DkIT’s Institutional Lead, Dr. Ronan Bree reflects on the potential and impact of collaboration

“N-TUTORR is a highly collaborative project, one realising the strengths and benefits of partnership on a daily basis. At DkIT, we are fortunate to have ten highly motivated student and staff fellowship teams, along with seven dedicated student champions, all leading out on initiatives aligned with N-TUTORR and DkIT objectives.  To support success, a key goal for the project is to foster success by bringing people together, creating a space for connection, sharing, and collaboration. We sincerely value and appreciate everyone’s positive input, energy and support around this”. 

 As highlighted by Ronan, a fundamental principle of the project is collaboration and partnership, and this has been very evident in activities this month: 

DkIT hosts N-TUTORR World Café Workshop 

On the 5th of September, as part of Stream 1 of the N-TUTORR project, the DkIT team hosted a World Café Workshop event with members of DkIT’s staff and student fellowship teams, combined with the student champions. Embracing the world café event, one graphically facilitated by Dr. Tamsin Cavaliero, attendees came together to share stories, find solutions and work together to address key questions N-TUTORR is keen to address and engage with. The level of engagement and partnership amongst those present, and in particular the contributions from our student champions, ensured this was a highly impactful event. The future is certainly bright with the ideas, commitment and energy amongst DkIT colleagues and students. 

Angela Magennis, DkIT’s N-TUTORR Student Empowerment Co-ordinator, states

“…we specifically employed the World Café format for this event, as it promotes such an engaging environment for discussion…..to witness the level of positivity and engagement at the N-TUTORR World Café event, and see it all come together in the room via the work of the graphical facilitator, was extremely motivating. The feedback from attendees has been extremely positive”. 

 …while Dr. Moira Maguire, the project’s Stream 1 co-lead, also saw the impact of the event

“Stream 1 of the project centres on empowering our learners through various initiatives and partnerships, and in the world café session held recently, opportunities for conversation and engagement amongst all stakeholders were key priority ‘spaces’ we wanted to create. Collectively, everyone’s input on the day made it a very special and impactful event ”. 

DkIT, IADT and TU-Dublin N-TUTORR fellowship teams attend networking ‘Collab and Connect’ event hosted in the EY Dublin office. 

On Sept 8th, a representative from each of DkIT’s N-TUTORR fellowship teams attended an event hosted at Ernst & Young’s state-of-the-art digital facility, ‘EY wavespace’, in Dublin.  They were joined by N-TUTORR colleagues from TU Dublin and IADT, with the goal being for teams to share their own project focus while building connections and opportunities for future collaboration.  

The DkIT N-TUTORR All Staff training needs analysis survey launched 

As part of the N-TUTORR project and specifically Stream 2, there is a focus on developing staff capabilities. In order to best inform this locally, an all-staff survey was developed and shared, with input requested from all staff in all divisions.  The survey closed on Wed 20th September, with 281 responses and the N-TUTORR team are excited to now review responses and identify approaches to support the DkIT staff community. Thanks to all who took time to respond. 

Ciara O’Shea, DkIT’s N-TUTORR Learning and Teaching Co-ordinator states

“…we are delighted to have developed and shared the needs analysis survey across DkIT.  Our primary objective has been to pinpoint priority areas where N-TUTORR can offer valuable and impactful support and training for DkIT staff. The survey represented a wonderful opportunity for everyone across the staff community to unite around a shared goal of mutual support and professional development”. 

New member of the DkIT N-TUTORR team  

Also in September, Dr. Arjan van Rossum joined the DkIT N-TUTORR Stream 2 team on secondment as N-TUTORR's DkIT Curriculum Framework Developer.  Arjan will be identifying and supporting ways our campus community can engage with N-TUTORR’s themes and guiding principles. 

Overall, a great start to the academic year with an exciting few months ahead.  A local website is currently under development, but you can learn more about N-TUTORR on the national project site: https://www.transforminglearning.ie