Led by Sue Beckingham @suebecks

This month marks an incredible milestone for #LTHEchat as we celebrate 10 years of insightful conversations, global connections, and professional growth. What began as a simple idea to bring educators together for an hour each week to discuss the challenges and innovations in higher education, has now blossomed into a thriving community. Over the past decade, we’ve hosted more than 300 chats, collaborated with educators across the globe, and provided a platform for educators to learn, share, and lead.

A Look Back: 10 Years of Impact

Since its launch in 2014, #LTHEchat has become much more than just a weekly Twitter chat. It’s a place where educators from around the world can connect with peers, share resources, and explore the future of teaching and learning in higher education. Each week, we discuss topics that matter from student engagement to digital learning, inclusive teaching practices, and the future of higher education. With guest experts contributing their knowledge and participants sharing their experiences, every chat offers something valuable.

We’ve also built lasting relationships with educational organisations such as Advance HE and the Association for Learning Technology, engaging in collaborative chats that broaden perspectives; introduce new learning and teaching approaches and resources; and extend our community. These partnerships have enriched our discussions and highlighted the strength of collaboration between educators in higher education.

The Organising Team: Behind the scenes

Our success wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated team of volunteers who manage each chat. The organising team works tirelessly behind the scenes, from reaching out to guest speakers to publishing blog posts, designing promotional tweets, and managing the live chat itself. These educators donate their time and energy to ensure that #LTHEchat continues to run smoothly, week after week.

A big thank you to the amazing volunteers and mentors who have contributed their time as members of the organising groups so far.

Many volunteers who have been part of the organising team have found it to be an opportunity for leadership and professional development, providing evidence for SFHEA, NTF and CMALT applications. Team members gain valuable experience in event planning, digital communication, and even mentorship, as they guide new members through the process. To recognise these contributions, we offer open badges to our organising team members, mentors, and guest speakers. These certifications can proudly be added to professional profiles, portfolios and CVs.

A big thank you goes to Deb Baff and Teresa McKinnon who lead the open digital badges scheme.

#LTHEchat Golden Tweeter Award

We introduced the #LTHEchat Golden Tweeter Award in 2015 for colleagues who have shown sustained engagement, commitment, insight and open sharing to the LTHEchat community. There is no fixed number of award winners per year and individuals can be nominated by the community and are also selected by the LTHEchat team.

Awards have been given to:

2015: Prof. Simon Lancaster and Simon Rae

2016: Neil Withnell, Dr Hala Mansour and Dr Chris Jobling 

2017: Dr Anne Nortcliffe and Teresa MacKinnon 

2018: Dr Scott Turner and Sarah Honeychurch 

2019: Professor Sally Brown and Professor Phil Race 

2020: Dr Nathalie Sheridan, Dr Dawne Irving-Bell and Dr Chris Jobling 

2021: Rachelle O’Brien and Kiu Sum

2023: Louise Rees, Sandra Sinfield, Danielle Hinton, Paul Kleiman and Santanu Vasant

2024: James Youdale, Martin Rich, Mary Jacob and Su-Ming Choo

Why #LTHEchat matters to our community

At its heart, #LTHEchat is about learning together. Each week, participants bring their ideas, experiences, and resources to the table, contributing to a collective pool of knowledge. It’s not just about answering questions, it’s about creating dialogue, sparking new ideas, and applying what we’ve learned to our own learning and teaching practices. The real value of the chat lies in its ability to bring together educators who, despite their diverse backgrounds and roles, share a common goal to improve teaching and learning for their students.

Over the years, #LTHEchat has provided a space where professional development happens organically, and a place to create a learning community. Whether it’s discovering a new resource, finding a solution to a challenge, or connecting with a peer in another part of the world, our participants frequently share the value they gain from joining the chat.

Looking ahead: The Future of #LTHEchat

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we’re not just reflecting on the past, we’re looking toward the future. What new trends will shape higher education in the next decade? How can we continue to foster innovation, collaboration, and leadership through this chat? These are the questions that will guide us as we enter the next chapter of #LTHEchat.

We invite all of you – whether you’re a longtime participant or someone new to our community to join us in celebrating this special milestone. We’re planning a special anniversary chat, where we’ll reflect on the journey so far and look ahead to the future of higher education. Keep the date in your diary and please share your favourite moments using the #LTHEchat hashtag.

Here’s to the next decade of learning, leading, and connecting!

Volunteering as a guest or member of the organising team

If you would like to volunteer for a future #LTHEchat organising team please complete this expression of interest

If you would like to volunteer to be a guest for #LTHEchat please complete this expression of interest