Education Commons^™

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Problem-Based Computer Modelling Module From The Student's Perspective, Garrett Keane, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

The Computer Modelling module delivered to the third year Level 8 Mechanical Engineering students in the Technological University Dublin is marked completely by continual assessment. It was developed using a problem based approach in that the theory of Computer Modelling methods is first explained but is then illustrated by demonstrating its application to the solution of real life problems. It is delivered in a traditional manner for the first six weeks in that the underlying principles and techniques of the finite difference method are covered in lectures and practical assignments are completed in the weekly computer laboratory classes. A problem …

Sipr Environmental Monitoring Report 2, Grangegorman Development Agency

Publications

As part of the Site Infrastructure and Public Realm Contract the GDA is required to publish Environmental Monitoring Reports on a regular basis. The second one has just be completed and is available below.

World Class Universities And The Public Interest, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

No abstract provided.

Grangegorman Sustainability Strategy, Grangegorman Development Agency

Publications

This document defines the overall strategy to ensure that the development and more importantly the continual management of the Urban Quarter are guided by best practice sustainable policy. The strategy develops sustainability aims and outlines the strategy for the individual specific projects to collectively meet these aims. The GDA wishes to encourage innovation in the design solutions and to promote this, the strategy has been kept at a high level. The sustainability aims and relevant targets will be required to be met by design teams, stakeholders, occupants and facility managers of the Grangegorman Urban Quarter.

The Link Between Food Provenance And Local Producers, Dermot Seberry

Articles

The 'Hospitality Advice Clinic & Consultation Point'

The all new 'Hospitality Advice Clinic & Consultation Point' is a new feature added to Food & Bev Live to give visitors the opportunity to stay up to date on relevant topics within the Hospitality & Foodservice Industries which will be presented in a seminar style format. The clinic presented visitors with a dedicated area on the floor which will offer key hospitality issues, advice, one-to-one consultations and access to industry professionals over the course of the day. The Hospitality Advice Clinic & Consultation Point will act as a one …

Creating And Sharing Information Literacy Open Educational Resources, Philip Russell

Conference Papers

From June 2010 until the present, a suite of online reusable learning objects (RLOs) has been created at the Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT Dublin) library covering a range of information literacy (IL) competencies. These RLOs have helped to facilitate student transition from second to third level, advance IL and enrich the student learning experience. The paper outlines the development of these resources, how these learning objects have been integrated into academic modules at ITT Dublin and how they have been shared and reused as open educational resources at national and international level. The author also discusses future plans for …

Sipr Environmental Monitoring Report 1, Grangegorman Development Agency

Publications

As part of the Site Infrastructure and Public Realm Contract the GDA is required to publish Environmental Monitoring Reports on a regular basis. The first one has just be completed and is available below.

Trends In Food Product Development: What’S New On The Supermarket Shelf, Anna Cruickshank

Other resources

The agri-food sector plays an integral part in Ireland’s economy. It is the largest indigenous industry, contributing €26 billion in turnover and generating 12.3% of merchandise exports. The agri-food and drink sector accounts for 7.2% of Ireland's economy-wide GVA and 12.3% of Ireland’s exports. The sector supports around 170,000 jobs or 8.8% of total employment and makes a particularly significant contribution to employment in rural areas. (DAFM 2014).

In a rapidly changing environment the survival of the food service industry and the food retail markets depend to a large extent on their capacity to develop and market new or radically …

Case Study On Higher Vocational Education And Training At Eqf-Levels 5 To 7 In Ireland, Frank Mcmahon

Reports

No abstract provided.

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 …

Searching For French Civilization: Reflections On Situating Information Literacy Skills In An Undergraduate French Curriculum, Carmel O'Reilly

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Wikis, Claire Mcdonnell

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Students work in groups and design a collaborative Wiki (PBWorks) based on a chemical molecule of choice. The choice of molecule is restricted to ones supplied by the lecturer. The groups form on their own and the majority of the work takes place outside of contact hours. The lecturer can monitor student engagement and activity through the Wiki history. Mid way through the assessment period (week three of a six week assessment window), the academic provides written feedback on the progress of the students’ Wiki by posting to the Wiki. The best Wikis may be entered into an external competition …

Performance Tasks And Portfolios, Deirdre Lawless

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Getting Students to Use Twitter To Explore and Report on Research Resources.

Class Presentation, Claire O'Connell

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Students prepare and deliver a presentation to their peers based on either a single journal article or a specific topic/issue within music education they have researched. Within some courses, this is done as a group project while in others it is an individual assignment.

Bringing It All Together Through Group Learning, Shannon Chance

Articles

Interpersonal and trans-disciplinary collaboration can facilitate and amplify the benefits of learning. Drawing from ideas presented throughout this volume, this culminating chapter describes ways to enhance collaborative learning within and among various stakeholder groups.

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 …

Researchnews, Volume 8, 2014., Dublin Institute Of Technology

Issues

No abstract provided.

Community Learning Project, Catherine Gorman

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Primarily this assessment involves a poster, a reflective report before they start and at the end where they address specific questions, and a final short report. These are primarily first years and the objective is to bring them into the community and for them to think about tourism in this context. Students are encouraged to look at a community’s needs and wants and depending on the particular project they develop ideas of how to increase tourism in these particular areas. Catherine Bates from Community Learning is very helpful in identifying appropriate communities. It is very important that there is feedback …

Class Presentation, Lorraine O'Connell

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Students prepare and deliver a presentation to their peers based on either a single journal article or a specific topic/issue within music education they have researched. Within some courses, this is done as a group project while in others it is an individual assignment.

College Is Where The Real Learning Happens: Perceptions From Irish Craft Apprentices Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Eric Bates

Articles

This research set out to examine the learning experience of three apprentice painters and decorators on the Irish Standards Based Apprenticeship from the Technological University Dublin. This apprenticeship involves college based and work based learning. The main aim of the study was to explore the learning experiences of apprentices in their own words. This would provide for unique insights into their learning experience. The research method was one on one semi structured interviews and the data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. One of the super ordinate themes that emerged from the data analysis was the perception among the participants …

Enhancing Graduate Attributes Utilising Social Media, Eric Bates, Peter Hinch

Conference papers

The objective of this research was to ascertain the usefulness of utilising social media to enhance graduate attributes. This study was conducted during one semester and concentrated on one aspect of graduate attributes which were interview skills. Two videos were scripted, shot and edited that focused on interviews from the perspective of both the interviewer and the interviewee. These videos were incorporated into workshops with first year and second year level 8 undergraduate students. Pre-video questionnaires were filled out and post video questionnaires were then filled out. The videos successfully provoked an awareness of the requirements in both situations and …

Students' Views On Assessment, Fiona Mcsweeney

Other resources

The aim of the study was to explore the views and experiences of students in a Social Science department in an institute of higher education. All undergraduate students were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. 258 valid questionnaire were returned and analysed to ascertain students’ opinions on the purpose of assessment, how prepared they felt for assessments, their experiences and views of formative feedback and their reactions to grades. Findings show that while students have completed a good range of assessment types and show awareness of the learning potential of assessments they do not feel they understand lecturers’ expectations nor are …

Development Of A New Msc In Geospatial Engineering, Audrey Martin, Kevin Mooney, Eugene Mcgovern

Conference papers

To meet the changing needs of the Spatial Information Sciences industry and cognisant of the declining numbers of undergraduate students in Geomatics, the Spatial Information Sciences Group at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland, has recently developed a new conversion Masters (MSc) programme in Geospatial Engineering. Conversion Masters programmes facilitate the horizontal movement of graduates with a cognate degree into Geomatics domains and thus cater to a wide audience. The aim of the MSc in Geospatial Engineering is to prepare innovative graduates to work with high competence, using specialised skills and deep knowledge, as producers, managers and users of geospatial …

A Reflective Conversation: Community And Hei Perspectives On Community-Based Research., Niamh O'Reilly, Catherine Bates

Staff Articles and Research Papers

This paper is a reflective correspondence between a community partner and a community-based research coordinator in a higher education institute (HEI). We asked each other questions about our experience of collaborating on two community-based research (CBR) projects, in order to share our learning from our collaboration, and to relate this to the wider context in order to develop recommendations for others – community partners and HEI staff – who would like to initiate CBR projects in the future.

The Personal Made Public: An Actor-Led Devised Film Project, Peter Mcdermott

Teaching Fellowships

This project enabled students on the DIT Conservatory’s BA in Drama (Performance) to create five short films on a subject of their own choosing, drawing on their own personal experience. Using methods derived from Jerzy Grotowski and Anne Bogart, the students worked in small groups to workshop ideas and, with the support of two co-directors, to develop their scripts. A professional production team was assembled to shoot the films. After post-production, there was a public screening and the films were made available online. The project addressed two questions: 1. Through devising, to what extent can actors be more empowered in …

Towards Entrepreneurship Learning Outcomes In Business Education And Beyond: Next Practice? Design And Guidance, Anthony Paul Buckley

Teaching Fellowships

High growth economies can be differentiated from low growth economies by their high investment in knowledge, low knowledge filter and high levels of entrepreneurial capital. These states help create entrepreneurial capital by providing their citizens with opportunities to learn to be more enterprising in their pursuit of value creation and capture. What should be taught, how and what are the appropriate learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education and training (EET) then become the relevant questions. This paper reviews the relevant EET literature, assesses current thinking and practice and concludes, in the absence of empirical evidence in favour of a particular pedagogical …

The Development, Implementation And Initial Evaluation Of Tailorable Resource Packs For Multimedia Based "Assessments For Learning", Barry Ryan

Teaching Fellowships

In this project a suite of tailorable teaching and learning resources were created, implemented and evaluated. These resources focused on the assessment for learning model, adopting the constructivist approach to learning. Here, the student builds their knowledge, and deepens their understanding, as they complete their assessment. The resources were designed to aid academic adoption, and student implementation, of this model of assessment. The assessment outputs created using these resources were digital videos and network concept maps. The tailorable resources provided a structured and scaffolded environment for both the academic and student to explore this learning space. Both students and academic …

Self-Chem: Student Engagement In Learning Through Flipped Chemistry Lectures, Michael K. Seery

Teaching Fellowships

This project introduces the idea of “flipped lecturing” to a group of second year students. The aim of flipped lecturing is to provide much of the “content delivery” of lecture in advance, so that the lecture hour can be devoted to more in-depth discussion, problem solving, etc. As well as development of the material, a formal evaluation is being conducted. Fifty-one students from year 2 Chemical Thermodynamics module took part in this study. Students were provided with online lectures in advance of their lectures. Along with each online lecture, students were given a handout to work through as they watched …

Web-Based Peer Tutoring In Science Education, Aaron Mac Raighne

Teaching Fellowships

Peer-instruction has been shown to have a very positive effect on students’ engagement and learning. PeerWise is a web-tool designed to allow peer-tutoring between students within a large class group. Students can write, answer and discuss Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) based on their work in-class. It is low-cost and low-maintenance software which has become increasingly popular across many subject disciplines as a method to introduce a peer-tutoring aspect to course work. In this study we introduce PeerWise as a form of continuous assessment to a wide and varied cohort of science students (N=509) across disciplines, undergraduate years, levels (certificate to …

Rankings In Institutional Strategies And Processes: Impact Or Illusion, Ellen Hazelkorn, Tia Kloukkola, Therese Zhang

Reports

Higher education is undergoing rapid change in response to developments occurring at national and international level. Today, universities’ performance worldwide is increasingly being measured using rankings which have been developed by governmental and/or commercial agencies, at both national and international level. The Rankings in Institutional Strategies and Processes (RISP) project is the first pan-European study of the impact and influence of rankings on European higher education institutions. The project has sought to build understanding of how rankings impact and influence the development of institutional strategies and processes and its results are presented in the publication.