UCC Team Wins Prestigious National Award for Learning, Teaching and Assessment

29 May 2021

A team of educators, researchers and technical staff from UCC has been recognised through the National Forum’s Disciplinary Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment (DELTA) Award.

This prestigious national award is granted to discipline groups who demonstrate a record of excellence in teaching and learning enhancement, and who commit to an ongoing, clearly articulate, shared process of continued enhancement. UCC’s DELTA Award team, known as the Elevate Team, is a collaborative group led by staff from the School of Microbiology, along with colleagues in the School of Applied Psychology and the School of Computer Sciences/IT. Their successful submission was strongly influenced by the desire to engage students in active learning to access challenging concepts in virology, cellular and molecular biology. The Elevate Team were noted for being passionate about accessing new modalities of teaching for understanding, guided by digitised immersive learning approaches.

The awarded team comprised of: Jerry Reen (team lead), Martina Scallan, John Morgan, Brian McSharry, Owen Jump, Niall O’Leary, Carmel Shortiss, David Murphy, John O’Callaghan, Sheila Ryan, Ay’sha Moore, Jordyn Lynch, Diego Bethencourt, Erin Dalton, Grace McEvoy, Christine Walsh, Ciara Ferris, John Brendan O’Leary, Kelsey O’Connor, William Wallace, Kelan Murphy and Darragh Kelleher.

Due to the current health and safety restrictions, it was not possible to hold an awards ceremony this year; however, Interim President Professor John O’Halloran shared a message of congratulations to UCC's successful team.

[skip to 2:21 for UCC's segment]

“We are hugely honoured here at University College Cork to receive the DELTA Award for the National Forum for Teaching and Learning. Thank you for recognising us; thank you for singling us out; thank you for celebrating our success,” he said.

“This achievement is a testament to the hard work, energy and collaboration from both students and staff of the Elevate Team at UCC…Working together, this team has delivered real impact for learners which can be sustained into the future and shared across disciplines and, indeed, the wider university community.”

In a statement, the winning team said: “We are delighted to receive this award in recognition of our ongoing commitment to teaching excellence and innovation. Working as part of a student-centred multidisciplinary team in the School of Microbiology, with colleagues from CIRTL and the School of Computer Science & IT, has been an enriching experience for everyone involved.

“We look forward to building on our commitment to student-partnered active and immersive learning, and to sharing the knowledge and expertise from ongoing developments with colleagues across the university and in the wider educational field.”

Congratulations to all involved on this wonderful achievement!