The Connected Curriculum and You Digital Badge
The Connected Curriculum and You
The Connected Curriculum and You Digital Badge is a short course designed to introduce you to UCC’s Academic Strategy and provide a deep understanding of the Connected Curriculum and its application across all academic and professional service departments. This is a self-paced course and is freely available to all UCC staff members. Upon completing this short online course and its accompanying short reflection, you can obtain a digital badge. Digital badges are micro-credentials commonly used in Higher Education to recognise and support participation in continuing professional development. You can find out more about Digital Badges here. You may also wish to complete just a short section of the course, which you are very welcome to do.
The Connected Curriculum and You Digital Badge
The Connected Curriculum and You Digital Badge was approved as part of raft of initiatives to support staff to engage with the new Academic Strategy. This course has been developed by members of the Priority One working group of the Academic Strategy. Successful completion of the course requires completion of the three short sections and accompanying quizzes, engagement in an interactive (online during Covid-19 closure) workshop and the submission of a short personal reflection.
What Does the Course Cover?
The three sections of the online component of the course cover the following topics:
- The Origin of the Connected Curriculum
- The Connected Curriculum at UCC
- The Connected Curriculum and You
The purpose of the interactive workshop is to share your learning from the course and to hear from others who have also completed the course; to consider how the Connected Curriculum is relevant to you in your role; and to begin drafting the short reflection that comprises your final assignment.
How Long Does The Course Take To Complete?
The online component of the course contains approximately two hours of video content spread over three sections and draws on interesting examples of UCC initiatives that are aligned with the Connected Curriculum. You will gain an awareness of the origins of the Connected Curriculum framework and hear from colleagues and students across the university. Further readings, reports and videos are provided should you wish to futher explore the featured initiatives or examples provided.
To achieve the digital badge, participants are invited to engage in an interactive workshop following completion of the online course. The aims of this workshop are to further embed the learning from the course, to share insights from the course with your peers and to begin developing a reflective post which comprises the final course assignment.
On successful completion of The Connection Curriculum and You course, participants will be able to:
- Recognise the origins of the Connected Curriculum framework.
- Outline examples of different UCC initiatives that are aligned with the Connected Curriculum.
- Reflect on their role and how it aligns with the Connected Curriculum framework.
- Identify a key action arising from the learning on this course which they may pursue in their professional or personal practice.
What Are the Assessments?
The assessments are comprised of:
- Two online quizzes, each with five multiple-choice questions based on the content covered.
- Submission of a short reflection on how the Connected Curriculum is evident in your role (following your review of a number of short vox-pops from UCC colleagues and students on how the Connected Curriculum is integrated into their area of work or study).
The submission of your final reflection takes place after the interactive workshop and participants are required to complete a reflective post (up to 200 words) which builds on the learning from the online course and interactive workshop.
How Do I Access the Training Materials?
You can access the training on Canvas here. Simply log into Canvas with your staff email address and password, and click 'Enrol in course' on the far right. The course will then be available to you on your dashboard and the materials will be available to you to work through at your own pace. Upon completion of the online component of the course you can register to attend one of the Connected Curriculum and You workshops which will be held each semester (online during the Covid-19 university closure).
How Do I Get my Digital Badge?
To gain a digital badge you must work through the three sections of this online part of the course, and then attend an interactive workshop and complete a short reflective assignment.
Hear from past participants on their experience of the course
Participants in the pilot of this course said:
I previously thought the Academic Strategy Connected Curriculum was something that would require a lot of new work, but instead the course helped me to see that in fact it reflects the work I am already doing and provides me with a valuable framework for describing and developing that work.
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Participating in the “Connected Curriculum and You” course was the catalyst to enhancing my appreciation and understanding of how my role, as a research support officer, is integrated with the university’s strategic objectives. It has inspired and motivated me to look at new ways of sharing my finance knowledge and skills with the broader research community to support the “Research Based Teaching” and “Employability” pillars of UCC’s Connected Curriculum framework.
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I found the course enlightening and inspiring as while previously I was focused mainly with the sustainability and inter-disciplinary elements for my own programmes, it felt peripheral in engagement with the overall Connected Curriculum . I now look forward to exploring the many opportunities showcased through the study for the Digital Badge for engaging more fully and creating further connectivity with the Connected Curriculum in my own work and looking at how this could be strengthened within Adult Education programmes.
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As an administrative staff member in an academic department, the Academic Strategy appeared to be outside my immediate environment, therefore I hadn’t previously considered how it impacted my role. This opportunity has provided me with an insight into how the Academic Strategy has, and will continue to, support and guide my role within the plan for the University.