N-TUTORR - April 2024

29 April 2024

April was yet another impactful month for the N-TUTORR, both on a national level and across DkIT. For example:

The N-TUTORR Partners in Innovation and Change National Conference and Showcase for Staff and Students in the TU/IoT Sector was held in Croke Park on 17 April. Thanks to colleagues in the N-TUTORR programme management office for organising the event, and locally to Angela Magennis for all her help and efforts in supporting its success. DkIT was very well represented on the day, with numerous staff and students in attendance. There were keynotes (Prof. Liz Thomas and Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan), posters, lightning talks, interactive demonstrations, a student champion and fellowship lead panel conversation (with Dr. Aine McHugh on the panel, which was co-chaired by Dr. Ronan Bree), as well as numerous networking opportunities throughout the day. As co-leads for Stream 1, ATU’s Dr. Carina Ginty and DkIT’s Dr. Moira Maguire have been central to the design and operation of the impressive body of work associated with the work packages of Stream 1, while the work of DkIT fellowship leads, teams and student champions impressed Croke Park attendees on many occasions. Thanks to all DkIT colleagues who presented their work or attended, and to our President, Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan for supporting our community and the N-TUTORR project in Croke Park on the day.

The N-TUTORR April Programme Steering Board meeting was held in IADT on 23 April, chaired by the Institute Lead at IADT, Bernadette Meagher. As always, great progress made by the team collectively.
Further planning meetings took place on 29 April around the Student Competency Framework Dublin was the location for many of the Institute leads, stream 1 co-leads, student empowerment co-ordinators, and student champion representatives to come together for a workshop around developing a competency framework for students across the sector. We look forward to sharing outputs from this as it moves forward.
Investment in Hybrid Room development across all N-TUTORR partners, and our four DkIT Schools, is taking place. The N-TUTORR project received funds to explore the installation of AV equipment to support hybrid learning. To date, a space in each School was identified and will be upgraded during the summer months. Members of the team have been researching this equipment in other colleges, as well as speaking with various providers and users of this equipment. Thanks to Eugene Stewart, Tony Richardson and Ronan Bree who have been working on this initiative for DkIT, ensuring it will be both of a high quality, as well as user friendly and familiar. We look forward to sharing the opportunities this technology can bring over the coming months.
The N-TUTORR national masterclass on UDL took place on 25 April with Dr. Lisa Padden (UCD), Mairead McCann and Laura Hegarty (both ATU) presenting on their impactful and national UDL projects and digital badge courses. The masterclass was chaired by DkIT’s Dr. Ronan Bree, and the recording will be available shortly on transforminglearning.ie.
N-TUTORR Curriculum Framework and Themes update for Programme Teams: This month, these collaborative and overview sessions commenced in the Schools. While this commenced with CELT department in January, first up of the Schools was DkIT’s School of Health and Science. Here, Dr. Ronan Bree and Dr. Arjan van Rossum met with colleagues across the school to outline the themes of N-TUTORR, the project’s Curriculum Framework, in addition to the associated staff toolkit and other resources to support programmatic review and embedding the themes. The team will continue to meet with the other three schools at similar events in the near future.
Developing Staff Capabilities DkIT’s Ciara O’Shea is continuing to analyse and develop pathways to support staff training needs. Currently, she is finalising summary details on work and progress to date, while follow on events from N-TUTORR week continue to take place locally. The analysis, and the events, will support further offerings and training opportunities for our staff.
DkIT’s N-TUTORR metrics continue to showcase an incredible level of engagement, focus and enthusiasm from our staff and students. It is a meaningful reflection of the commitment and dedication of everyone across our campus, and brilliant to see. Thanks everyone for your support, from all the DkIT N-TUTORR team.