Digital Commons Network^™

Dealing With The Trauma Of Undiagnosed Dyslexia, Aisling Dolan

Journal of Franco-Irish Studies

The theme of my Master’s by research is an investigation into the condition and effects of dyslexia on one’s personality, academic experience and professional growth. I wish to examine and acknowledge the effects dyslexia has on an individual’s ability to learn and grow in a “typical” twenty-first-century society. I intend also to highlight the emotional impact this disability can have on a person’s sense of self and how they develop through childhood. I hope to demonstrate the link dyslexia has in fostering a visual form of thinking and expression. I also hope to evaluate how one’s dyslexia reveals itself in …

Numeracy-Meets: An Innovative Professional Development Model For Adult Numeracy Practitioners In Ireland, Mark Prendergast, Annette Forster, Niamh O'Meara, Kathy O'Sullivan, Fiona Faulkner

Articles

Despite the clear and obvious need for adults to be proficient in numeracy, international studies suggest that many continue to struggle in this area. In Ireland, one of the main challenges continues to be the availability of effective adult numeracy education. This is a diverse sector, and little is known about the varied provision of adult numeracy courses and of those who teach on them. Recent research has highlighted an unmet demand for the professional development of adult numeracy practitioners with many looking for opportunities to network and further develop their practice. This study aimed to design, implement and evaluate …

Gender Equality In Higher Education And Research, Rodrigo Rosa, Sara Clavero

Articles

No abstract provided.

Understanding Economic Sustainability Through The Lens Of Education: Insights From Higher Education In Ireland, Daniel Kamphambale, Lucia Morales, Cormac Macmahon, Jon-Hans Coetzer

Papers

The IPCC’s 6th Assessment report reasserts overwhelming evidence that global warming is primarily due to anthropogenic activities causing imbalances in the carbon cycle. Our economic reliance on fossil fuels for industrialisation, urbanisation and farming exerts pressure on the Earth system. Population growth, affluence and technology represent significant sources of environmental pressure. Rapidly dispersed anthropogenic deposits constitute an alarming cause of modification of the Earth's crust, which has already become overwhelmingly dominant over nonhuman ecological processes. The current trajectory of socio-ecological interaction risks irreversible changes to the Earth system, where positive feedback may propel our life-supporting ecosystems beyond tipping points. The …

Engineering Students' Perceptions Of Their Development Of Professional Skills, Caitriona Depaor, Una Beagon, Aimee Byrne, Darren Carthy, Patrick Crean, Louise Lynch, Dervilla Niall

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

From The Dark Margins To The Spotlight: The Evolution Of Gastronomy And Food Studies In Ireland, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Books/Book Chapters

For many years, food was seen as too quotidian and belonging to the domestic sphere, and therefore to women, which excluded it from any serious study or consideration in academia. This chapter tracks the evolution of gastronomy and food studies in Ireland. It charts the development of gastronomy as a cultural field, originally in France, to its emergence as an academic discipline with a particular Irish inflection. It details the progress that food history and culinary education have made in Ireland, suggesting that a new liberal / vocational model of culinary education, which commenced in 1999, has helped transform the …

Here You Have To Be Mixing: Collaborative Learning On An Engineering Program In Ireland As Experienced By A Group Of Young Middle Eastern Women, Shannon Chance, Bill Williams

Articles

This research project uses grounded theory to analyze interviews conducted with eight women from Oman and Kuwait. Members of the sample group were studying together at an institute of technology in Dublin, Ireland. The paper reports patterns in 15 interviews collected in the years 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 to provide a longitudinal overview of the experience of the learners. During the coding process, three major themes emerged having to do with the experience of learning with others and/or learning in groups. The first theme involved communication within the group and the group's approaches to working together. The second identified …

School Of Culinary Arts And Food Technology, Tu Dublin, Autumn Newsletter 2020, James Murphy

Other resources

The School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, TU Dublin, Autumn 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 Autumn period of 2020. 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.

Femagogical Strategies In The Art School: Navigating The Institution, Barbara Knezevic, Amy Walsh

Articles

This writing aims to define and examine ‘femagogy’ and the transformative potential for an inclusive intersectional feminist teaching practice in Fine Art education in the context of the contemporary Irish art school. This writing will trace the influence of linguistic power structures and the influence of broader institutional patriarchy in an educational setting and outline the inspirations and genealogies of femagogy. This writing provides situated embodied examples of femagogy in practice. It proposes the femagogical model of teaching as one that situates itself outside prevailing patriarchal models and proposes strategies to reimagine knowledge production and navigate the prevailing structural patriarchy …

Building Digital Capacity For Higher Education Teachers: Recognising Professional Development Through A National Peer Triad Digital Badge Ecosystem, Roisin Donnelly, Theresa Maguire

Articles

Digital Badge design and practice at a national level is a relatively new field of scrutiny and this study reports on a sector-wide initiative for building digital capacity with the design, and implementation of an ecosystem of 15 open courses in teaching and learning with digital badges to recognise the professional development of teachers in Irish higher education. Each course is provided in three delivery modes and mapped to Ireland’s National Professional Development Framework for teachers. This enables multiple access points for teachers to engage in professional development via the Framework and recognize their engagement through peer triads and a …

Establishing And Sustaining National Partnerships In Professional Development And The Recognition Of Open Courses In Teaching And Learning Through Digital Badges., Roisin Donnelly, Theresa Maguire

Articles

This article discusses a national partnership in Irish higher education between the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and the sector. The partnership initiative focussed on the scalable design and development of a suite of open-access professional development (PD) courses in teaching and learning. The empirical work explored the role and value of digital badges as professional recognition for open courses, and in particular the transformative experience of the collaborative course design teams from teachers into teachers-as-designers. Each course has been mapped to Ireland’s national PD framework for all staff who teach. This initiative aimed to provide …

Cocktail Menus Ireland (1970s-2020) Version 1, James Murphy

Other resources

Cocktail Menus Ireland (1970s-2020) Version 1 highlights a small selection of cocktail menus from cocktail bars, public bars, hotel bars and Cocktail Clubs covering the period of 1970 up to 2020. These menus and their recipes help to identify the creativity, innovation and attention to detail in which the establishments highlighted here and their staff (cocktail bartenders, mixologists and management teams) poured into these menus. The menus also highlight the changing drinks fashions, how cocktail prices began to change, the variety of ingredients, the rise of the crafted approach towards ingredients sourcing and preparation. The impact of visual graphic illustrations, …

Preliminary Findings Of A Phenomenological Study Of Middle Eastern Women’S Experiences Studying Engineering In Ireland, Shannon Chance, Bill Williams

Conference papers

This paper reports analysis of phenomenological interviews conducted with eight women studying engineering, all Arabic speakers and practicing Muslims, and all from the countries of Oman and Kuwait. Data were collected as part of a larger study of women’s experiences learning engineering in institutions of higher education in Poland, Portugal, and Ireland. The eight women contributing data for the analysis for this paper were all enrolled on engineering degree programs in Dublin, Ireland, where they studied together. The larger study involves conducting longitudinal data via interviews with 47 women around Europe to understand what their undergraduate experiences in STEM have …

Proposed Models Of Including Non-Formal Sector Qualifications In National Qualifications Frameworks, Horacy Debowski, Stanislaw Slawinski, Sylwia Walicka, Agata Poczmansksa, Barbara Przybylska

Level 3

Report prepared within NQF-in Project based on the analysis and discussions of the experiences of seven European Countries: draft for consultation

Nurturing ‘Buds Of Development’: From Outcomes To Opportunities In Early Childhood Practice, Noirin Hayes, Katarina Filipovic

Articles

The current future-focused, outcomes driven early childhood policy climate presents a danger that early years pedagogy will lose sight of the ‘present’ child. Increasingly policy support for early childhood education is built around an emphasis on preparing children for school and positioning it as a key element in enhancing society through preparing future citizens to become productive members of society. The measurable outcomes discourse, in emphasising product, renders invisible the critical contribution of the processes of everyday practice to children’s development. To challenge and counteract the strong outcome discourse early years professionals must have confidence in their pedagogy. However, research …

Professional Experience Informing Facilitative, Cognitive And Social Guidance On Eportfolios., Roisin Donnelly

Articles

Specific learning outcomes that are being met through the ePortfolio are the design and development of a pedagogically sound and accessible ePortfolio, demonstrating a journey of learning; critical reflection on the learning outcomes of each module and of the overall programme; developing resources in various multimedia tools to demonstrate learning; critically appraising the pedagogy and eLearning tools utilised; as well as critically evaluating pertinent academic literature and connecting it with learning.

The Edition, 25th Of October, 2017, Dit News Society

Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtual Interaction: A Real Alternative, Emmett Tuite, Lavinia Mclean

The ITB Journal

Social care students on block placement have reported a feeling of disconnection from both the broader student group and the natural supports available in the college environment. Students experience a variety of challenges and opportunities on placement, and when combined with practical and geographical limitations on support this can provide a key obstacle for successful progression through placement. Appropriate navigation of practice placement challenges offer the opportunity for key personal and professional development. This article is intended to outline the implementation and use of a specific moderated online interactive support space designed for social care students on final practice placements. …

Orientation Is Key For First-Year Students, Mary O'Rawe

Other resources

The focus on college drop-out rates, particularly in first year, and debates around fees and funding, remind us to consider why students find it so difficult to make the transition from secondary school to higher education.

So how can incoming students prepare themselves to make the best academic transition? This article present a series of useful points for students and parents in preparing for success in a college learning environment.

Work Placement Reflective Assessments And Employability Enhanced Through Highlighting Graduate Attributes, Julie Dunne

Articles

This paper reports on a study which investigated the effect of activities to promote awareness of specific prioritised graduate attributes on the quality of reflection displayed in student work-placement reflective blog assessments. The focus of the paper is on the results from a thematic analysis of reflective writing assisted by NVivo software from a control and research group, using the a priori codes of ‘reflection’ and ‘graduate attributes’, as part of a Participatory Action Research study. The findings show an increase in reflection associated with graduate attributes in the research group compared to the control group. More importantly, there is …

Engaging The Gen. Y Student: Curriculum, Innovation And Challenges, Mary O'Rawe

Conference papers

Curriculum and pedagogy have been central to many contemporary debates on fostering student success. These themes are evident in discussions from policy level to the staffroom in many countries, and are particularly relevant in the mass higher education sector in the Republic of Ireland. However, a narrow treatment of the term curriculum can prevent the development of new understandings and effective learning. Central principles have emerged in debates around curriculum and innovation, with ‘student engagement’ evolving as a focal point in the search for a solution to tackle what are perceived to be problems of student disengagement particularly associated with …

Towards 2030 : A Framework For Building A World-Class Post-Compulsory Education System For Wales, Ellen Hazelkorn

Reports

This report is being produced at a significant and opportune juncture in the development of education in Wales, across the UK, and internationally. Around the world, education is widely recognised as bringing “significant benefits to society, not only through higher employment opportunities and income but also via enhanced skills, improved social status and access to networks.”2 Yet, today, globalization, technological and demographic change, and the combined effects of the prolonged nature of the Great Recession, resource absorption challenges, and accelerating economic competitiveness are placing considerable pressures on education to deliver and demonstrate better value and benefit for citizens and society.3 …

A Bio-Ecological Perspective On Educational Transition: Experiences Of Children, Parents And Teachers., Leah O'Toole

Doctoral

This thesis explores the potential of Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-ecological Model of Human Development (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006) as a framework for theory and research in psychology, sociology and education. It draws on other well-known conceptual approaches, particularly Bourdieu’s theories of social reproduction, habitus, field and cultural capital, investigating points of theoretical enhancement and synthesis. This culminates in the development of eight Propositions for a Bio-ecological Framework. These are then tested using data from a qualitative examination of two key educational transitions, pre-school to primary and primary to secondary school. Using qualitative methodologies, this research explores perspectives of children, teachers and parents …

An Exploration Of The Effects Of Enhanced Compiler Error Messages For Computer Programming Novices, Brett A. Becker

Theses

Computer programming is an essential skill that all computing students must master and is increasingly important in many diverse disciplines. It is also difficult to learn. One of the many challenges novice programmers face from the start are notoriously cryptic compiler error messages. These report details on errors made by students and are essential as the primary source of information used to rectify those errors. However these difficult to understand messages are often a barrier to progress and a source of discouragement. A high number of student errors, and in particular a high frequency of repeated errors – when a …

The Pursuit Of Civic Engagement: Youth Civic Engagement And The Role Of Higher Education, Aideen Mccormack, Aiden Carthy, Cormac Doran

Stream 6: Global University

Putnam (2000) argues that, in recent years, there has been a steady decline of social capital and civic engagement in western societies. However, arguments claiming a 'crisis' of civic engagement have also been met with fierce academic disagreement, leading to a strongly contested debate as to whether civic engagement is in decline or simply evolving. Using a mixed methods approach, this research sought to explore youth civic engagement among the students of the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown aged 18 to 25. Preliminary quantitative results provide evidence of both disengagement with traditional routes and a re-routing of engagement towards more lifestyle …

Experiences Of Computer Science Curriculum Design: A Phenomenological Study, Art Sloan, Brian Bowe

Articles

This paper presents a qualitative study of twelve computer science lecturers’ experiences of curriculum design of several degree programmes during a time of transition from year-long to semesterised courses, due to institutional policy change. The background to the study is outlined, as are the reasons for choosing the research methodology. The main findings are presented and the implications of the study described. The methodology chosen was hermeneutic phenomenology. The data were the texts of interview transcripts of the twelve participant lecturers. The experiences that emerged from analysis of the data grouped naturally in identifiable and presentable themes and these themes …

Work Placement 2 Men's Health Forum In Ireland, Ibrahim Altabaai

Students Learning with Communities

No abstract provided.

Maximizing The Impact Of Digital Supports In Mathematics Learning Support In Higher Education – An Overview Of The 9th Annual Imlsn Workshop, Cormac Breen, Anthony Cronin

Articles

In this article we give a short description of the 9th Annual Workshop of the Irish Mathematics Learning Support Network (IMLSN). The workshop theme was ‘Maximizing the impact of digital supports in Mathematics Learning Support in Higher Education’. We briefly describe the Irish Mathematics Learning Support Network (IMLSN) and outline the factors that motivated this workshop theme. We will also discuss the presentations, some of the issues that were raised during the workshop and we close with some brief conclusions on this very successful event.

Skills Needs Of The Ict Sector In Tanzania, Deirdre Lillis, Fredrick Mtenzi, Diana Mauricaite, Said Jafari, Peter Manifold

Reports

Information and Communication Technology will play a critical role in sustaining the high growth rates experienced by African economies in the last decade. Investment in the ICT sector enables the creation of high quality jobs and acts as an enabling technology for other key industries such as agriculture, mining, finance, health and education. ‘New Software Economy’ models mean international location and company scale are less relevant and enable small organisations to compete globally in niche markets. Unlike many traditional industries which have heavy infrastructure requirements, the key resource of the ICT Sector is its people and the knowledge, skills and …

A Model For Transforming Engineering Education Through Group Learning, Shannon Chance, Gavin Duffy, Brian Bowe, Mike Murphy, Tony Duggan

Conference papers

Electrical engineering educators at Technological University Dublin (DIT) have successfully implemented pedagogical change. They now use group-based, student-centered and inquiry-driven approaches to teach emerging engineers. The objective of this was to foster students’ personal as well as professional skills (i.e., teamwork, communication, self-directed learning, etc.). This paper explores how such change was achieved and provides graphic models that draw from prior phenomenological studies and incorporates aspects of Rogers’ (1962) product adoption curve and Lowe’s (2012) interpretations of it.