Teaching and Learning in Higher Education PG Cert - CKB02

The aim of the course is to enable academics and others teaching in higher education to approach the practice of teaching with a critical perspective on theories of student learning relevant to their disciplinary context. This perspective will be supported by a philosophy of reflective practice and action research. You will develop an understanding of the principles of teaching and learning, course design and review, and the assessment of student learning in face-to-face, blended and online learning contexts.

The Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education is comprised of two modules taken sequentially, typically in one academic year:

TL6003 Theories of Teaching, Learning and Assessment (15 credits)

You will explore contemporary theories of teaching, learning and assessment and will relate these to your own teaching and to critiquing the curriculum design within your own disciplines. You will complete three assignments which include exploring you own teaching beliefs, looking for the evidence of your students’ learning in a selected course and responding to key readings in the field of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. These three assignments will form components of a Teaching Portfolio which will be completed by the end of the Postgraduate Certificate.

TL6004 Practice Approaches to Teaching, Learning and Assessment (15 credits)

You will focus on how theory and practice inform each other, particularly in the context of differentiated learning and multiple intelligences approaches. You will continue to build your teaching portfolio and include entries on new teaching approaches that you have tried in your own courses. Students will also analyse your teaching spaces and will be expected to engage in reflective practice in class and online via discussion boards.

Both modules will include fieldwork, such as visits to the Glucksman Gallery and colleagues’ teaching sites. On completing the course you will be able to:

• recognise teaching as a valid form of research and scholarship
• participate in discussions on teaching, learning and assessment as a community of scholars
• design modules based on principles of student-centred learning
• critique planning and teaching practice in the light of student learning/feedback
• engage with a diverse, multi-cultural student population
• hold a professional commitment to teaching and student learning.

Further details of the programme content and modules (and detail so the Postgraduate Diploma follow on option) are available in the Postgraduate College Calendar

Application for this programme is on-line at www.pac.ie/ucc. For full details of the application procedure click here.

Please note you will be required to answer a specific additional supplementary questions as part of the online applications process for this programme. A copy of this supplementary questions form is available to view here: CKB02AdditionalQuestions

There are 48 hours of face-to-face teaching in the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (24 hours per module). Each module is taught in a series of lunchtime sessions (six x two hours) and Saturday morning sessions (three x four hours).

The teacher’s classroom is your research laboratory and your reflective analysis of this site in the context of the integration of theory and practice accounts for much of the course time.

Your reading and reflective teaching portfolio form the basis of the research.

Each module is assessed through the media of three portfolio entries.

In TL6003, you will complete assignments on:

• exploring your own teaching beliefs
• looking for evidence of your students’ learning in a selected course
• responding to key readings in the field of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

In TL6004, you will complete assignments on:

• new teaching approaches that you have tried in your own courses
• analysis of your teaching spaces or other relevant issues
• a record and reflection of your online discussion board participation

Dr Marian McCarthy

Dr Bettie Higgs

Dr Anna Ridgway

Dan Blackshields

Dr Eleanor O’Sullivan

Dr Declan Kennedy

Dr Ciarán Dawson

Dr Tracey Connolly

Patrick Kiely

Dr Marian McCarthy
Programme Director
Email: mmccarthy@education.ucc.ie
Tel: 021 4205117