Welcome to the winter edition of the OVPLT eNewsletter. The challenge of working from home and balancing work and home life has certainly not dampened the enthusiasm and dedication of our colleagues across the University. This edition is packed full of stories of achievement, commitment and optimism.

OVPLT eNewsletter Winter 2021

UCC was delighted to receive support for a number of Network and Discipline groups under the National Forum’s 2020 Network and Discipline Fund. A total of 17 networks and discipline groups across the sector have been approved for funding. This iteration of the Fund has a focus on Shared Solutions to Common Challenges. It aims to support networks and discipline groups to work together to respond proactively to identified challenges in teaching and learning in higher education, including those that have come to light through the sudden move to online/remote teaching and learning. 

The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education have launched their National Seminar Series for 2021. 

The National Seminar Series gives those working in higher education the opportunity to connect with colleagues and to focus on shared interests in both the research and practice of teaching and learning enhancement. The series also creates opportunities to hear from national and international experts in different areas of teaching and learning.

UCC has several seminars available as part of this series which can be viewed here.

Over the summer months, the Skills Centre, Adult Continuing Education and Exam Appeals Office have gone fully online.

The Language Centre ran its summer courses online, the Centre for Digital Education has maintained a high level of support for online teaching and the Canvas trainings which ran over the summer months are now available on the CDE website. The CDE and CIRTL also launched Teach Digi, a series of digital education training supports for UCC staff.

The Information Session will be held on Microsoft Teams on Monday 20th July 11am -12pm. 

Catherine will be joined by Máire Leane and Fiachra Ó' Suilleabháin from Applied Social Sciences, who won a team award in 2018 and will be available for questions and answers. 

Link to join Information Session 

Professor Lynch, a professor and consultant in Restorative Dentistry at UCC, was this week announced as a recipient of Ireland's inaugural Teaching and Learning Research Fellowships.

The fellowships, introduced by the National Forum in partnership with the Irish Research Council were presented to a total of five recipients from Irish universities.

This 6 week programme will run from the 29th June to 6th August and will include 11 workshops and a free mini-conference. 

This edition contains news and events from the spring period, from all of the OVPLT departments. 

Chris Lynch Professor and Consultant in Restorative Dentistry in UCC, has been shortlisted for the country’s most prestigious national individual teaching and learning awards.

The Fellowships recognise, reward and celebrate those who have demonstrated, through practice, scholarship and leadership, a deep commitment to the enhancement of teaching and learning in higher education. They will also develop a robust evidence base for future teaching and learning enhancement decision-making across the sector.

CIRTL is here to help with new Learning Design workshops. The focus of these 90minute interactive workshops, hosted in the Hub, is on the alignment of your curriculum with the Academic Strategy and the Connected Curriculum. These workshops will also give you space and time to analyse your existing curriculum and tweak your teaching and assessment design.  

Welcome to the Winter edition of the OVPLT newsletter. As always, it’s been a busy few months for all of the Units and Centres within the OVPLT, which all provides for an interesting read. 

This edition rounds up events and news from our 6 units, the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, the Centre for Continuing Professional Development, the Centre for Digital Education, the Exam Appeals Unit, the Language Centre and Adult Continuing Education.

OVPLT Winter 2020 Newsletter  

The Skills Centre is a dedicated, active learning space that helps students improve their academic communication, so they can independently discover their own needs and improve their academic work and assessment outcomes, with confidence. Utilising an interactive, student-centred approach that engages collaborative learning and skills development, the Skills Centre team provide a confidential and non-judgmental space for students so they can work towards scholastic improvement in a comfortable environment.  The 2019/20 academic year is the third year of operation for the Centre which has gone from strength to strength.

As part of their work on the TAP (Transforming Assessment Practices in Large Enrolment First Year Education) Erasmus+ Capacity Building Project, CIRTL were delighted to welcome a delegation of senior management representatives from several Palestinian universities and the Accreditation & Quality Committee to UCC in May 2019.

Welcome to the new edition of the OVPLT eNewsletter. With an introduction from VP; Professor Paul McSweeney, the Summer edition contains news from all the Centres and Units in the OVPLT family. In addition to updates from the office, we welcome new units, say goodbye to retiring staff and congratulate recipients of awards and parchments.

University College Cork is committed to excellence in education and the Teaching Excellence Awards scheme at UCC is the longest-established scheme of its kind in Ireland. These awards recognise staff who have made an outstanding contribution in the pursuit of teaching excellence through innovative and creative forms of teaching, learning and assessment.

The 6th Scenario Forum Symposium was hosted by the University of Hanover in September 2018. The Symposium brought together colleagues from different academic disciplines to discuss – and experience – how performative approaches to teaching and learning can be applied in a range of third-level contexts. In this article Professor Manfred Schewe, Department of German shares the recommendations for promoting a Performative Teaching, Learning and Research Culture in Higher Education. 

Alison Farrell, Senior Lead for Sectoral Engagement with the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (‘the National Forum’) will give an information session for staff on 17 April at 1pm-2pm in O’Rahilly Building, room 255:

Applications for the Online Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2019/2020 are now open until 20th June, 2019.

The upcoming seminar will offer a review of Professor Laurence Malone's Peer Critical Learning, Teaching and Learning methods and povide insights into how PCL can improve online instruction.

Applications for Digital Badges are currently closed.

On 20th March, Dr Helen Kelly from Speech and Hearing Sciences will talk about Clickers in the Classroom - enhancing student engagement.