Stephen Taylor
An experienced Learning Technologist, dedicated to encouraging play-based education ensuring lifewide learning, facilitated through digital tools, for all ages.
Testimonials:
Stephen, you have had a significant impact on both me, the teams I am in, and on the wider university community through your collegiality, generosity, and unwavering commitment to inclusive support of staff and students.
One of the most valuable contributions you have made to learning and teaching has been creating and nurturing inclusive spaces where colleagues can come together to exchange ideas, experiences, and perspectives. Through initiatives such as the AI at Regent's Discussion forum, the Regent's Staff Gaming Enthusiast group, and the Regent's Neurodiversity Network (as well as your contribution to other networks), you have fostered communities that encourage participation and dialogue. These forums have not only facilitated important conversations around teaching, technology, AI, and wellbeing, but have also strengthened our culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging by ensuring that different voices, experiences, and perspectives are heard and valued. At a time when conversations around AI, technology, accessibility, neurodiversity, and inclusion can easily become fragmented, you have helped create spaces where those conversations can happen openly and constructively. The impact to this then ripples through how we can then explore similar conversations with others and with our students.
These (and other forums you have either created or chaired in support of learning projects) play a particularly important role in creating learning environments where colleagues feel able to contribute openly to discussions around educational technology, artificial intelligence and other educational themes. The impact of these communities extends well beyond the forums themselves, helping to build stronger connections across departments and creating opportunities for collaboration that might not otherwise have emerged. For example, how we may apply learning and teaching principles through platforms like Blackboard and strategies around the best uses of Blackboard. You make it easier for people to contribute, to ask questions, to try things out, and to feel that their voice matters, that approach is essential to developing great learning and teaching environments.
You have been an outstanding source of support in relation to Blackboard and educational technology. No issue is ever too big or too small. Your responses are consistently timely, practical, and solution-focused, helping me and staff across the university navigate challenges and make effective use of digital tools. Your Blackboard learning sessions have had a significant institutional impact, increasing confidence and capability among colleagues and helping to embed good practice across teaching and learning. Your approach to creating learning and teaching materials for these occasions is outstanding. I remember distinctively how hard you worked, not only in creating videos to support staff use of Blackboard, but in making those videos accessible, your considerations around the use of clear language and strategies for making technical learning easy through those linguistic choices, I remember you considerations around the types of language and approaches to narrating practically and clearly on how to work with learning technologies . You have also helped me (us) explore and evaluate AI-related features within Blackboard, exploring how students can gain independent learning access to Blackboard content, which directly contributes to improving how students search for and access information. I really believe that your expertise, curiosity, and practical approach have enabled colleagues to engage thoughtfully with emerging technologies and to identify meaningful applications of these into their practice. Through your stewardship of Blackboard spaces and discussions, you have encouraged innovation while ensuring that discussions remain practical, accessible, and focused on enhancing the experiences of both staff and students.
On a personal level, you have consistently been always supportive and generous with your time. Whether providing feedback on projects, responding to queries, discussing new ideas, or acting as an ally, you are always at the end of a team call or message. Your willingness to listen, offer constructive advice, propose ideas and help others succeed has made a real difference to my own work and professional development and that of those people in the teams I work with.
You also have a remarkable ability to identify relevant events, conferences, workshops, and training opportunities, showing how immersed you are in this area and your level of expertise. This year alone, I attended three technology-focused sessions that I would not have known about without your proactive sharing of information. Your commitment to connecting colleagues with learning opportunities has benefited countless individuals across the institution and I hope that one day, institutionally we will be able to support students with tools like Adobe express through your leadership on how these tools can support learning.
When I think of your impact, I think of how you share knowledge or your commitment to improving teaching and learning for the benefit of both students and staff. Your work in developing institutional guidance, tech resources, and discussions around AI (including your work towards creating an academic AI policy) has been instrumental, and you are always willing to discuss ideas, challenge assumptions constructively, and help colleagues think through the next steps.
I have also had the privilege of working with you as part of our VCET-funded project on AI and student epistemic trust. You have reviewed materials, provided thoughtful and detailed feedback, suggested new avenues for exploration, and consistently made time to support the project despite numerous competing demands while remaining constructive and encouraging and made me reflect on the quality of the pedagogical research throughout.
Overall, your impact extends far beyond any individual role or project. Through your expertise, generosity, leadership, commitment to inclusion, and dedication to building communities of practice in the areas of learning and teaching technology, you have positively influenced colleagues across departments and made a lasting contribution to teaching, learning, innovation, diversity, inclusion and staff engagement across the institution.
Associate Professor in Economic and Digital Anthropologies
Regent's University London
Anthology Testimonial for Stephen Taylor
It is with great pleasure that we provide a testimonial for Stephen Taylor for their outstanding contributions to our community. Stephen has been an active participant in numerous Anthology community events, consistently demonstrating a commitment to fostering a sense of unity and collaboration among us.
In addition to their enthusiastic participation, Stephen has also generously shared their expertise by speaking about the innovative work being done at their institution. Their presentations have not only been informative but also inspiring, providing valuable insights into the advancements and efforts of their colleagues. Stephen’s most recent contribution was joining a panel discussing AI in Higher Education at Anthology’s Ethical AI in Action, World tour.
Stephen's dedication and passion for both their professional work and community involvement are truly commendable. They embody the spirit of our Anthology community, and we are grateful for their continued support and engagement.
Thank you, Stephen, for your invaluable contributions. We look forward to many more years of collaboration and shared success.
Sincerely,
Claire Gardener
Community Product Manager
Anthology
Beverley McCormick, Ulster University
Stephen is one of those people who not only talks the talk but is passionately proactive in helping educational communities grow and thrive in an ever changing digital world. His knowledge and expertise are second to none and he leads the way as a pioneer in all things EdTech and PedTech. If you have a question Stephen about digital tools, it’s highly likely that Stephen will already know the answer! Delighted to have him in my circle of trusted digital pedagogues!
Stephen Taylor has been an invaluable support to me, especially with Power Apps, despite not being part of our organisation. He is always available on Teams chat and willing to jump on a call to provide assistance. Recently, a PowerApp with Power Automates broke, that a colleague set up that has now left the organisation! I panicked as I don't feel confident with Power apps and I was unsure where to even start, but I knew Steve would be able to talk me through it. I messaged Stephen, and he quickly responded. We had a Teams call where he walked me through the steps to resolve the issue, which involved a simple configuration and some coding that he helped me add to the Power Automate. His expertise and willingness to help have been crucial in resolving technical challenges efficiently. Stephen's dedication to helping educational communities as a tech guru and advocate is evident in his willingness to share his knowledge and expertise. He has freely helped me multiple times with setting up automation flows, Power Apps. I call him my tech wizard 🧙🏻♂️ He has wizardy skills!
Petra Hosey, City of Wolverhampton College