Education Commons^™

Student Perspectives Of Eportfolio Implementation Within An Irish Hei Context, Fiona Walsh

Masters

This research study considers third-level student experiences of ePortfolio use during their education. Digital pedagogical tools provide educators with an authentic mode of assessment that presents a holistic view of student learning both inside and outside the classroom. ePortfolios are a digital pedagogical tool associated with the enhancement of the student learning experience and have received increased attention within the higher education sector; particularly during the Covid 19 restrictions where they offered educators an alternative mode of assessment to the traditional paper-based assessment. The purpose of this study was to identify the main challenges undergraduate students face when engaging with …

An Explorative Case-Study Of The Use Of Peerwise To Foster Student Centred, And Peer Supported, Learning In A First-Year Business Module, Anna Dynan, Barry J. Ryan

Irish Business Journal

Peer based learning is not a new concept in business studies in higher education; however, the integration of technology enabled and asynchronous peer learning has limited reported use and even less evidence based evaluation. In this explorative case study, the online tool PeerWise was used to scaffold and support an asynchronous peer-learning environment for a group of 212 first year business studies students. Students were required to create, answer and rate multiple choice questions on topics aligned to their curriculum within the peer constructed PeerWise question database. While there was no statistically significant correlation between PeerWise engagement and final module …

An Evaluation Of The Student Experience To Inform Strategic Decision Making In Tertiary Education, Aileen Cotter, Michele Mcmanus, Mary Oldham, Nollaig O'Sullivan

Irish Business Journal

The need for enhancing the student experience in tertiary education has been widely documented. It is generally agreed that students need to be more engaged with their own learning to achieve this. This paper takes an applied approach and examines some of the ‘academic instruments’ that are used in third level institutions that impact directly on the student experience and consequently their levels of engagement. For the purpose of this study, ‘academic instruments’ are examined under the following headings: Teamwork, Learning Management System, and Self-Directed Study. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research explored these issues with a representative sample of …

Towards An Understanding Of The Use Of Digital Media To Facilitate The Inclusion Of Children With Learning Disabilities In Mainstream Primary School Classrooms, Róisín Garvey

Masters

Inclusion, or the integration into mainstream classrooms of students with learning difficulties, should strive to make the students’ education sufficiently challenging while also making considerations for their particular capabilities and needs. A key aspect of inclusion is the requirement for appropriate support services and additional aids for both students and teachers. Digital media can be effective in helping to facilitate learning and can provide opportunities for engagement, peer learning, curriculum support and assessment. It can also promote collaborative and cooperative learning when the educational content is tailored to the capabilities of individual students. Finding teaching strategies that are suitable for …

Learning In Action: Implementing A Facilitated Learning Programme For Tourism Micro-Firms, Dr. Felicity Kelliher, Dr. Leana Reinl

Irish Business Journal

This paper presents findings from research associated with a tourism micro-firm facilitated learning programme, carried out over a four-year period. Considering traditional educational interventions have had limited impact on micro-firm activities; the researchers propose an alternative approach to meeting the learning needs of micro-firms which encompass local and self-developed knowledge and the successful completion of learning cycles. Using a behavioural lens, the researchers’ consider the experiential learning impact of facilitated learning programmes on observed micro-firm owner-managers. Adopting an action learning (AL) approach, the researchers explore the design, development, implementation and impact of this programme and contemplate the observed micro-firms’ focus …

Maths Attainment Through Curriculum Based Multimedia In A Vle, Brenda Walsh

Theses

The growth of virtual learning environments (VLE) and learning management systems (LMS) in the European and British educational sector is a trend that is continuing to grow. There are indications that education in Ireland will follow a similar trend. This study investigated whether a curriculum aligned multimedia application in a MOODLE VLE encouraged students to improve their scores in the standardized tests, in particular the primary school SIGMA-T test. Participants’ attitude and self-efficacy in relation to maths were also included in the study.

The areas of learning and in particular e-leaming in the context of a VLE were researched. As …

Ict Integration To Second-Level Schools, Maria Hartnett

Theses

An in-depth questionnaire was sent to the twenty seven second level schools in Kerry. Results were then analysed and compared to similar results obtained by Aidan Mulkeen in his statistical report of the ICT 2002 Survey. An online class on Preparing for College was designed and developed. This class was delivered to three second level schools in Kerry who had shown an interest in taking part. None of the three schools had the ICT facilities required to accommodate such a learning environment. All students were required to fill out an online questionnaire in order to determine their reaction to the …

The Construction And Maintenance Of A School Intranet Based Discipline Monitoring System : Design Development And Implementation Using Open Source Software Mysql, Php And Apache, Seán Geary

Theses

This aim of this project is to build a School Discipline Database, which will record and display student breaches of discipline, using dynamic web pages. Management presently implements a school discipline system based on the issuing of Yellow or Red cards to students, depending on the gravity of the offence. A student incurs detention, when 3 Yellow Card offences for general misbehaviour or 1 Red Card offence for serious misbehaviour occurs. The database is created and populated using open source software MySQL, PHP and Apache. A database driven web site allows the content of the site to reside in a …

The Convergence Of Traditional Higher Education And E-Learning: Organisational, Societal, Technological And Pedagogical Trends, Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin

Theses

The thesis is about the coming together of two traditions and how they are both changing dynamically in relation to each other, giving rise to a number of discernable organisational, societal, technological and pedagogical trends. Each tradition is examined in turn in the first two chapters, which deal with issues such as what the definitional characteristics of each tradition are and what factors have determined them. Organisational and societal trends in the convergence of traditional higher education and e-learning, as described in chapter three, highlight the tensions between the two traditions, as evidenced in the specific challenges e- learning represents …