Education Commons^™

"I Don't Have The Time!" Analysing Talk Of Time In Lecturers' Use Of The Vle, Claire Mcavinia, Deirdre Ryan, David Moloney

Articles

This paper reports on findings from the recent extension of the VLE survey which examined VLE usage from a staff perspective. 580 staff across seven institutions responded to the survey. The survey explored staff perceptions of the VLE and the opportunities for and barriers to its effective use. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed in order to identify the major factors influencing staff engagement with the VLE. Time (or the lack thereof) emerged as the greatest barrier to effective use of the VLE. When time was in scarce supply, staff evaluated where to spend it and prioritised accordingly. The amount …

Blended Learning - What Practitioners Can Learn From Moocs, Aine Whelan, Aimee Byrne, Keith Colton, Patrick Crean, Conor Mcgarrigle

Practitioner Research Projects

The rapid increase in the use of information technologies in third level education is changing the way courses are provided. Online multimedia have helped reduce the difficulties teachers face with a diversity of student profiles and a large number of students in a classroom. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) present an extreme with regard to student groups in relation to size and diversity and, therefore, many techniques and methods of overcoming the difficulties that this can present have been developed. Much of these methods can apply to online courses generally and to blended teaching environments. This study identifies four key …

Building Information Modelling Incorporating Technology Based Assessment, Maurice Murphy, Lloyd Scott

Teaching Fellowships

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is currently being developed as a virtual learning tool for construction and surveying students in the Technological University Dublin. This advanced technology is also used to develop a technology based assessment practice for enhancing the learning environment of construction and surveying students. A theoretical design framework is presented in this paper, which combines advanced technology and assessment theory to create a virtual learning environment. This is based on the move from teacher-centered to student-centered learning, which attaches a higher degree of importance on what students know, understand, and can do as a result of their educational …

Improving Core Mathematical Skills In Engineering Undergraduates, Michael Carr

Teaching Fellowships

A large number of engineering undergraduates being their third level education with significant deficiencies in their core mathematical skills. Every year, in the Technological University Dublin (DIT) , a diagnostic test is given to incoming first year students, consistently revealing problems in basic mathematics. It is difficult to motivate many students to seek help in the Maths Learning Centre to address these problems. As a result, they struggle through several years of engineering, carrying a serious handicap of poor core mathematical skills, as confirmed by exploratory testing of final year students

In order to improve these skills in engineering students …

Developing A Pedagogic Approach To Enhance Student Learning Before, During And After International Work Placement: Teaching Fellowship 11, Frank Cullen

Teaching Fellowships

The report commences with a brief overview of the Fellowship research and provides insight into the benefits of mobility. Erasmus mobility is viewed as a means to promote the Department of Culinary Arts in the international culinary arena via the student’s skills and performance. It is clear from this research that the international internships provide exceptional opportunities for students to integrate and learn in different cultural environments. It is argued that this research addresses many of the unanswered issues related to internship before, during and after the experience: issues of knowledge, identity, integration and the student’s personal development. This research …

An Examination Of The Use Of Blended Learning To Support Improvement Of Engagement And Retention Of Part-Time Postgraduate Level Students Using Student Edited Podcasts, Deirdre Lawless, Damian Gordon

Teaching Fellowships

Part time students must content with a large number of logistical factors which may inhibit their ability to attend all required instruction sessions. The vast majority of part-time students are in full –time employment and due to either family or work pressure may be unable to attend all classes. This can have a significant impact on the student learning experience. Students can quickly fall behind, become de-motivated and can increasingly seek deferrals from with examinations or the programme itself. Given the current economic climate it is to be expected that the numbers of students interested in upskilling will be increased …

International Collaboration In Blended Problem-Based Learning, Roisin Donnelly

Conference papers

European education today is characterized by two dominant trends. First, e-learning has made impressive advances in the past five years. Second, European higher education has become increasingly internationalized. Within this, there has been an obvious shift towards more social, collaborative and communal perspectives of learning reported in recent educational research. Various forms of collaborative and inquiry-based learning include the idea that learning should be understood as a combination of participation, knowledge creation and internal processes. This paper discusses the blending of e-learning and problem-based learning (PBL), based on these observations and as a comprehensive approach encompassing the learning environment, curriculum, …