Education Commons^™

The First Annual Teaching And Research Showcase Poster Tu Dublin – The Proof Is In The Pudding – Using Perceived Stress To Measure Short-Term Impact In Initiatives To Enhance Gender Balance In Computing Education, Alina Berry, Sarah Jane Delany

Other resources

The problem of gender imbalance in computing higher education has forced academics and professionals to implement a wide range of initiatives. Many initiatives use recruitment or retention numbers as their most obvious evidence of impact. This type of evidence of impact is, however, more resource heavy to obtain, as well as often requires a longitudinal approach. There are many shorter term initiatives that use other ways to measure their success.

First, this poster presents with a review of existing evaluation measures in interventions to recruit and retain women in computing education across the board. Three main groups of evaluation come …

The Proof Is In The Pudding – Using Perceived Stress To Measure Short-Term Impact In Initiatives To Enhance Gender Balance In Computing Education, Alina Berry, Sarah Jane Delany

Academic Posters Collection

The problem of gender imbalance in computing higher education has forced academics and professionals to implement a wide range of initiatives. Many initiatives use recruitment or retention numbers as their most obvious evidence of impact. This type of evidence of impact is, however, more resource heavy to obtain, as well as often requires a longitudinal approach. There are many shorter term initiatives that use other ways to measure their success.

First, this poster presents with a review of existing evaluation measures in interventions to recruit and retain women in computing education across the board. Three main groups of evaluation come …

The Ukicer 2022 Conference Poster: Techmate: A Best Practice Toolkit For Driving Sustainable Acceleration Towards Gender Equality In Technology Disciplines In Heis., Alina Berry

Conference papers

TechMate is a research project that is being developed to enhance gender balance in technology disciplines, in particular computing higher education in Ireland and beyond. Gender imbalance in computing education is a well-known issue: in Ireland, less than 15% of the student population in computer science, ICT and related disciplines are women. Despite a significant amount of research and practical work conducted in the recent decades, the problem still persists and this research initiative aims to improve the situation.

Among the main aims of this project, there is a development of a toolkit to drive sustainable acceleration towards gender equality …

The 12th Annual Graduate Research Symposium 2021 Poster Tu Dublin: How To Recruit And Retain Women In Computer Science, Alina Berry, Susan Mckeever, Brenda Murphy, Sarah Jane Delany

Other resources

While in recent decades a number of efforts have been coordinated to address the issue of gender imbalance in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines, the problem still persists. Many authors speak of the ‘leaky’ pipeline metaphor that describes the loss of women in STEM areas before reaching senior roles. Research shows that women who leave are unlikely to return. The issue is particularly severe in the area of computer science, where women represent less than 20% of the labour force across the EU.

This poster introduces a summary of findings from the literature on how to effectively recruit …

Using Hybrid Development Platforms For Easy Design Of Mobile Apps To Improve The Orientation Experience Of First Year Higher Education Students At Dit., Nevan Bermingham, Mary O'Rawe, Trevor Boland

Conference papers

Smartphone usage by students has increased rapidly over the last number of years, and there is evidence to indicate that students are using their smartphones more in higher educational environments.

However, creating mobile applications tailored to the needs of any particular cohort of students can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavour for any organisation. In addition, it normally involves substantial technological expertise.

At the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), we created two bespoke mobile applications tailored to improve the orientation experience for two different groups of students. “DIT GetSmart!” was designed and built to address the information needs of …

Developing Mobile Apps For Improving The Orientation Experience Of First-Year "Third Level" Students, Nevan Bermingham, Mark Prendergast, Trevor Boland, Mary O'Rawe, Barry Ryan

Conference papers

Smartphone usage by students has increased rapidly over the last number of years, and research points to an expectation for increased utilisation of mobile applications in college educational environments. First year students have particular needs when they transition to higher education (or 'third level'), as they can experience a number of personal, social and cultural difficulties. Orientation is a critical stage for these students and the earlier students have access to important orientation information, the less stressful the initial stages of college are. At Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), the authors designed a bespoke mobile application tailored to the particular …

You've Got A Friend In Me: The Effects Of Peer Mentoring On The First Year Experience For Undergraduate Students, Naoise Webb, Damian Cox, Aiden Carthy

Student Success

The current study aimed to explore the effects of peer mentoring on perceived levels of academic anxiety for a sample of first year Irish undergraduate students. This study employed a structured self-report questionnaire to collect data from participants (n=156) from four subject backgrounds; horticulture, business, engineering and computing. Participants were assigned to student mentors from senior cycles in the college in a peer mentoring programme. Participants completed a questionnaire at the culmination of the programme which was designed to investigate students’ reported levels of anxiety, difficulty settling in and their appreciation of the mentoring programme. Results indicated that difficulty in …

Study On The Effective Use Of Early Childhood Education And Care In Preventing Early School Leaving: Final Report, Rimantas Dumclus, Jan Peeters, Noirin Hayes, Georges Van Landeghem, Hanna Siarova, Laura Peciukonyte, Ivana Ceneric, Hester Hulpia

Reports

No abstract provided.

Get Smart! An Evaluation Of An Initiative In Personal And Professional Development Among First Year Undergraduates, Mary O'Rawe

Teaching Fellowships

The third level learning environment today is characterised by many demand and supply-led challenges. Problems of student engagement, motivation and ability to perform in a third level education environment are well documented, as are the opportunities and challenges posed by new modes of delivery. Knight and York highlight the importance of developing a strong set of personal skills, understandings and personal attributes that make graduates more likely to gain employment and to be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefit themselves, the community and the economy

In response to this complex relationship between the expectations of industry, student and academics …

Peer Assisted Learning Project, Maria-Jose Gonzalez, Odette Gabaudan

Teaching Fellowships

This report provides a comprehensive outline of the context for the Peer Assisted Learning Project and the process of implementation in the BA (hons) International Business and Languages in the academic year 2009-2010. It also includes a set of recommendations arising from the project and it concludes with an outline for future work in the area.

The Use Of Knowledge Management Techniques To Aid Learning Retention In On-Line Learning Environments, Frank O'Reilly

Students Learning with Communities

The focus of this research is e-Learning and Knowledge Management and the synergies between them. While they are both very distinct and different domains, they share the twin goals of delivering personal advancement and improving performance through the acquisition of new skills. They both set about to achieve these goals by means of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. However, both disciplines suffer from poor reputations due to low success rates – sometimes perceived, but often real. In particular, e-Learning has failed to live up to the promise it was said to show when it emerged as the successor to Computer-Based …

Reinventing A Level 7 Programme In Electrical Engineering And Greatly Improving On Student Retention, Eugene Coyle, Mike Murphy, Frank Costello, Leslie Shoemaker

Books/Book chapters

Following the successful implementation over a number of decades of a three-year Diploma in Electrical and Control Engineering at Technological University Dublin, the programme entered a period of extreme difficulty and uncertainty in the late nineteen ninetees and early years of the new millennium. As with many such engineering programmes, student numbers seeking to enter began to diminish. Furthermore, engagement and retention of students who had enrolled on the programme became evermore challenging, necessitating some radical moves in the formation and operation of the programme and in putting additional student support mechanisms in place. The situation hit rock bottom between …

Why Are Students Leaving And What Can We Do To Stop Them?, Ann Conway

Other resources

Not only are demographic changes taking place within the Irish population but in addition, significant challenges are being imposed on higher education providers to retain as many students as possible within the higher education system. Yorke (1999) noted that many students leave higher education prematurely and about 50% of these students do so during, or at the end of their first year in college (DIT, 2003). Some non-completion of courses is unavoidable and should not be viewed as failure by the student, tutor or college, but acknowledged that dropping out is likely (Oliver, 2001). However, a lot of non-completion is …

Why Do Students Abandon Programs Prior To Completion? Case Study Investigation Of Dropout Students From The Diploma In Hotel And Catering Management Dit, Ann Conway

Other resources

Not only are demographic changes taking place within the Irish population but in addition, significant challenges are being imposed on higher education providers to retain as many students as possible within the higher education system. Yorke (1999) noted that many students leave higher education prematurely and about 50% of these students do so during, or at the end of their first year in college (DIT, 2003). Some non-completion of courses is unavoidable and should not be viewed as failure by the student, tutor or college, but acknowledged that dropping out is likely (Oliver, 2001). However, a lot of non-completion is …

Dit And Student Retention, Frank Costello

Articles

No abstract provided.