Education Commons^™

The Development Of A Psychometric Test Aimed At Aligning Students To A Range Of Professional Roles, Darren Brian Carthy, Brian Bowe, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), working as part of the PREFER project, a European commission funded project, have developed a psychometric test in order to better align engineering students to three distinct professional roles within industry. This paper reports on the development process of the test, which took place between February and August of 2018.

Improving Engagement Of Construction Industry Firms In Apprenticeship Training In A Post-Recession Economy, Eoghan Ó Murchadha, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The Irish economy is currently experiencing a recovery phase following a ‘lost decade’ of growth due to the severe economic downturn of 2007. While the construction industry in Ireland is recording increased output, and improving rates of employment, in the vital economic and labour market sector of apprenticeship there is a significant lack of engagement. Without employer buy-in to apprenticeship training, there exists potential future skills gaps and lack of efficacy of the construction industry. This increasingly likely possibility is disquieting, not just for the possible impact upon the future of apprenticeship but also for the Irish economy as a …

The Student Voice - Undergraduate Student Insights Of Pre-Placement Experience, Jennifer Lawlor, Geraldine A. Gorham, Colin O'Connor

Other resources

Placement is an important component of an undergraduate degree programme and has been recognised as being beneficial to the student population, the academic community and to the organisations that enable the internship process. For example, it allows students to apply their theoretical knowledge and develop their skills within a ‘real-life’ organisational environment (e.g. Gavin and Coleman, 2016). Furthermore, it facilitates increased co-operation and relationship-building between higher education institutions and companies (Burdett and Barker, 2017).

However, whilst there is general awareness of the benefits and opportunities of experiential learning, there has been a call for further research to be undertaken regarding …

Rethinking Apprenticeship Training For The Construction Industry In Ireland, Eoghan Ó Murchadha, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The construction industry is of strategic importance to any economy, as it delivers the building and infrastructural needs of society; it is also a major provider of employment. The over-reliance on construction was a contributing factor to the collapse of the Irish economy and employment in construction fell to under 50% of its 2007 peak as a consequence. The decline devastated apprentice training with a reduction in excess of 90% of new registrations of construction apprentices at the lowest point. The implication of this to the industry is disquieting, given the crucial role apprenticeships play in the sector. The Irish …

Identifying, Developing And Grading ‘Soft Skills’ In Higher Education: A Technological Approach, Adrian O'Connor, Jeffrey Buckley, Naill Seery, Martha Cleveland-Innes

Outcomes in Higher Education

Identifying, developing and grading soft skills, i.e., transversal cross-curricular competencies, in higher education requires the recognition of key qualities, the capacity to discriminate between these qualities and a mechanism to validly and reliability grade soft skill acquisition. This research proposes a technological infrastructure that acknowledges the importance of self-assessment, peer observation and teacher evaluation when adjudicating on subjective and often personal data. The proposal has the capacity to balance, weight and triangulate the objective and subjective evidence of soft skill acquisition ensuring the validity and reliability of the resultant accreditation. Accreditation of soft skills was in the form of digital …

Benefits Of Continuing Professional Development In The Visual Communications Sector In Ireland, Con Kennedy

Other resources

This research is concerned with identifying the benefits of Continuous Professional Development for the Visual Communications sector in Ireland, with the aim of establishing what benefits exist for both the employee and employer. Research is undertaken to identify CPD programmes that currently exist in other industries in Ireland for the purpose of establishing commonalities and how this may apply to the Visual Communications sector. This is achieved through a combination of literature review, desk research, surveys of employees and employers in the Visual Communications sector and a number of semi-formal interviews with representatives from various industry sectors with established CPD …