Education Commons^™

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 …

A Tutoring Framework To Support Computer Science Programmes In Higher Education, Emer Thornbury, Frances Sheridan, Pramod Pathak, Cristina Hava Muntean, Paul Stynes

Conference papers

Computing Support is the provision of academic supports such as individual tutoring and support classes to students studying computing at third level. Students can struggle with computing as it requires practice involving trial and error. This work proposes a research informed tutoring framework to support computer science students at third level. The tutoring framework combines three pillars; staff and training, pedagogies and activities. Support is put in place to help students develop technical and programming skills. Essential tutoring is provided for those who might otherwise drop out of college. The framework was applied to first and second-year undergraduate programmes and …

Empowering Responsible And Sustainability-Aware Business Graduates Through Digital Authentic Assessment, Lucia Walsh, Olivia Freeman, Alacoque Mcalpine, Cormac H. Macmahon

Conference papers

Business schools must engage in fundamental change to retain their legitimacy and position themselves as providers of solutions to urgent economic, social and environmental crises. Achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has emerged as a megatrend and business education must enhance graduate skills to contribute to their achievement. The world requires the next generation of graduates to become responsible business leaders who will address wicked sustainability problems. Hence, we need pedagogy that enables students to become sustainability literate and thus develop appropriate knowledge, skills and mindsets.

Authentic assessment provides transformative learning opportunities that empower students to achieve meaningful …

Addressing The "Leaky Pipeline": A Review And Categorisation Of Actions To Recruit And Retain Women In Computing Education, Alina Berry, Susan Mckeever, Brenda Murphy, Sarah Jane Delany

Conference papers

Gender imbalance in computing education is a well-known issue around the world. For example, in the UK and Ireland, less than 20% of the student population in computer science, ICT and related disciplines are women. Similar figures are seen in the labour force in the field across the EU. The term "leaky pipeline"; is often used to describe the lack of retention of women before they progress to senior roles. Numerous initiatives have targeted the problem of the leaky pipeline in recent decades. This paper provides a comprehensive review of initiatives related to techniques used to boost recruitment and improve …

Capturing More Voice In Entrepreneurial Education, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

A key element in Entrepreneurship education is exposing learners to real life entrepreneurial experiences. This is most often done via guest lectures who provide insightful presentations on their journeys, activities and strategies. This is often an element that students enjoy and report on positively in quality assurance forms. However, there are limitations to this approach as usually it is limited to one entrepreneur per module/semester, the type of entrepreneur who provides the guest lecture may be related to proximity, convenience or current networks of the lecturer, and diverse interests of students, and entrepreneurial representation, may not be met in this …

Incorporating Digital Ethics Throughout The Software Development Process, Michael Collins, Damian Gordon, Anna Becevel, William O'Mahony

Conference papers

The media is reporting scandals associated with computer companies with increasing regularity; whether it is the misuse of user data, breach of privacy concerns, the use of biased artificial intelligence, or the problems of automated vehicles. Because of these complex issues, there is a growing need to equip computer science students with a deep appreciation of ethics, and to ensure that in the future they will develop computer systems that are ethically-based. One particularly useful strand of their education to incorporate ethics into is when teaching them about the formal approaches to developing computer systems.

There are a number of …

Soft Skills Development In Hospitality, Tourism And Event Management Education, Denise O'Leary, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

Soft skills are skills such as interpersonal and social skills, communication skills, teamwork and the ability to self motivate. Numerous studies have shown that employers in the tourism, hospitality and events sectors place high value on soft skills when recruiting new employees, yet these skills can often be underdeveloped in graduates of tourism and hospitality programmes (Stietska-Ilina et al. 2005, Nyanjom and Wilkins 2016). This in part because unlike hard skills, which are more technical in nature and as a result, measurable, soft skills can be difficult to measure, document and assess in third level education programmes.

This paper reports …

Assessment Strategies To Promote Peer Learning In An Online Course, Pauline Rooney, Caitríona Ní Shé

Conference papers

The value of peer learning in higher education is now well recognised. Just as we continually learn from eachother in our everyday lives, so our students also learn from eachother as part of informal and formal learning experiences. Within educational programmes, peer learning is facilitated through a variety of pedagogical strategies which promote active participation, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and ideas. With the increasing ubiquity of social networking and online learning platforms, new opportunities for facilitating peer learning, have emerged. Within online courses – where students often study at geographically disparate locations – peer learning strategies assume arguably …

Achieving Sdg Targets: The European Approach: Compliance - The Case Of Energy & Irish Universities, Dr. Mary Whitney, Andy Maguire

Conference papers

Ireland, as a nation, has signed up to the SDGs. The main drivers in reaching these targets will be through a set of interventions that are encompassing
- legislation
- compliance to higher regulations
- incentives
- dissemination of effective best practice
When all put together it is a large and complex tapestry of actions.

The presentation takes Energy as an example. It outlines how the targets have been set nationally to achieve Ireland's internationally agreed targets. The resulting approach is highlighted, filtering down to what specific steps are taking place in the public sector. The resulting actions that are …

The #Vleireland Project, Claire Mcavinia, Angelica Risquez

Conference papers

A decade after Martin Weller’s proclamation that ‘The VLE/LMS Is Dead’ (2007) was met with widespread acclaim and debate, virtual learning environmentsVLEs)remain pervasive in most higher education institutions (HEIs) including those in Ireland .

Csi4 : A Curriculum For Ensuring More Employable Ict Graduates, Deirdre Lillis

Conference papers

ICT skills shortages worldwide can be met by global software innovators that can work in any sector. HubLinked, a partnership of 11 industry and HE partners in the EU and Korea, is developing an integrated CSI4 curriculum for industry-oriented, internationalised, innovation-focused and interdisciplinary Computer Science degrees. CSI4 features Global Labs, where teams of students work across timezones to prototype software, an IaH experience which mimics working in a global ICT company.

Global Software Innovators Strengthening The Software Innovation Capacity Of Europe And Korea, Deirdre Lillis, Paul Doyle, Michael Collins, Brian Keegan, Luca Longo, William O'Mahony, Peter Manifold

Conference papers

Global entrepreneurial talent management is a key challenge for the software sector internationally where competition for high-end skills is intense. SMEs are at a significant disadvantage when competing with major multinationals to access these skills. The Information and Communications Technology sector accounts for 5% of all employment in the EU and there are 900,000 vacancies in this sector in 2017 [1], however over 50% of senior ICT managers believe graduates lack the necessary combination of technical, business and interpersonal skills [2]. In addition, only 4 in 1000 women work in the ICT sector [3].

To address these challenges, HubLinked, an …

The Lecturer As Learner: Exploring That Digital Divide One More Time, Mary O'Rawe

Conference papers

Although there is widespread acceptance of the importance, and indeed superiority, of student-centred learning in the contemporary success equation (McCabe & O’Connor, 2014), charting the route to such success remains problematic. Many assumptions around the nature of digital learning, and inter-generational attitudes to such learning are still made.

Specific to the context of technology-enhanced teaching, learning and assessment in a higher education environment, a range of generic and particular debates around how to be student-centric arise. Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) has been examined extensively from both the student’s viewpoint, and the lecturer’s perspective (Waycott et al., 2010). But how can these …

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 …

How Can Higher Education Institutions (Heis) Support The Development Of Entrepreneurial Mindsets In Local Communities?, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney

Conference papers

Promoting an entrepreneurial culture through the development of entrepreneurial mindsets has become an important mission on the education and enterprise policy agenda of many governments and supranational organisations. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have responded to this call by developing entrepreneurship / enterprise education pedagogies that now place a greater focus on engendering entrepreneurial competencies within individuals rather than on the creation of new ventures. Such competences are relevant for all aspects of an individual’s life and may assist them in navigating the ever changing, chaotic, global world in which they live. However, some commentators have argued that this development is …

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 …

A Phenomenological Study Of Irish And Portuguese Women’S Experiences Of Receiving Family Support When Studying Stem Subjects At Technical Institutes, Shannon Chance, B. Williams

Conference papers

This paper reports a research study of women’s experiences of receiving family support when studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects at technical institutes in Ireland and Portugal. Specifically, it reports phenomenological analysis of 19 interviews conducted during the 2014-­2015 academic years with female students studying engineering subjects at technical institutes in Ireland and Portugal. It identifies forms of positive support received from family as well as problematic family dynamics and concerns. Parents, uncles, and aunts provide many positive forces, as do surrogates (i.e., adopted family and close mentors). Cousins and brothers also provide role models and information. For …

Conceptualising Curriculum Change: Structuring The Final Year Learning Experience On A Professionally-Orientated Degree Programme In Education Studies., Roisin Donnelly, Julie Uí Choistealbha, Marian Fitzmaurice

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

A Cpd Programme For Out-Of-Field Mathematics Teachers: Programme Outline And Preliminary Evaluations By Participants, Fiona Faulkner

Conference papers

This paper outlines an innovative Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme established in the Republic of Ireland for out-of-field mathematics teachers in second-level education. Research on out-of-field mathematics teachers in Ireland conducted in 2009 (Ní Ríordáin & Hannigan) motivated the development of a unique two year, part time Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching (PDMT). The PDMT was first offered in 2012 jointly by the University of Limerick (UL) and the National University of Ireland, Galway and currently has 550 graduates. The main research question that this project aimed to address was: Are teachers enrolled in the PDMT satisfied with the …

Augmented Reality And The Events Curriculum: The Students' Perspective, Mary O'Rawe, Alex Gibson

Conference papers

The emergence of Augmented Reality (AR) as a ground-breaking technology has transcended both business and academic sectors. Despite its rapid rise commercially, evidence of the benefits of AR in the classroom at higher education is slower to emerge, with only a limited focus to date on its specific relationship with curriculum development and learning outcomes. To respond to the changing characteristics of the higher education learning environment, and the shift towards mobile learning (M Learning) and ubiquitous learning (U Learning), it is clear that educators should reflect these trends in curriculum design and didactic methods. This paper presents the findings …

The Effects Of Change On Culture And Identities: Case Study Of A Higher Educational Institution, Ann Conway

Conference papers

The primary aim of the research was to identify drivers of change and mergers in higher education. It was then reflected on how changes and mergers impact on cultures and professional academic identities. The case study is based on review of government policies and institutional strategy documents looking towards the future and determining how they are affecting the current situation in the Institution. This was conducted via analysis of interviews and observations at meetings and classes, and via use of discourse analysis of some policy and strategy documents. The interviewees were asked about their views on which factors bring about …

Assessing The Validity And Reliability Of Dichotomous Test Results Using Item Response Theory On A Group Of First Year Engineering Students, Edmund Nevin, Avril Behan, Gavin Duffy, Stephanie Farrell, Rachel Harding, Robert Howard, Aaron Mac Raighne, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

Traditional measurement instruments employed to assess the performance of student’s studying on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related programmes typically involve classification based on final scores. The validity and reliability of these instruments and test forms are important considerations when assessing whether a student understands content and if not, where and in what way they are struggling. The aim of this study is to examine, validate and analyse the test results of first-year engineering student’s at an Institute of Higher Learning in Ireland who took the Purdue Spatial Visualisation Test of Rotation (PSVT:R). Results obtained were analysed using the …

Using Theory To Improve Design Instruction In A New Common First-Year Programme For Engineers, Una Beagon, Ted Burke, Shannon Chance, Fionnuala Farrell, John Mcgrory

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of Formative Audio Feedback Within Part Time Professional Development Programmes In Dit., Roisin Donnelly, Claire M. Mcdonnell, Claire Mcavinia

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Inter-University International Collaboration For An Online Course: A Case Study, John O'Connor, Claudia Igbrude, Dudley Turner

Conference papers

This paper is a practical account of the experience of collaboration between two international partners – one in Europe and the other in the United States. This collaboration experience is a lens through which the authors outline the origin, design and implementation of an inter-university teaching experience. The processes, strengths and difficulties are outlined and the rationale for utilising a virtual world is given, along with the participants’ perspectives of the experience. No institutional changes or formal agreements were needed.

The same course was validated and accredited by each institution and designed to address the requirements of each with the …

Spatial Skills As Predictors Of Success In First-Year Engineering, Sheryl Sorby, Edmund Nevin, Avril Behan, Eileen Mageean, Sarah Sheridan

Conference papers

Numerous research studies have highlighted the importance of well-developed 3-D spatial skills for success in STEM related programs. Poor spatial skills, particularly among first-year students, can place them at a distinct disadvantage when completing introductory courses in mathematics, CAD, descriptive geometry, and graphic communications - first-year requirements in many STEM related programs. This in turn can lead to poor grades and retention issues. Women are disproportionally among the group of students with weak or poorly developed 3-D spatial skills meaning that they are at a greater risk of leaving engineering when compared to their male counterparts. In this study, the …

Initial Investigation Into Spatial Skills As Predictors Of Success In First-Year Stem Programmes, Sheryl Sorby, Edmund Nevin, Eileen Mageean, Sarah Sheridan, Avril Behan

Conference papers

Through numerous research studies conducted over the past fifty years, the importance of well-developed 3-D spatial skills for success in engineering and other STEM fields has been widely demonstrated. Research conducted in the U.S. and elsewhere, has demonstrated the high level of 3-D spatial skills found in engineering students; however, not all of our first-year students have strong spatial skills when they start their post-secondary studies. Poor spatial skills put these students at a distinct disadvantage when completing introductory courses in mathematics, CAD, descriptive geometry, and graphic communications - first-year requirements in many engineering and STEM programs. In turn, this …

Using Vles And Mobile Technology To Aid In The Provision Of An Upgraded Delivery Mechanism For The Basic Principles Of Quantity Surveying, Charles Anthony Mitchell

Conference papers

Building measurement has its roots on the construction site not in the classroom. As a result of this it is a subject which is better taught in a practical manner, rather like an apprenticeship. Many students entering the course, whether as standard entry or as mature students, will have had little or no exposure to building measurement as carried out by the quantity surveyor unless they have had some experience of working with a quantity surveyor. As a result students may find the initial learning process very intense. The maths used are relatively simplistic. Building measurement is about analysing the …

A Reflective Report On Values Informing Professional Practice In Educating The Educators, Roisin Donnelly

Conference papers

While a significant body of work on the practice of academic development exists, research on academic developers (those charged with supporting the education of academic staff in higher education) as professionals is limited, and few have explored the profession from the perspective of academic developers themselves [21]. Specifically, this reflective report begins to address the question of how best to prepare and support current and future academic developers for their ambiguous and complex roles and their need to function within the changing environment of higher education institutions. Since embarking on a role in an Irish Higher Education Institution in 1999 …

Promoting Environmental Sustainability By Fostering A Culture Of Material Ethics, Shannon Chance, Pearl O'Rourke

Conference papers

Creating a culture of ‘material ethics’ can help engineers and product designers in the quest to achieve environmental sustainability. By framing this particular issue and focusing attention on it, Engineering and Product Design educators can help establish a shared language to undergird students’ conceptualizations of the natural world and instil a healthy sense of interdependency and responsibility. Overall, this paper explores the idea of ‘material ethics’ and presents arguments and applications for building such a culture at the tertiary level. As design educators, the authors of this paper aim to provide a broad and useful overview of environmental issues relevant …