N-TUTORR - March 2024

27 March 2024

‘N-TUTORR Week’ a sectoral success

Across the Technological Higher Education sector, ‘N-TUTORR Week’ took place between Feb 26^th and Mar 1^st. In DkIT, there were ten student- and staff-centred events. Each was aligned with N-TUTORR project themes, and organised and facilitated by DkIT colleagues. Overall, the level of collaboration, engagement, and the feedback received, has been very positive. There were excellent visiting speakers, hackathons, design thinking workshops, enterprise engagement and employability sessions, communication workshops, practice sharing events, amongst others. DkIT’s highlight event with Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan had our Whitaker theatre full.

Thanks to all who led out on events, and to those who found time to attend, connect and engage. In particular, I’d like to recognise the immense support we received from colleagues across the Institute. Credit to Ciara O’Shea who was a member of the national working group for N-TUTORR Week, and to our employability student champion, Celine Jia Xin Law, who represented DkIT at an event in TU Dublin.

Education for Sustainability (ESD) – Hearing the TU Dublin Journey

In recent weeks, Dr. Brian Gormley, Head of Sustainability Education at TU Dublin joined us for an N-TUTORR DkIT staff webinar focusing on their journey of embedding ESD and the SDGs across TUD’s campus and curriculum. If you wish to view the recording of Brian’s webinar, it is available on our Linkedin Learning platform, under the DkIT collection on the left menubar when you log in (or via this link if you have your free account set up). Very grateful to Brian for his time and support – he shared a suite of helpful resources too.

Launching the N-TUTORR Student Digital Backpack with Student Champions.

In recent weeks, Angela Magennis and the N-TUTORR Student Champion team led out on the launch of the ‘Student Digital Backpack’ across DkIT. This is a platform where students (and staff) can access and complete short, non-accredited courses and receive a Digital Badge. The current suite of courses focuses on N-TUTORR project themes such as Sustainability, Academic Integrity, amongst others - with plans in place to expand offerings. The platform can now be accessed via Moodle, or directly at https://mydigitalbackpack.ie/ . To support building awareness of this platform with students, Angela along with some members of our Student Champion team, Ryan Hayes, Louise Duffy, Karen Kearney, Shauna Kerley, Celine Jia Xin Law and Samuel Rodrigues, hosted drop-in sessions across each campus building.

In addition, the group hosted a local Lego event with the Brickx Club to focus on the project theme of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). The concept of this workshop was led by out student champions Ryan Hayes and Louise Duffy. Many thanks to Angela for her work in supporting the champions with this also. The feedback from students was that a meaningful, positive and fun half day was had by all!

Free Linkedin Learning account – campus wide access

We continue to see engagement from DkIT staff and students with the Linkedin Learning platform. All staff and students can now access their free account on the platform, and engage with certified courses. It can be accessed on Moodle, via the right-side dashboard icon. Thanks to Dr. Gerry Gallagher, Ciara O’Shea and Eugene Stewart for their support.

DkIT hosts latest N-TUTORR PSB Meeting

On 20^th March, DkIT hosted the monthly N-TUTORR Programme Steering Board meeting. National representatives from each partner Institution as well as from THEA, were in attendance. Dr. Sheila Flanagan formally opened the meeting, with Dr. Moira Maguire presenting an overview of Stream 1 progress to date, and Dr. Ronan Bree chairing the meeting.

Other on campus events

Earlier this month, Alan Conlon hosted a tribal drumming workshop for staff and students, presenting a unique opportunity to learn something new but also to come together and connect with others. Also this month, two other excellent N-TUTORR supported events took place. Huge credit to co-organisers Dr. Joseph Lynch and Dr. Karen Dunne who led a dynamic Presentation and Pomodoro-style writing workshop, facilitated by DkIT’s Dr Aine McHugh and Munster Technological University's Dr. Tom Farrelly - and also to Dr. Caroline Gilleran Stephens and Dr. Suzanne Linnane who on World Water Day, organised and led an event around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Teaching & Learning with Bobby McCormack. Thanks to all who were involved in supporting and running these events, and well done to the organisers and attendees.

Coming soon…

Excited to share that the “N-TUTORR Students as Partners in Innovation & Change” National Conference and Showcase will be taking place in the Hogan Suite, Croke Park on Wednesday 17th April. A chance to celebrate and showcase the incredible work of our N-TUTORR Student Champions and N-TUTORR Students as Partners in Innovation & Change Fellows across the sector.