Digital Commons Network^™

The University Education Model Collection 2024: “A University Way Of Being”, Fionnuala Darby, Shaun Ferns, Barry J. Ryan

Group Reports

The University Education Model (UEM) revolutionises our approach to education; this approach is grounded in transformative learning opportunities and experiences for all. The UEM is central to the TU Dublin Strategic Intent, which itself is informed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in the case of the UEM, SDG 4 Quality Education. Embedding the UEM into our practice, processes and culture will empower TU Dublin to cater for the largest number of diverse learners, producing the most sought after, digitally literate, graduates.

The central focus of UEM are our learners, grounded in the three components that comprise the …

Meeting The Sustainability Challenges: An Assessment Of Entrepreneurial Education, Anna Zherdeva, Intesar Madi, Abrar Alzankawi, Lucia Morales Dr, L. Pop, A. Soler-Dominguez, J.C. Saez

Conference papers

The importance of sustainability and entrepreneurship education is highlighted in this study. The world economies are facing significant challenges as they try to enable the transition towards more sustainable economic and business models. Therefore, at the centre of the transition process, it is critical to consider the role that business education can play and, more specifically, the role of business schools in integrating and supporting the development of skills and competencies that align with our contemporary society's needs. In this paper, we initially assess the need to connect entrepreneurial and sustainability education by exploring the educational offerings at Technological University …

Engineering Skills And Competences For A More Sustainable World, Dunja Olbina, Bogdan Buzatu, Ljilana Kheirawi, Maria Domaltova

Research Papers

In 2015, the member states of the United Nations agreed that the ideal vision of the world should be achieved by 2030. Halfway through the efforts to reach that vision, and considering the environmental issues we are surrounded by, the need for Higher Education to further incorporate sustainability topics into the curriculum is noticeable.

This paper presents the outcomes of the research through which we aim to make an impact on Higher Education institutions and the ways they are educating and raising awareness on sustainability-related topics. It presents an analysis of the data collected through a survey and focus groups, …

An Analysis Of The Impact And Efficacy Of An Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention As A Support For First-Year University Students, Wyndham Chalmers, Aiden Carthy, Maria Kenneally, Niamh Bruce, Colm Mcguinness, Philip Owende

Articles

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many university courses transitioned to online delivery, therefore, educators and students faced new challenges associated with the delivery of modules and the provision of necessary student supports. Given the scale of this transition, it is likely that many universities will continue to teach remotely far beyond the reach of any pandemic specific restrictions. This study sought to explore the impact and efficacy of a five-week online mindfulness course to a cohort of first year university students (n = 25) at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), Ireland. Results demonstrated that participation in the course …

Intention To Revisit The Chariot Festival (Ratha Yatra): An Experience Economy Approach, Prakash Chandra Dash Dr., Mrutyunjay Dash Dr., Chandrakanta Sahoo Dr.

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The present study addresses visitors’ experiences at the world-famous Chariot Festival - Ratha Yatra - which is held every year at Shri Kshetra, Puri Dham in the state of Odisha, India. Empirical evidence is used to analyse how each of the experience dimension affects the overall event and to assess the likelihood of revisiting. In order to develop a conceptual framework for the study, a thorough review of the literature was conducted. The conceptual framework was then tested using a quantitative approach, in which data were gathered from a convenience sample of 295 respondents using a self-administered questionnaire. Finally, Structural …

Exploring The Application Of Chatgpt In Mechanical Engineering Education, Joan Puig-Ortiz, Rosa Pàmies-Vilà, Lluïsa Jordi Nebot

Practice Papers

The use of language models such as ChatGPT in the field of engineering has gained popularity in recent years due to their ability to assist engineers in their projects and tasks. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of ChatGPT in supporting students' learning in the Mechanism and Machine Theory (MMT) subject. The study involved participants who were asked to interact with ChatGPT to obtain concept clarification and factual information related to MMT.

Our results show that the majority of participants were familiar with ChatGPT and had used it for academic or technical questions. They also found it easy to …

Defining A European Engineer Profile Within A European University Alliance, Morris Villarroel, Nilüfer Ülker, Pascal Bigey, Pierre Bertrand, Ramón Martínez, Sophie Griveau, Philippe Barboux, Alberto Garrido

Practice Papers

The world needs more engineers and Europe provides a rich and diverse environment to train them, including shared values of sustainability and interculturalism. In this paper we attempt to build a profile for a “European engineer” based on skills and competences acquired in a European University Alliance centred around engineering education (EELISA, European Engineering Learning Innovation Alliance). We carried out an on-line survey for students and staff of partner universities as well as nine indepth interviews (50 min) with relevante stakeholders. The questions included in the survey are described as well as general results from 75 respondents. The overall results …

The European Commission And Ai: Guidelines, Acts And Plans Impacting The Teaching Of Ai And Teaching With Ai, Keith Quille, Brett A. Becker, Lidia Vidal-Meliá

Academic Posters Collection

Recent developments, guidelines, and acts by the European Commission have started to frame policy for AI and related areas such as ML and data, not only for the broader community, but in the context of education specifically. This poster presents a succinct overview of these developments. Specifically, we look to bring together all publications that might impact the teaching of AI (for example, teacher expectations in the coming years around AI competencies) and publications that affect the use of AI in the classroom. We mean using tools and systems that incorporate both ‘Good Old Fashioned’ AI and those that can …

Comparing The Meaning Of ‘Thesis’ And ‘Final Year Project’ In Architecture And Engineering Education, Rahman Tafahomi, Shannon Chance

Articles

Architectural education shares much in common with engineering, including the use of a culminating capstone experience in the final year. The form of this experience varies, with the research-based thesis and final-year project being most common. This paper explores the literature on traditions of enquiry and the meaning of research in various fields and the evolution of the ‘thesis’ and ‘final year project’ approaches over time. It then briefly summarises empirical research conducted on a case study institution struggling to bridge gaps in understandings of these distinct forms of learning and teaching. Throughout, the paper presents a comprehensive set of …

Circular Pedagogy And Digitisation A New Educational Paradigm, Lucia Morales, Lia Pop, Jon-Hans Coetzer, Iulia Stefan, Ivaylo Peev

Working Papers

Existing educational systems and models are insufficient to address the challenges associated with our evolving socio-economic and environmental systems. In this paper, we offer critical insights on the core elements defining Higher Education Institutions, the digitisation of teaching and learning practices with a dominant trend favouring STEM education that overlooks the value of social sciences. The neglection of social sciences and the criticism and negative connotations that affect research in the field of pedagogy are also considered as they are essential in articulating our vision of the need for pedagogical innovations that acknowledge our new learning and teaching realities and …

Universities, Ignore Silver Students At Your Peril, John Mcgrory, Claudia Fernandez

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

As higher education institutions compete to gain competitive advantage in the areas of student enrolment, engagement, graduate numbers, and programme delivery, are these institutes at risk of missing out on one of the largest growing markets? The cohort of persons aged 65 years and over, is expected to double in size by 2040. But the cohort of those who are currently aged 55+ years is not extensively targeted by higher education institutions globally. Platitudes about ‘mature students’ are often used when discussing this demographic, but educational departments identify any person over 23 years as a ‘mature’ student. Hence, is this …

An Analysis Of The Impact And Efficacy Of Online Emotional Intelligence Coaching As A Support Mechanism For University Students, Aiden Carthy, Wyndham Chalmers, Eoghan Guiry, Philip Owende

Articles

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many college courses have pivoted to complete online delivery and colleges are also tasked with providing student supports online. It is likely this transition will last beyond any COVID-19 specific restrictions, therefore this small-scale, exploratory study examined the efficacy and impact of the provision of a 5 week online emotional intelligence (EI) coaching programme to a cohort of Irish university students (n = 19) studying at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). Results revealed that the average overall level of EI increased for participants following the coaching programme. Students reported that they believed …

Sociodemographic, Personal, Peer, And Familial Predictors Of E-Cigarette Ever Use In Espad Ireland: A Forward Stepwise Logistic Regression Model, Joan Hanafin, Salome Sunday, Luke Clancy

Articles

Introduction:
E-cigarette ever use has risen significantly in recent years in Ireland, similar to trends elsewhere in Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific region. Results from ESPAD Ireland (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs) show teenage e-cigarette ever use increased from 18% (2015) to 37% (2019). Given this increase, our aim is to profile e-cigarette ever users and never users in this age group; to examine sociodemographic, personal, peer, and familial factors associated with e-cigarette ever use; and to suggest appropriate measures to reduce use.

Methods:
A nationally representative stratified random sample of 50 ESPAD schools was …

A Socio-Ecological, Multi-Stakeholder Investigation Of Apprenticeship Training Engagement In The Irish Construction Industry, Eoghan Ó Murchadha

Doctoral

The construction industry in Ireland is crucial to the national economy, not just in terms of economic output, but as a major provider of employment. The construction labour market is a complex concatenation of professions relying upon adequate skills supply. Apprenticeships play a critical role in future skills provision and are thus vital to the successful implementation of strategic government targets such as the National Development Plan 2021-2030. However, the extant employer-led model of skills engagement is prone to labour market failure given the cyclical elasticity of the industry. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of research into apprenticeship engagement …

Developing And Embedding A Pedagogy Of Entrepreneurial Resilience In Education, Niamh Imbusch, Roisin Donnelly

Other resources

No abstract provided.

Circular Pedagogy For Smart, Inclusive And Sustainable Education, Lia Pop, Nadia Barkoczi, Lucia Morales, Jon-Hans Coetzer, Claudia Marian, Patrick Flynn

Working Papers

Higher education institutions seem to be engaged in a reactive process when thinking about education for sustainable development, instead of being proactive. A every stage, educational models remain very limited to specific goals and agendas driven by the fad of the moment and without articulating a sustainable educational model that we argue should be uttered within the concepts of intercultural competencies, smart, inclusive, and sustainable education where learners engage on a circular learning process as captured by the circular pedagogy for higher education. If the academic community is serious about driving actions that help us to enact change and impact …

Education To Enable Sustainable Economic Development, Ozeias Rodrigues Da Rocha, Lucia Morales, Jon-Hans Coetzer, Cormac Macmahon

Papers

Sustainable development has been widely discussed in the economic and political debate for the past 20 years, but practical, sustainable measures are still lacking. This fact poses a serious challenge to governments as they strive to balance the demand for natural and social resources while ensuring economic progress and risking severe environmental degradation. The urgent need for an economically sustainable development model raises essential questions, such as integrating education into business models and government policies. Education plays a vital role in sustainable development, as recognised by the United Nations. Technological solutions alone are insufficient; our society requires a shift in …

Educator Handbook For Designing Inclusive Entrepreneurship Courses In Higher Education, Deirdre Mcquillan, Sylvia Gavigan, Antonio Juan Briones, Iulia Clitan, Dimitra Milioni, Vlad Muresan, Panayiota Polykarpou

Books/Book Chapters

This handbook is developed for educators in entrepreneurship within universities and other higher education institutions. The aim of the handbook is to help underrepresented student groups within their courses. It is also useful for academics who want to develop entrepreneurship courses for specific minority groups. The notion of who underrepresented entrepreneurship students are may differ across institutions and across countries. At a global level, the OECD identifies six important cohorts: women, youth, seniors, the unemployed, immigrants, and people with disabilities (OECD, 2021)

Re-Imagining Higher Education Through Equity, Inclusion And Sustainability (Rise): 2nd. Eut+ International Conference On Equality, Diversity And Inclusion, European University Of Technology

Conference Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Re-Worlding The Virtual: Exploring Art And Archipelagic Education Through Virtual Environments, Glenn Loughran, John O'Connor

Conference Papers

This paper expands on the use of virtual environments to address educational questions around social isolation, embodiment and knowledge production. Supported by curricular experimentations with archipelagic thinking, it reflects on the potential for virtual environments to provide novel educational contexts for students to explore the relationship between art and environment at a time of climate transition. Archipelagic thinking is a theoretical framework that emerged out of Island studies and postcolonial discourse in the late 20th century. Emphasising relational flow between islanders, islands, entities and worlds, archipelagic thinking seeks to address the epistemological distinctions between centre and periphery, between the northern …

Every Day Is A School Day: Educators Experiences Of Utilising An Integrative Framework Within Social Care Education In Ireland, Jennifer Mcgarr, Margaret Fingleton, Noel Molloy, Gillian Larkin, Marian Connell, Ailish Jameson, Anne Marie Shier

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

Within an evolving regulatory context, this paper identifies some of the emergent challenges and opportunities for social care education in Ireland. The paper discusses the potential offered by the Integrative Framework for Practice Teaching to address some of these contextual demands and examines the pedagogy underpinning this approach. A number of educators’ experiences of using this framework are provided, demonstrating how they innovatively integrated the framework with commonly used teaching and assessment strategies within social care education, such as mind-mapping, problem-based learning and the use of creative media. These experiences are offered to other educators who may wish to utilise …

Check Your Tech - The Ethics Of Gamification In Education, Dympna O'Sullivan, Ioannis Stavrakakis, Damian Gordon, Anna Becevel

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Arise (Certcoin)- Inspiring Demand For Sustainable Energy Skills, Barry Mcauley, Paul Mccormack, Andrew Hamilton, Eduardo Rebelo

Conference papers

The European AEC Sector now faces impending challenges over the next decade concerning escalating climate targets. To reach these targets, it vital that the green economy deliver a better-skilled workforce and develops new competencies and methods of working. Training in the domain of digital construction technologies and processes, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), are now seen as essential upskilling vehicles that must be embraced if the sector is to transition towards a greener agenda. To assist in meeting these training needs a selection of partners from the BIM EPA will partake in the Horizon 2020 ARISE project, aiming to …

2021 School Of Culinary Arts And Food Technology, Spring Newsletter, Tu Dublin., James Murphy

Other resources

The School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, TU Dublin, Spring Newsletter captured the many events, research, awards, significant contributions and special civic and community activities which the students and staff members of the school have successfully completed up to the Spring period of 2021. The successful completion of these activities would not be possible without the active and on-going support of the 'INSPIRED' friends of Culinary Arts (school supporters) and our school's industry association supporters. In this issue we also fondly remember Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 2 (as the school now prepares to move to our new campus facilities …

Intergenerational Learning: An Exploratory Study Of The Concept, Role And Potential Of Intergenerational Learning (Igl) As A Pedagogical Strategy In Irish Early Childhood Education (Ece) Services, Anne Fitzpatrick

Doctoral

This study investigates the concept, role and potential of intergenerational learning (IGL) as a pedagogical strategy in Irish early childhood education (ECE) services. It explores the perspectives on IGL of educators(5), children(70) and their parents(43) in five Irish ECE services in city, town and suburban locations. The theoretical and conceptual framework was informed by socio-cultural theories of learning aligned to key principles of IGL. A qualitative methodological approach was adopted to access these perspectives.Specifically, the methods used to gather data were semi-structured interviews with educators, draw and talk strategies with children and informal written feedback with parents. Educators played a …

Existing Competencies In The Teaching Of Ethics In Computer Science Faculties, Ethics4eu Consortium

Reports

This report is one of the deliverables for the Ethics4EU project. It presents results obtained from a survey conducted in early 2020 that polled faculty from Computer Science and related disciplines on teaching practices in Computer Ethics in Computer Science across Europe. The survey was completed by respondents from 61 universities across 23 European countries. Participants were surveyed on whether or not Computer Ethics is taught to Computer Science students at each institution, the reasons why Computer Ethics is or is not taught, how Computer Ethics is taught (for example, as a standalone course or embedded within other courses), the …

European Values For Ethics In Digital Technology, Ethics4eu Consortium

Reports

Digital Ethics deals with the impact of digital Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on our societies and the environment at large. It covers a wide spectrum of societal and ethical impacts including issues such as data governance, privacy and personal data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), algorithmic decision-making and pervasive technologies. Importantly, it is not only about hardware and software, but it also concerns systems, how people and organizations and society and technology interact. In addition, with Digital Ethics comes the added variable of assessing the ethical implications of artefacts which may not yet exist, or artefacts which may have impacts we …

International Reflections On The Challenges Of Entrepreneurial Education Working With Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Aldo Valencia, Paul Doyle, Darryl Humble Phd, Dimitra Skoumpopoulou

Other

With the European Council looking to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to help support the strategic goal of increasing small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) activity through increased entrepreneurial education, we reflect on the challenges facing both HEIs and SMEs through the lens of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 funded research and innovation staff exchange project ‘Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management 3’ (GETM3). This research generated data during the three-year duration of the project and through a mixed-methods approach. The effectiveness of entrepreneurial education against this strategic requirement and the barriers which need to be overcome to achieve it are considered. We observed …

Level 9 Cpd Module Educating For Food Sector Sustainability, Julie Dunne, Cormac Mcmahon, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Graham O'Neill, Fintan Moran

Reusable Resources

Module Descriptor for lecturer professional development in Educating for Food Sustainability.

In response to SDG 4.7, which requires learners acquire knowledge and skills for sustainability, this module addresses a gap identified by the National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development in the ‘preparedness of lecturers to facilitate the type of participatory learning’ associated with balancing social and economic well-being with Earth’s ability to replenish its natural resources.

For food-sector educators committed to embedding sustainability in their academic practice, this module aims to develop a community of practice, comprising faculty, students, industry and community that can support authentic and transformative living-lab …

Let's Talk About Ditching Plastics At Festivals, Ellen Foley

Case Studies

Student blog series from MSc in Event Management students at TU Dublin. In this blog post Ellen Foley asks is it time to stop using plastic at festivals. She discusses how how Education and collaboration are the two vital ingredients that festival planners must embrace in order to tackle this ever-pressing problem. It’s time to get creative and work together to ditch the plastic.