D2L Connection: Amsterdam 

Speakers:

• Zain Qaadri, Senior Solutions Engineer, D2L
• Leanne Grove, Project Manager, D2L

Join D2L’s Director of Product for Artificial Intelligence Jonathan Holtby, while he explores how AI is changing how we see the process of learning. After the Digital Education era, a new lens for Education is being defined not just by today’s new tools, but also by the shifting paradigms and far-reaching societal impacts of their use. Starting from the evolution of Education across the pre-Industrial, Industrial, and Digital eras to today’s emergence of AI-enabled, personalised, and adaptive learning, this session will challenge how we define quality, assessment, and the role of the instructor in the modern learning era.

Moving beyond theory, Jonathan will explore how AI is set to redefine what learners are capable of—and what institutions should expect in return. Attendees will gain a clear, forward-looking perspective on how AI can elevate outcomes, reshape assessment, and unlock new levels of productivity across the learning ecosystem, alongside practical insights on how to take action today.

Speaker:

• Jonathan Holtby, Director of Product for Artificial Intelligence, D2L

Join us for an inside look at our latest product developments and enhancements. We’ll walk you through recent updates, highlight the features we’re most excited about, and give you a preview of what’s coming next on the roadmap. This session is designed to keep you informed, inspired, and ready to make the most of what’s ahead.

Speaker:

• Louise Plunkett, International Product Strategy Director, D2L

How can digital assessment better accommodate the way students naturally express their knowledge? The University of Groningen is exploring this question through a pilot on the use of digital drawing tablets during tutorials and examinations. While digital assessment offers many advantages, typing is not always the most effective way for students to demonstrate their knowledge. Formulas, graphs, diagrams, and molecular structures are often more naturally expressed by drawing or handwriting. Our pilot enables students to combine these visual elements with typed text, creating a single, integrated digital response. Launched in the current academic year, the pilot provides an opportunity to explore both the potential and practical challenges of this approach. In this presentation, we will share our first findings and experiences from students and teachers, including their perceptions, use of the tablets, and lessons learned during during this first phase of the pilot.

Speaker:

• Josien de Boer, Coordinator Educational applications, University of Groningen

Want to significantly boost completion rates without ballooning your budget or chasing new registrations? This presentation provides a practical, data-backed blueprint for optimising your Brightspace setup. We’ll share the multi-year strategy behind our platform’s transformation, starting with initial structural overhauls that yielded massive success in our 2025 Digital Outcomes Report (including a 47.8% surge in active users and a 35% increase in total awards issued). Building directly on those proven results, we deployed our final Season 26/27 enhancements: automated Intelligent Agent nudges, simple icon navigation, and dynamic user profiling via the Attributes API. Attendees will walk away with actionable UX tactics, data-tracking frameworks, and concrete Brightspace configurations they can use to turn past successes into continuous learner momentum.

Speaker:

• Agustina Bruno Videla, E-Learning and Digital Co-ordinator, Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU)

Speaker:

• Rachel Foster, Principal Solutions Engineer, D2L

This session explores how LIBF, part of Walbrook Institute London, transformed its assessment delivery from paper-based and externally-delivered assessments to a fully-integrated digital assessment model on Brightspace,  supported by Atomic Jolt and Integrity Advocate. Faced with the challenges of maintaining operational oversight, delivering a consistent student experience, and managing increasingly complex assessment processes, LIBF embarked on a project to bring assessment delivery in-house. What began as a pilot initiative has evolved into a scalable business-as-usual model that supports secure, flexible and accessible assessment delivery for learners. The presentation will provide an end-to-end overview of the project, covering implementation and operational processes and delivery. Attendees will learn how new systems and workflows were introduced to streamline assessment creation and management, support the review of potential academic misconduct, and enable efficient and controlled release of results. The session will also highlight the benefits achieved, including improved operational efficiency, increased control over assessment delivery, and a more convenient and accessible experience for students. Key lessons learned, challenges overcome and potential future developments will be shared. This award-winning project demonstrates how purposeful use of technology can modernise assessment delivery while improving outcomes for both learners and operational teams.

Speakers:

• Katy Hadlow, Head of Assessment Operations and Customer Services, London Institute of Banking & Finance, part of Walbrook Institute London (LIBF)
• Andi Gardner, Manager Assessment Operations, London Institute of Banking & Finance, part of Walbrook Institute London (LIBF)

The CIPD’s Learning Hub has many years of Learning Content for their 150000+ Members. However sometimes that content can be hard to find when a Member is trying to find something relevant for their role. This session will explore how they created their Career Libraries product, a different way for a learner to discover content when they have a specific learning need. From wanting to move to a new role, or completing their annual CPD. They will walk through the whole journey, from identifying why the existing approach wasn’t working, to user testing that refined the process, and featuring the technical build that utilised GenAI to create a course that wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago.

Speakers:

• Jennifer Kitney-Xu, Learning Technologist, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

Speakers:

• Shaun Keevil, Senior Solutions Engineer, D2L
• Christian Uribe, Vp, Product and Country Manager, H5P

How do you personalise learning for 72,000 students without attempting to create 72,000 different courses? This presentation explores The Independent Institute of Education’s journey towards adaptive instruction across South Africa’s largest private higher education institution. The journey began with the replacement of a legacy learning management system and the implementation of D2L Brightspace across an academic ecosystem. However, technology selection was only the starting point. The IIE first had to establish consistent course structures, accessible and interactive content, reliable integrations, meaningful assessment signals, and learning analytics. These foundations enabled the introduction of more personalised support through micro-assessments, release conditions, Performance+, Lumi Tutor and Lumi Feedback. Drawing on successes, adoption challenges and lessons from implementation, the presentation argues that adaptive instruction is not a product an institution installs. It is an institutional capability developed by connecting purposeful course design, evidence of student learning, timely intervention, artificial intelligence and professional judgement. The presentation introduces a four-stage framework of Scale, Signal, Support and Specificity. It concludes by considering how institutions can progress towards adaptive learning pathways while protecting learner agency, accessibility, equity and educator oversight. The IIE’s experience demonstrates that institutions must standardise their foundations before they can responsibly personalise learning at scale.

Speaker:

• Dr. Mario Landman, Executive: Educational Technology & Innovation, Independent Institute of Education (IIE)

Speaker:

• Emma J O’Neill, Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Acting Director of Innovation Academy, University College Dublin (UCD)

Speakers:

• Zain Qaadri, Senior Solutions Engineer, D2L
• Leanne Grove, Project Manager, D2L

Join your fellow attendees and keep the momentum going at our Connection evening social. Mingle with fellow attendees and speakers for meaningful conversations and spontaneous connections. Whether you’re diving deeper into day one insights or simply enjoying good company, this is your chance to unwind, engage, and get excited for what’s ahead on day two.