Teaching and Learning Projects and Research

Re-imagining Assessment: The ATU Re-imagining Assessment Project is co-led by Dr Noelle Higgins (ATU Galway-Mayo), Dr Niamh Plunkett (ATU Sligo) and Dr Deirdre McClay (ATU Donegal). This project has been supported by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching and N-TUTORR Transforming Learning project (Dr Carina Ginty (N-TUTORR ATU lead). The project team has worked alongside six programmes in ATU and with programme leads from each programme to explore the student and staff experience with Assessment, Feedback and Academic Integrity. The project team has carried out a wide range of activities including data collection, showcasing events, an assessment masterclass series, development of an assessment resource directory, and the development and running of the Let’s Talk about Assessment workshop. For further information about the project, please contact the projects Research Assistant Emma McDonald at Emma.McDonald@atu.ie.

In January 2019, ATU was awarded a HEA Innovation in Teaching and Learning award to build digital capabilities in the region over 3 years. The iNOTE project provided opportunities to transform the higher education experience in ATU. The project included five work packages covering the development of quality assurance policies and procedures to enable digital learning; the development of a digital teaching and learning training programme and online education courses for all staff to build digital capabilities and pedagogic expertise, in order to design, deliver and support flexible, distance and e-learning programmes; the development of an online learning student support services model; design and development of three online learning programmes; and evaluation and dissemination of all project outputs across ATU.

Ireland’s technological sector, combining new technological universities and institutes of technology, have formed a partnership to develop and deliver on the National Technological University Transformation for Recovery and Resilience (N-TUTORR) programme. This programme, which is EU funded and overseen by the HEA, proposes to utilize the national scale and scope of the sector to deliver a best-practice suite of initiatives and opportunities for the learner, for staff development and supported by necessary enabling technologies.

The N-TUTORR programme is designed to transform learning, teaching and assessment by focussing on transforming the student experience and developing the capabilities of all staff to address a sustainable pedagogical and learning environment with particular and critical focus on digital transformation, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

The national programme of work of the project is designed to enable and leverage digital transformations to achieve sustainable and long-lasting change in the higher education student experience. The programme aims to implement and utilise digital technologies and platforms in a manner which will enable and empower students and staff to enhance and develop their higher education experience.

In 2022/23 onwards, the Unlock initiative was funded for a phase 2 at ATU Donegal. The Unlock initiative aims to improve teaching, learning and engagement through learning analytics, student-staff partnership and co-designed interventions while ensuring sustainability. At the centre of all Unlock activities is a partnership model. This is evident in the promotion of the ‘Lets do this together’ approach whereby student and staff skills are valued and commended at each step in the evolution of the initiative. 

The initiative focuses on four key elements: 

1. Supporting academic units in identifying key areas for enhancing student success using data such as StudentSurvey.ie, and PGR StudentSurvey.ie. This was initially established through collaboration on programmatic, department and faculty level review reports.  

2. Structured engagement with students to create a sense of ownership and understanding of studentsurvey.ie 

3. Analysis of student responses within and across academic units based on consultation with academic units. This analysis took into account PGR student responses that have not been investigated at the institute before. Recurrent and key themes chosen in partnership from relevant learning analytics, such as StudentSurvey.ie and PGR StudentSurvey.ie, form the basis of staff-student co-designed Unlock initiatives supporting student success.  

4. Implementing and evaluating further partnership initiatives.     

Since 2023, the goal of Unlock has been to provide improved reporting on learning analytics to key stakeholders (senior management (e.g. academic council), teaching staff, support staff, and students) across each of the ATU campuses. Unlock was developed and has delivered an Unlock partnership model of effective engagement and co-design of Unlock initiatives to support student success with learning analytics. Unlock activities are shared through, presentation, publication and open science platforms to support initiative sustainability, transparency, reproducibility, evaluation, collaboration and growth. 

The key activities to be/currently undertaken in 2023 are: 

Foster partnership with students, e.g. NTUTORR Student Champions, to ensure students are central to the co-design of all Unlock initiatives aimed at supporting student success across ATU. 
Lead analysis of national student surveys, i.e. studentsurvey.ie, and PGR StudentSurvey.ie. These findings will be disseminated to senior management (academic council) teaching staff, support staff, and students. This will be the first time this analysis and dissemination has occurred at an ATU wide level. This will form an important benchmark for future analysis and dissemination of these national student surveys for ATU. 
Key findings from the national student surveys, agreed in partnership with ATU management, staff, and students, will form the basis of the future design of staff-student Unlock initiatives aimed at ensuring student success across ATU. 
Support staff-led learning analytic initiatives aimed at improving key areas highlighted on the risk register to support student success, e.g. student retention.  
Support the design, analysis, and dissemination of ATU wide teaching & learning survey to better understand current teaching, & assessment practices across ATU, and the areas which the teaching & learning centre need to prioritise.

Open configuration options

Dr Catherine Jordan is a project officer with the ATU Donegal Teaching & Learning team, who is based in ATU Sligo. Catherine completed her PhD in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Following her PhD, she completed two postdoctoral research fellowships, the first at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin and the second at the School of Psychology, University College Dublin. Catherine also held teaching responsibilities at undergraduate & postgraduate level in the School of Psychology, UCD. Catherine has ongoing research collaborations with TCD & UCD. Currently, Catherine is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology in UCD. 

In her current role, Catherine is working with the teaching & learning teams across the ATU campuses. She primarily works on the Unlock Project with Dr Deirdre McClay (ATU Donegal), where she is leading the analysis of the studentsurvey.ie data. Catherine also supports other teaching and learning projects across the ATU campuses including a further learning analytics project (DAnIEL) led by Dr Etain Kiely and Dr Cormac Quigley Galway/Mayo campus. 

Re-imagining Assessment:

The ATU Re-imagining Assessment Project is co-led by Dr Carina Ginty (ATU Galway-Mayo), Dr Niamh Plunkett and Gavin Clinch (ATU Sligo). and Dr Deirdre McClay (ATU Donegal). For further information on the project contact the project Research Assistant, Emma McDonald at emma.mcdonald@atu.ie. This project was supported by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching in Ireland under the SATLE fund. 

Innovative Opportunities Transforming Education (iNOTE): 

In January 2019, ATU was awarded a HEA Innovation in Teaching and Learning award to build digital capabilities in the region over 3 years. The iNOTE project provided opportunities to transform the higher education experience in ATU. The project included five work packages covering the development of quality assurance policies and procedures to enable digital learning; the development of a digital teaching and learning training programme and online education courses for all staff to build digital capabilities and pedagogic expertise, in order to design, deliver and support flexible, distance and e-learning programmes; the development of an online learning student support services model; design and development of three online learning programmes; and evaluation and dissemination of all project outputs across ATU.

PATH 4 is an HEA-funded project to support targeted student groups through the implementation of UDL.  

ATU is involved in several local, regional, and national projects that are aligned with PATH 4 funding: 

National Charter for Universal Design in Further and Higher Education 
ATU programme inclusivity audits 
National UDL workshops 
Designing a programme for students with intellectual disabilities at ATU 
National CPD course for university leaders 
ATU physical infrastructure improvements 
Partnerships with regional ETBs and FETs

COIL project: Collaborative Online International Learning Project: IT Sligo & Georgina College, Canada

Project Title: IT Sligo BBS L8 Year 1 Class of 2021 Take Action for the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Students participated in a project linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as part of their Challenges of Management module. 
Presented their final projects virtually in May to the panel 
Top three teams were awarded One4All prizes jointly sponsored by CELT and The International Office. 
This engagement is part of the preparation for the COIL project which will be piloted jointly by IT Sligo and Georgian College in the coming academic year. 
Glenda Conway (marketing Dept) provided great support to some of the student teams involved in the competition.  This resulted in the students participating in the recent Open Day event to promote IT Sligo and encourage their peers to select the institute to continue their learning journey.
The coming together of the Lecturing staff from the Department of Business with their colleagues in CELT, The International Office and The Marketing Department provided our students with a great learning experience and showcased our potential to our partners in Georgian College.

What is COIL?

COIL Centre, SUNY (State University New York excerpt from their website):

“It connects you and a colleague in another country to develop collaborative projects that your students do together across time zones, language differences and geographical distance using online tools. It becomes one aspect of your course, supporting your student learning goals, giving you and your students the opportunity to engage hands-on with your course concepts and new ideas and – most importantly – exploring them from different cultural perspectives”

Lecturers work together to :

Define student learning goals
Determine the length of the interaction
Design comparative and collaborative activities
Select methodology and technology tools for collaboration
Monitor student work and learning

Students work together to :

Develop effective international/intercultural teams
Discuss course assignments and content
Complete a project-based activity as part of their coursework
Reflect on both the academic content of the course and the intercultural exchange that takes place

Podcast Recording:

Time for Teaching - Episode 52-Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CyaqA6JtE4SniZzHq4Bei

The Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) programme is based on the Supplemental Learning (SI) movement, which was developed in the United States at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) in 1973. Since then, SI and peer-learning programmes based on SI, have been recognised as a means to empower student learning in a variety of contexts. The main goals of SI and peer-learning programmes are to:

• Improve learning

• Improve student performance

• Increase continued enrolment/retention

• Create a bridge between secondary and tertiary education

• Improve students’ study strategies

• Provide personal and professional development of Students Leaders, thus enhancing employability

ATU’s PASS programme is designed to help first year students cope better with all aspects of life at third level. It plays a key role in enhancing the experience of first year students and easing their transition to university. It is overseen by an Academic Co-ordinator and ATU staff, who have undertaken SI-PASS training provided by the European Centre for SI-PASS, based at the University of Lund. ATU staff provide training to student volunteers (PASS Leaders) in peer-assisted learning methods. PASS Leaders then, under the guidance of academic staff (PASS Champions), lead study sessions with first year students in their discipline to facilitate their learning and to help them integrate better into University life.

ATU’s PASS programme helps First Year Students:

quickly adjust to University life
improve their research and study skills
acquire a clear view of the academic requirements of their course
enhance their understanding of the subject matter of their course through collaborative group discussions
prepare well for assessments and examinations

The PASS programme helps PASS Leaders: