Higher education consultancy
Education strategy that works for students, on campus and online.
I work with universities to set direction, redesign how education is delivered, and build the capability to keep improving it. My focus is student success and digital, online and blended education.
Services
Where I can help
From institution-wide strategy to the detail of curriculum and assessment. Most projects draw on several at once.
Strategy and change
- Higher education strategy, transformation and organisational changeSetting direction, then designing the structures and ways of working that make it happen.
- Digital education strategy, operating models and digital campus designHow digital education is led, resourced and run across the institution.
Students
- Student experience, success, retention and engagementUnderstanding why students stay, succeed or leave, and acting on it.
- Data-informed approaches to student outcomes and educational enhancementUsing the data you already hold to guide decisions and target support.
Online, flexible and lifelong learning
- Online, blended and flexible education strategy and deliveryPortfolio, partnerships and delivery models for new and growing provision.
- EdTech strategy, partnerships and institutional adoptionChoosing technology and partners well, and making sure they are actually used.
- Lifelong learning, executive education and applied learningShort courses, professional and executive programmes, and learning built around real work.
Curriculum and people
- Curriculum, academic practice and assessment transformationIncluding assessment frameworks designed for an AI-enabled world.
- Academic capability and staff developmentBuilding the confidence and skills of the people who teach and support learning.
Experience
I have done this work from the inside
Advice is more useful when it comes from someone who has held the budget, led the team and lived with the result.
Inside a research university
Director of Academic IT Services, responsible for the core learning and teaching platforms and the team supporting digital course design.
Inside an online programme partner
SVP of Academic Services at an online programme management company, working with universities on market proposition, the design and launch online degrees, and student experience.
Leading new programmes
Subject Lead for the MA Education Online portfolio, taking future-facing programmes from inception through to delivery.
Inside a fully online provider
Head of Digital Education, leading the transformation of fully online programmes for student success.
Between EdTech and universities
Co-founder and Director of Educational Strategy, working directly with EdTech companies to refine their products to meet education needs, and with universities to run pilots and adopt the best digital platforms.
Writing
Recent thinking
I write about online education, AI and assessment, and UK higher education policy on my blog, Teaching in Digital Spaces.
- Rethinking Online Student Acquisition: From Buying Demand to Building ItWhy the rising cost of recruiting online students may be a problem of method, not just price.
- Design for Thinking: What AI-Ready Assessment Actually Looks Like in PracticeLessons from a year of rethinking assessment frameworks with UK universities.
- What the Revised TEF Means for Fully Online Degree CoursesThe specific challenges the new framework poses for providers of online degrees.
- Online Education, Place, and the UK’s International Education StrategyWhere online delivery sits in the UK’s plans for transnational education.
- Why using AI to make more content may be the least interesting thing we can do with itHigher education is short on time and space for deep thinking, not on content.
About
Kate Lindsay
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
- Senior CMALT accredited
- Advisory board member for education technology companies
- Co-founder of the Oxford Community Collection Model
I am an independent education consultant. I work with UK universities to grow their capacity and capability in digital and online education, and to improve how students experience and succeed in their studies.
Before setting up my consultancy I held senior roles at Higher Ed Partners, the University of the Built Environment and the University of Oxford. I am also Subject Lead for the MA Education Online at St Mary’s University, taking future-facing programmes from inception through to delivery. My experience covers online programme development and operation, teaching, learning and assessment strategy, digital education strategy, learning design frameworks, staff and student digital fluency, and curriculum design.
My current interests are AI-augmented teaching and learning, widening access and participation through good use of digital technology, and curriculum reform for the digital age. I speak at sector events and write regularly on my blog.
Contact
Tell me what you are working on
A short email is the best way to start. I will reply to arrange a first conversation about what you need and whether I am the right person to help.
- linkedin.com/in/khlindsay