Tuning In To ALTc Radio 2025
By Dominic Pates
2025 marks the fifth anniversary of ALTc Radio as a unique fringe event that runs alongside the main annual conference.
The radio component was born in the first 2020 Covid lockdown, when ALT ran a version of the annual conference online and I donated a radio platform for after-hours entertainment (full origin story here). ALTc Radio continued as an online only broadcast add-on to the main event for a few more conferences. At Warwick in 2023, we experimented with adding a radio layer to the entire conference. This year in Glasgow will be the third consecutive year of running a full hybrid parallel programme from one of the conference venues.
Basing the station at the conference venue fuses the music and chat with the buzz of the in-person event but also ensures that those nowhere near can still get a feeling of participation in ALTc from a distance. Starting with four new learning technologist DJs in 2020 over two hours for the 2020 Summer Summit, by 2024 ALTc Radio welcomed 20 new voices onto the air, racked up 43 hours of unique programming and gained over 1,500 unique listens. Over 40 members of the learning technology community have now made individual, collective and in some cases repeated contributions to ALTc via this novel medium.
At its core, ALTc Radio is a vehicle for sharing and reflecting on professional practice within and beyond the learning technology community, somewhat different from regular outlets like presentations, journal articles, workshops and social media posts. Since 2024, a 60-minute radio show has been included as part of the calls for proposals when ALT seeks contributions for the conference.
It is also a means of bringing a musical layer to this community and to provide a sense of what learning technology sounds like. Unsurprisingly, the learning technology community sounds highly eclectic! The hybrid format for the station at the in-person conferences mean that there is a physical booth at the conference and that the sessions are a mix of live in-person, live online and pre-recorded, with the whole programme being simulcast throughout the conference venue and live for free over the web.
Some of those that made their debuts with us on ALTc Radio have gone on to become regular presenters on The Thursday Night Show (TTNS), the show’s weekly parent platform. You can hear many of them, along with a host of familiar and new voices this year as ALTc Radio sends out our first signals from Scotland.
Below are a few testimonials from those that were part of the programme in 2024:
I found using the music as a prompt for talking about people’s practice worked very well – not only did it give them a different lens to reflect on it through…but it also got them talking because they were enthused by their music.
It was a great way to share the research that we have been doing as a group, joining this up to careful music choices allowed to showcase our range of emotions in completing the research alongside the research itself, humanising the work that we have been doing.
I couldn’t make it to ALTc in person this year but being part of the radio programme allowed me to still feel part of the conference. I loved being able to tune into the other shows and hear the discussions there as well as being able to join the social media chats.
What’s happened with ALTc Radio since Manchester 2024? Plenty, it turns out.
Aside from a month of rewinds of shows from that event to kick off 2025 with, we also branched out with another live event in February to bring a radio broadcast from a local chapter of the global Critical Studies in Educational Technology (CSET) series. CSET 2025 was a collection of over 50 events happening around the world based around the common theme of ‘problematising education and digital technology’, co-ordinated by Monash University’s Prof Neil Selwyn. ALTc Radio broadcast a show from University of the Arts London, live streaming the main event speakers and providing sets of related music in between.
We were delighted to be recipient of a Jisc Community Champion Award at Digifest in March, in the Community Pioneers category. And in May, ALTc Radio was the subject of an #LTHEchat, the weekly ‘speed CPD’ social media chat event that now runs on Bluesky (prompt blog post here). Following are summaries of the kinds of responses that people gave to some of the chat questions.
The event started by asking what music helps people to get in the zone for professional contexts such as teaching, training, presenting, or writing. Many opt for instrumental music when writing to avoid lyrical distraction, with popular choices including ambient or classical music, film soundtracks, and lo-fi beats. Jazz got several mentions, while others swore by liquid drum and bass or techno for maintaining concentration. Interestingly, some favoured high-energy options like northern soul or feel-good classics from the 60s and 70s, whilst marking work called for everything from Beethoven piano sonatas to hard trance.
Another question asked for examples of music being used to effectively support or enhance teaching and learning. People shared stories of ‘walk-on’ tracks marking the start of lectures, playlists co-created with students, and songs used to teach language, rhythm, or mood. Subject-specific choices to enhance atmosphere were given, such as the Gladiator theme for Roman history lectures. Language teachers employed song lyrics to teach grammar and vocabulary, and make concepts stick memorably. Music was used to create atmosphere, aid focus, or simply make sessions more human. However, multiple voices also cautioned about accessibility and neurodivergent considerations, noting that background music can be overwhelming or distracting for some learners.
How did people feel about music being a component of CPD activities? Responses were cautiously positive and emphasised the importance of thoughtful implementation. When done well and placed strategically, people thought that music can enhance conferences and workshops – as entrance music, during breaks, or as part of icebreaker activities. Several appreciated music filling silence as participants join online events. There was noticeable concern about inclusivity too, such as background music during sessions creating barriers for those with hearing loss or auditory processing disorders.
We also asked what respondents thought radio could bring as a medium for CPD and the sharing of professional practice. People felt that radio offers a unique blend of immediacy, intimacy, and community. Unlike podcasts, there was a sense that live radio can foster a sense of shared experience and belonging. The audio-only format easily allows for simultaneous listening and note-taking. For others, it was seen as an accessible, low-barrier medium, ideal for multitasking and reflection.
So, come and find the radio booth and say hello if you’re in Glasgow or just join us in the chatroom if you’re online only. And if you can’t wait to get stuck in, here’s a playlist that was hurriedly put together during the #LTHEchat that reflects some of the broad range of what learning technology sounds like:
#LTHEchat playlist (music and radio)
ALT’s Annual Conference is one of the UK’s largest conferences for learning technology and digital education professionals. The conference provides a valuable and practical forum for practitioners, researchers, managers and policy-makers from education and industry to solve problems, explore, reflect, influence and learn.
ALTC25 will take place in Glasgow on 23 and 24 October 2025. Register closes 20 October 2025.