Next Steps
Next Steps
So what happens now with this feedback?
- The OVPLT are determined that evidence-based decision making forms the cornerstone of training and support offered to UCC staff, and are delighted to have been provided with this rich feedback to augment the 2019 INDEX survey and the S1 SU survey from last year.
- When the SU revealed the results of their S1 survey, we created a new staff support stream called ‘Teach Digi Ag Caint’. Focussing on five pillars we jointly agreed with the SU, we have been recording and sharing weekly interviews with UCC staff and students and running Q&As with staff afterwards.
- The Teach Digi sessions and its home in the Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning project, based in the Centre for Digital Education employs a student intern, a previous UCC Student Education Officer, to ensure all of our work is informed by the learning experience of UCC students.
- OVPLT is committed to ensuring student feedback is used to inform staff training and support initiatives and we intend to build on the Teach Digi Ag Caint sessions based on the feedback identified above.
- The Centre for Digital Education have been providing a lot of training for UCC Staff for the last number of years. We will reflect on the feedback provided and update our online and face-to-face training to encapsulate the student voice.
- We would encourage any students who wish to provide additional feedback to please engage with their class rep to ensure their voice is heard by UCC staff.
- As part of its work supporting in particular Pillars 1 and 3 of UCC 2022, feedback from staff and students gathered through this process is being fed into a number of actions.
- Under Action 1.3.3 ('Prioritise investment in digital education through expanding our range of infrastructural resources to staff, deploy Instructional Design expertise in Colleges and Schools'), the Centre for Digital Education has initiated a review of digital education needs. All staff will be invited to feed into this project, scheduled for completion by the end of Q3 2021, the output of which will be a report with recommendations to the UCC 2022 Steering Group about what is now needed to support the continued application of digital education in UCC.
- In addition, through National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning funding, CIRTL has begun the process of developing an appropriate PG qualification for staff in the area of digital education.
- Feedback from this process will also inform Action 1.3.1, concerned with the enhancement of the digital learning experience. Items of interest noted through the townhall process were the need to look at discipline-specific solutions, clarification on where UCC is going in terms of digital education, and consideration of how staff can best be supported to achieve this.
- The OVPLT chairs and leads as well as provides input on the other pillars of UCC 2022, so the feedback gathered here has been shared with the Pillars on Student Success, People and Organisational Culture and Infrastructure and Resources.
Existing Supports
Given the amount of queries we received around the need for support, please note the following existing supports around digital education within UCC:
- The vision of the Centre for Digital Education is to empower staff to improve student learning through the best practice application of technology. Training resources include:
- Canvas training,
- Teach Digi sessions deaturing interviews with staff around their practice,
- Access to the IUA's Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning project, and
- Bookable one-to-one consultations with CDE Instructional Designers who can meet to discuss any questions you might have.
- The Office of Vice President for Learning and Teaching works with Student Records and Examinations Office and the Exams Business Continuity Planning group to maintain the Assessment Hub website, which contains almost everything you need to know about assessment in UCC.
- OVPLT also maintains the Keep Teaching suite of sites which provides practical tips and advice around teaching remotely.
- The CDE collaborate with IT Services and AVMS in maintaining the
- Teaching with Technology Team (where you can post any question you have on teaching with technology) and
- the Teaching with Technology Canvas Course, which contains key training information on Canvas, Panopto and MS Teams as well as an FAQ section.
- IT Services offer a range of technical support services, outlined on their page here
- Canvas offer a 24/7 support service to staff and students, available through the left-hand help menu on your Canvas dashboard.
- The Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) offers postgraduate courses in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as well as running short workshops and seminars.
- The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning runs regular seminars and maintains very useful resources on the theme of digital education.