Education Commons^™

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 …

Quizmastery: Students As Bloggers And Testers In Pursuit Of Grammatical Competence, Sue Norton, Odette Gabaudan

Articles

This article considers the challenges confronted by instructors of composition and writing skills in higher education. Identifying key aspects of grammar, syntax, and punctuation, it argues that a grammatically informed terminology is helpful to learner-writers endeavouring to improve the clarity of their written assignments. To aid assimilation of this terminology, and the concepts it signifies, e-learning tools can be integrated into the curriculum so that students can consolidate knowledge through their own construction of it. As they create blogs and peer to peer quizzes, they become more theoretically and practically informed about the basis of effective writing practices.

Developing Appropriate Educational Modules Aimed At Industry - An Example From Surveying At Masters Level, Audrey Martin

Articles

This paper describes the process from inception to completion of developing academic modules appropriate for upgrading survey professionals engaged in the public sector. It focuses on one such module continuing professional development module in ‘Gravity and Height’ for National Mapping, developed by the Technological University Dublin Spatial Information Sciences Group for the National Mapping Agency, Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) and staff from similar organisations.

Mapping Of Digital Literacy Skills, Allison Kavanagh

Other Resources

In 2013 DIT developed a set of graduate attributes known as the “Five E’s”: Engaged, Enterprising, Enquiry based, Effective and Expert in chosen subject discipline. Each of these five attributes is comprised of several additional attributes, one of which is digital literacy.

This presentation explains what digital literacy is, why it is an important attribute for our students and graduates to develop, and discusses practical ways of creating a mapping between a programme’s assessment methods and the digital literacy graduate attribute.

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 …

The Right Way To Write: An Academic Writing Guide For First Year Undergraduates, Mary O'Rawe, Brian Murphy

Student Resources

This booklet has been designed to provide a first-year undergraduate student with a single source of information and guidelines to help them produce better work at the level of writing required at college. It is intended for first-year undergraduates, whether on a level 7 or level 8 degree, so that they can start to build the skills and learning required on the student journey towards their degree.

Developing Graduate Attributes To Meet The Grand Challenges: What Pedagogical Factors Influence The Development Of Graduate Attributes And Does Engineering Education Ensure Graduates Can Address The Global Grand Challenges?, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

My interest in preparing graduates for a successful career in industry stems from personal experience of employing graduates as civil and structural engineers in an engineering consultancy role. The range of skills, abilities and values of each graduate was varied, and it became apparent that academic achievement, whilst important was not the defining skill for achieving early responsibility or promotion within the company. More often, the graduate who was able to communicate well and self-direct his/her work was given more responsibility and opportunity. Many graduates would define early promotion, advanced responsibility and the associated increase in salary as the beginnings …

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 …