one-stop-shop for students which was accessible, integrated with the College’s key systems and perhaps most importantly, user-friendly. 

The College has been supported with funding from Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, as a trailblazer institution to develop the project during the 2023/24 academic year. Its next steps are to integrate Google Classroom and assessment data, explore the portal’s capabilities in other languages (including Welsh) and share the lessons learnt as widely as possible.

“This project has changed the way students interact with their data. We are excited about the next steps and where this might end up taking us. In the short term though, a competition for learners to name the portal’s AI assistant is now live – and the winner will receive a Chromebook.”

Dr Scott Morgan, Head of Digital Innovation and IT Services