Analogue Minds, Digital Times: A Reflection on the Innovate ELT Conference in 2026

There is a burning question in modern English Language Teaching. As our staffrooms and classrooms flood with AI-generated materials, hyper-connectivity, and an endless stream of screen notifications, a core question arises: how do our human cognitive limits, tactile needs, and capacity for deep focus navigate this digital landscape?

This was the driving force behind our annual event, the Innovate ELT conference, and the theme this year, “Analogue Minds, Digital Times”.The core premise of the day was clear: it is not about rejecting digital innovations, but rather about using analogue wisdom to stay grounded, creative, and profoundly human within them. With an energetic, diverse turnout of experienced educators, creators, and eager trainee teachers, the venue quickly transformed into a community of practice collectively looking for balance in an increasingly hectic world.

The Day at a Glance

• Morning Session: Analogue Mind
  • The Power of Face-to-Face (Barnaby Griffiths & Joanna Ryan)
  • The Craft of Pen and Paper (Duncan Foord)
  • Human-Centered Learning & The Empathy Deficit (Liudmila Kurzina)
  • Trust, Belonging, and Productive Silence (Barnaby Griffiths & Ramy Rashad Abdelreheem)
• Afternoon Session: Digital Times
  • Liberating Structures & Gamifying Exam Prep (Colin Young & Alice Copello)
  • Upskilling & The Authenticity of Culture (Aidan O’Toole & Aleksandra Bozovic)
  • Screen-Free Engagement & Bowie’s Creativity (Joanna Ryan & Closing Sessions)
• Conclusion: The Hybrid Blueprint

Morning Session: “Analogue Mind”

The first half of the day pulled our focus squarely onto human-centric, low-tech, and cognitive fundamentals. We started by exploring the tools we already have access to before we ever log into a device.

The Power of Real Connection

The Power of Face-to-Face (Barnaby Griffiths & Joanna Ryan)

Our opening plenary, co-delivered by Barnaby Griffiths and Joanna Ryan, set a passionate tone for the morning. They examined the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interactions. Joanna shared a vivid analogy comparing modern, algorithmically confined digital spaces to a zoo where animals are kept in strict enclosures. The message was striking: when we isolate our teaching and learning into rigid digital boxes, we risk losing the wild freedom of natural language acquisition.

Back to Basics in the Workshops

Moving into the sessions, Duncan Foord took over Room A with a practical workshop on analogue skills for teachers. Stripping away the projectors and slides, Duncan had attendees use old-fashioned pen and paper to demonstrate student tasks. The session highlighted the core, tactile skills that human teachers uniquely bring to the table—skills that command a room far better than a flashing screen.

In the talks that followed, Liudmila Kurzina eased lingering tech anxieties in her session, “The Teacher AI Won’t Replace.” Liudmila argued that instead of panic, there must be a commitment to creating human-centered learning environments built on micro-learning, deliberate language coaching, and radical empathy.

Barnaby Griffiths returned to Room A to dig into a question that has become vital as technology transforms education: What remains uniquely human about communication?

“While our tools may be digital, communication itself remains profoundly analogue—built on trust, attention, interpretation, relationships, and a sense of belonging.”

Barnaby’s workshop translated this philosophy into practice, demonstrating how teachers can guide learners beyond simple language production through rehearsal, performance, and targeted Communicative Impact Feedback.

Meanwhile, over in Room B, Ramy Rashad Abdelreheem presented fascinating findings from his Trinity DipTESOL Unit 2 research in his talk, “Beyond ‘Very Good’: Praise, pursuit, and productive silence in ELT.” Ramy challenged the room to look at the feedback patterns we use automatically, showing how generic praise can unintentionally impede a student’s progress and limit their freedom to express themselves. This was an eye-opening session on how to implement more effective forms of clarification and deliberate, productive silence.

Afternoon Session: “Digital Times”

As the day progressed, the focus of the day shifted. The afternoon sessions tackled how to intelligently master digital tools without losing that hard-won analogue core.

Structuring for Spontaneity and Engagement

Colin Young kicked off the afternoon in Room A with “Designing for Dialogue,” introducing the room to Liberating Structures. These practical classroom scaffolds are designed to center the space around active speaking and productive communication skills.

Simultaneously in Room B, Alice Copello shook up the traditional view of assessment prep in her session, “A coursebook, a group of students and an AI-assisted teacher enter an exam preparation classroom.” Alice demonstrated how to make exam lessons genuinely fun by flipping traditional tasks on their head, using interactive exercises, and using AI effectively to self-generate dynamic exam practice.

Upskilling and the Pragmatics of Culture

In the next block of talks, Aidan O’Toole gave a highly engaging overview of upskilling via the Trinity Level 6 CertPT (Certificate for Practising Teachers), a qualification tailored for modern educators looking to transform their daily practice.

Next door, Aleksandra Bozovic led a fascinating, highly-discussed session titled “Harry Potter, culture, and teaching.” She raised an incredibly modern dilemma: Why does it matter to students if content is AI-generated?

Aleksandra pointed out that if students perceive material as purely AI-made, they often feel the teacher hasn’t put in genuine effort. This sparked a lengthy audience debate centered around a specific video that had been controversial enough to be removed from a platform. From there, the session dove into what culture and educational content truly mean, emphasizing why teaching pragmatics (the social rules of language) is vital for true fluency.

To illustrate, Aleksandra shared her own classroom practice using Harry Potter. She asked her students what they would do if they were treated as a second-class citizen, just as Hermione (a “Muggle-born”) is treated in the books. The individual reactions varied wildly—some said they would ignore it, others said they would fight it.

However, when she shifted the context and asked what they would do if their friends were targeted by that prejudice, the response was unanimous: every single student said they would fight. Capitalizing on this emotional connection, the students collaborated in groups to design physical posters explaining their activist strategies, presenting their ideas entirely in English.

For the creatively inclined, Giorgia de Musso, in Room C, hosted a brilliant talk titled “What would David Bowie do? Rediscovering teachers’ creativity in the age of AI.” The session cleverly adapted the abstract creativity exercises used by David Bowie, Brian Eno (such as Oblique Strategies), and surrealist artists, applying them directly to lesson planning to spark fresh, unconventional classroom ideas.

Later in Room A, a lively open panel discussion featuring Anna Stubbs, Alice Copello, Nicola Meldrum, Teresa Bestwick, and Chris Fry touched on many topics in education while involving the audience in an engaging conversation.

Late Afternoon Insights

The day wrapped up with a trio of highly focused overviews:

• Teresa Bestwick (Room A) explored the delicate art of “Sticks and leaves: Dealing with emergent language,” mapping out how to confidently work with the unpredictable language that naturally surfaces in a lesson.
• Nikol Marcheva (Room B) shifted our focus to psychology in “Before they speak, they learn: The Emotional Dimension of Academic Impact,” emphasising how emotional safety directly unlocks cognitive ability.
• Alla Tantsura (Room C) brought our technical track to a close with “The Teacher in the Age of AI: From Instructor to Mediator,” redefining our modern role not as information transmitters, but as guides helping students filter digital noise.

Enthusiastic feedback from the Innovate ELT Conference 2026

The enthusiasm on display was obvious and was commented on afterwards by many attendees.

Barnaby Griffiths concluded that “while our tools may be digital, communication itself remains profoundly analogue – built on trust, attention, interpretation, relationships and a sense of belonging.”

One of the main things that Helen Rotonen concluded from this event, was that “the human connection is something that Ai can’t replace in learning”.

Conclusion: The Hybrid Blueprint

As the event came to a close, the overarching takeaway of the day became clear. The solution to our digital dilemmas isn’t to retreat into the past, nor is it to mindlessly escape into a screen.

The future of our profession belongs firmly to the hybrid professional—the educator who can seamlessly navigate fast-paced digital spaces while preserving the depth, patience, empathy, and absolute presence of an analogue mind. By keeping our communication profoundly human, we ensure we prepared for the future.

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Also find more information for Innovate ELT Conference and see you next year!