Geraldine McDermott

The use of portfolios is deeply embedded in practice within Design education. However, as trends change and technology improves, tensions often arise in the interpretation and presentation of the portfolio activity. Additionally, as more and more digital artefacts are produced by design students, the question arises as to whether the traditional portfolio could be accompanied or replaced by an eportfolio, which could present students’ digital artefacts in a structured fashion. This research investigates how students and faculty in the Design Department of one higher education institution might come together to examine and re-model practices in the context of the design portfolio activity. The study uses Cultural Historical Activity Theory with a Change Laboratory methodology and expansive learning to build transformative agency amongst those involved in the design portfolio activity, with a view to reaching consensus of what a future model of the design eportfolio might look like. F...

This paper reports on a baseline review of Assessment Feedback practices at four Irish third level institutions as part of the Supporting Transition: Enhancing (Assessment) Feedback in First Year Using Digital Technologies project, funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. The review of current practice, coupled with a related literature review, focuses on the first year experience of assessment feedback for staff and students, with a particular emphasis on the use of digital technologies.This study is particularly timely in the Irish context given our strategic focus on improving the transition to Higher Education and the first year experience (Hunt, 2011). Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement and is particularly important in supporting the transition to Higher Education (Nicol 2009). While evidence shows that regular and frequent formative feedback in first year is associated with student success (Tinto, 2005,...

This study investigates students’ perceptions of online personalized filters, focusing on what they know and how they feel about them.In 2005 Google pioneered personalized searches for its signed-in users, informing them that it would be able to provide more relevant search results, as their users’ search history grew. This was to significantly improve the user experience by presenting the right information to the right user at the right time (Speretta & Gauch, 2004). However, there were many privacy concerns around personalization, with the focus primarily on the storage of user data. Subsequently, individuals such as Internet activist Eli Pariser (2011) also voiced concerns about the dangers associated with personalized filters, referring to the creation of a “unique universe of information” for each user, where ideological beliefs would go unchallenged, leading to confirmation bias.The study adopted a phenomenographic research approach to identify the qualitatively different ways...

The Y1Feedback Project is a multi-institutional learning and teaching enhancement project that aims to support the transition to Higher Education by using digital technologies to enhance feedback in the first year. The project is funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in HE under the 2014 Enhancement fund. This paper outlines the project development and progress, with particular focus on identification of the feedback approaches that we are developing case studies of as part of this initiative. Although the project is not complete, the outcome of initial evaluations is reported and we reflect on the process and challenges encountered.

The aim of this qualitative interview study is to explore the extent to which faculty in one Irish higher education institution consider the cultural nature of what they include in the design and delivery of online courses.  As the number of online courses increases nationally and internationally, there is a need to consider the diverse background of the students that faculty will meet and work with. However, from the literature examined it seems that the focus is primarily on identifying suitable pedagogical approaches and technology, rather than the cultural dynamics amongst participants in online programmes. In this study, it emerged that though faculty are aware of diverse learning needs of their students, culture was not considered either in the design or delivery phases of their courses. Recommendations for how to address this are included and intended to provide some assistance for those working as or with faculty teaching online.

The Irish Higher Education sector has experienced a variety of key policy developments in the recent past. The publication of a ‘National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030’ was followed by the establishment of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (NFETL) and the subsequent publication of ‘A Roadmap for Enhancement in a Digital World’ 2015–2017. In tandem, the National Forum devised the first national enhancement theme ‘Teaching for Transition’ and more recently ‘Assessment for, as and of Learning’ with research funding allocated. This paper will discuss two current national educational research projects that focus on the development of digital pedagogy. The first focuses on supporting transition through enhancing feedback in first year using digital technologies. Y1Feedback is a two-year (2015–2017) multi-institutional change project involving two universities and two institutes of technology (IoTs). Informed by both an analysis of current assessment a...

This paper aims to examine the place of literature, if any, within Institutes of Technology in Ireland and to explore the challenges facing language teachers in terms of teaching literature on non-specialist language programmes. The broader function of literature, namely the development of an awareness of diversity (Alvermann and Phelps 2001) will also be discussed. Finally, there is an increasing prevalence of aliteracy in all sectors of society and this article will consider the implications of this within education in the Institutes of Technology.

This paper aims to examine the place of literature, if any, within Institutes of Technology in Ireland and to explore the challenges facing language teachers in terms of teaching literature on non-specialist language programmes. The broader function of literature, namely the development of an awareness of diversity (Alvermann and Phelps 2001) will also be discussed. Finally, there is an increasing prevalence of aliteracy in all sectors of society and this article will consider the implications of this within education in the Institutes of Technology.