Education Commons^™

Exploring Supports Provided For Student Eportfolio Development In A Professional Development Context, Muireann Okeeffe

Articles

This small scale study aimed to explore and establish if support strategies implemented to enhance student ePortfolios were helpful to students and to identify useful ways of supporting ePortfolio development with future cohorts of students. This action research study was informed through focus group discussion and individual interviews with students.

The importance of reflection for the development professional practice and of creative abilities is discussed. The substantial benefits of creativity within education are investigated and characteristics of creativity that might be developed with students’ ePortfolios are revealed. Specifically this paper seeks to foster Crafts (2011) four characteristics of creativity, pluralities, …

Supporting Professionalism In Educational Development In Irish Higher Education, Muireann Okeeffe

Articles

Higher education, in Ireland and globally, is undergoing profound change influenced by a variety of factors. In conjunction with these changes many initiatives to improve teaching and learning and the quality of graduates in higher education have been introduced in recent years. The changes and expansions in the sector has enabled growth of new roles in higher education described as ‘third space’ professionals by Whitchurch (2008).

This paper describes the struggle of those in third space professions, such as academic development, to establish a professional identity in higher education. The benefits of these contemporary roles to higher education are …

Changing The Assessment To Promote Deeper Learning, Jennifer Byrne

Conference papers

The Technological University Dublin is one of the largest multi-level higher education providers in Ireland. The Institute’s traditional mission has always been focused on teaching and learning in the field of advanced technical vocational education and training (TVET), and one of its agendas is to foster and encourage changes in teaching practice and methodology in order to enhance the student learning experience.

This paper is a result of the ever changing process which shows the evolution of the assessment process to its current format. It was driven by the fact that we as lecturers realised that the assessments promoted surface …

Personalised E-Learning: Facilitating Students' Understanding And Mastery Of New Concepts, Eileen O'Donnell, Victoria Macarthur, Mary Sharp

Other resources

Each individual perceives and experiences life and learning in their own unique way. Past experiences can influence our understanding and mastery of new concepts. Occasionally, learners meet obstacles in their learning experiences which they find difficult to surmount.Not all learners require the same learning experience to reach the required thresholds or basic units of understanding which are expected to succeed with their course of study. Threshold concepts are part of the fundamentals of a subject which one builds upon to eventually achieve the required learning outcomes. The provision of personalised e-learning resources to assist students to surmount their personal learning …

Reducing Recidivism Through Entrepreneurship Programmes In Prisons, Thomas Cooney

Articles

Prison systems are facing significant challenges from overcrowding and a ‘revolving door’ routine. Reducing recidivism would help alleviate both these problems and would also assist in breaking the cycle of career criminality. However, one of the primary causes of recidivism is a lack of employment opportunities for people who have spent time in prison, thereby causing them to return to crime. Given the dearth of entrepreneurship research on ex-prisoners, this paper examines a ‘Start Your Own Business’ programme delivered inside a prison. Based on interviews with the participants, the author examines whether such programmes offer a realistic opportunity for reducing …