Programme Overview

Learning Design

“Changing the status of the problem in teaching from terminal remediation to ongoing investigation is precisely what the movement for the scholarship of teaching is all about” (Bass, 1999). 

The MA builds on the postgraduate certificate and diploma programmes in teaching and learning in higher education by encouraging participants to examine the dynamics of learning as scholarly teachers committed to moving from remediation to investigation. This programme uses Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to ground reflective practice through an enquiry portfolio. The research output is a publishible academic paper that will reflect the authententic enquiry of scholarly teachers who are researchers in their discipline or professional practice.

The MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (for third level education teachers) is designed to build on the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and to encourage you to research your teaching and your students’ learning in more depth. Teachers will identify a research topic to pursue and will write a publishable paper for a specific teaching and learning journal in their own disciplinary field or in the broader educational field of the scholarship of teaching and learning. The focus of the Master’s is on encouraging you to identify with your teaching as research, to peer review your teaching, to network with peers interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning and to publish in this field.  

On completion of the programme participants will be able to:

Identify and apply principles of a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the college classroom;

• Critically evaluate your teaching in the light of your students’ learning;
• Design a research project around a teaching and learning issue;
• Apply appropriate research methodologies to harness data about student learning;
• Research a teaching and learning issue to a professional standard, equivalent to that of a publishable paper/article;
• Communicate effectively with other scholars in the field of teaching and learning;
• Peer review your teaching within a SoTL community.

This 30 credit programme is comprised of two modules:

• TL6001:  Research Methodologies Relating to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Participants will be introduced to various research methodologies relating to teaching and learning in higher education in the context of a SoTL approach. They will develop a research proposal based on SoTL principles, beginning with the research context of their individual disciplines and how that might facilitate research into teaching and learning. The focus of the module is on researching ways to identify and harness student learning in the context of disciplinary understanding.

• TL6002:  Teaching and Learning Dissertation Research topic chosen in consultation with Supervisor. Participants will meet regularly with a designated supervisor to review submitted drafts of the work in progress. Participants will be encouraged to present and share drafts of their work and to organise such sessions for themselves.