NAIRTL
The National Academy’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching
The National Academy’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching 2012
Fifteen Higher Education staff representing six different Higher Education Institutions, including Dr. Marting Fellenz, School of Business, Trinity College Dublin, were recognised at the NAIRTL National Awards for Excellence in Teaching in Dublin Castle on 17 September 2012. This is the fifth year of this prestigious initiative and features the largest number of recipients to date.
See further information in Awards
Supporting and Developing Supervisors of Postgraduate Research Students:launch of NAIRTL publication
Ireland's National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) funded a major inter-institutional project between 2008 and 2012 to develop strategies for optimised support for supervisors of research students. This unique project involved six Irish Higher Education Institutions including Trinity College Dublin, and has culminated in the creation of a new interactive publication which summarises the experiences of the participating institutions, as well as outlining a framework for supervisor support and providing related resources and tools. It is intended that this information may be of use to any institutions interested in developing their own supports for research supervisors, and ultimately will be of benefit to the supervisors themselves and, of course, their students.
Download your free copy of the interactive guide at www.nairtl.ie/workgroupDocs/SupervisorSupport_Guide.pdf
National Academy's Winter 2011 Newsletter
National Academy's Summer 2011 Newsletter
National Academy's Spring 2011 Newsletter
NAIRTL 6th Annual Conference and 4th Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium - 27th - 29th June 2012
THRESHOLD CONCEPTS: from personal practice to communities of practice
Some concepts are crucial to a deeper understanding and mastery of a discipline and have been called Threshold Concepts1. The 2012 conference will examine how the idea of Threshold Concepts is used to advance student learning not only within but between disciplines.
The 4th Biennial threshold Concepts Symposium travels to Dublin, Ireland in June 2012 and will be hosted by the National Academy. The call for abstracts is now open and interested participants are invited to submit a 300 word abstract for a paper, workshop or poster based on one of the following themes:
- Engaging Students with Threshold Concepts
- Interdisciplinary Threshold Concepts
- Threshold Concepts in Professional Development
- New Developments in Threshold Concepts
1: Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2006) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: An introduction. In Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R.(eds.), Overcoming Barriers to Student Learning: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge, pp. 3-18. London: Routledge.
Interim Symposium on Threshold Concepts, Cork, October 27th 2011
An interim Symposium will be held in Cork, Ireland on October 27th 2011 in advance of the 2012 International Conference. The purpose of this symposium is to provide theoretical background underpinning the idea of Threshold Concepts; to highlight how the idea of Threshold Concepts can be used to advance student learning not only within a discipline but between disciplines; and to share examples of teaching that enable learners to grasp the threshold concepts and gain a deeper understanding and mastery of their discipline.
Please register to attend this free event on the event webpage www.nairtl.ie/index.php?pageID=27&eventID=331or remote participants can visit the NAIRTL website to access a live webcast of the Symposium.
Further information:
Catherine O Mahony, Events Coordinator, NAIRTL, Distillery House, North Mall, Cork
e: nairtl@ucc.ie t: +353 21 490 4682 w: www.nairtl.ie
NAIRTL Grants Initiative 2011
This year the National Academy invited applications from existing communities/ networks of practice for financial support for research activities and projects under specified thematic areas which have been identified as priority areas in the new national strategy for higher education to 2030.
The closing date has now passed for receipt of all applications. "The selection process is now underway and final decisions will be made at a selection committee meeting to be held in August".
Applications for funding of up to 20,000 Euro are currently being considered from existing ommunities/networks under the following thematic areas:
- Development and improvement of teaching skills
- Undergraduate Research and/or the First Year Experience
- Curriculum reform to facilitate generic skills, research work placement or research internship
- Development of a framework for a national student survey system
- Parity of esteem for research and teaching: Policy and Practice
- Development of flexible course provision incorporating inquiry based learning
Grant Application Form and Further Details
The National Academy’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching
The National Academy’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching 2011
The closing date for the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Teaching has now passed. Nominations were received from 17 HEI's and these are currently under review by the Selection Committee. The results will be announced shortly.
The National Awards programme honours exemplary teachers who are also innovative researchers in higher education in Ireland. The awards are intended to recognise teaching accomplishments and to promote public recognition and celebration of the teaching profession.
NAIRTL's 5th Annual Conference
NAIRTL's 5th Annual Conferencel took place in conjunction with the CELT Galway Symposium on Higher Education on 9th & 10th June 2011 in NUI Galway.
The focus of this Conference was on active student engagement in the learning process, further details can be found on www.nairtl.ie/conference
NAIRTL
As part of our research-led initiative, Trinity College is part of The National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL).
NAIRTL is a SIF funded collaborative project between University College Cork (lead partner), Cork Institute of Technology, National University of Ireland Galway, Trinity College Dublin and Waterford Institute of Technology.
The National Academy's mission is:
- To enhance higher education in Ireland by working in collaboration with institutions to promote innovation, support development and sustain good practice in the integration of research and teaching and learning.
- To build capacity of academic staff and graduate students that will contribute to an innovative work force.
- To provide an efficient, cost effective and quality service to the Irish Higher Education sector.
- To promote a greater awareness of the forms of integration of research, teaching and learning and to encourage all:
Research-led teaching and learning: The curriculum is informed by the research interests of academic staff. Teaching emphasises the understanding of research findings. Research findings are used to inform the curriculum.
Research-oriented teaching and learning: The curriculum emphasises the processes by which knowledge is produced in the field as much as on learning the content of a subject. Teaching focuses on enquiry skills and on acquiring a ‘research ethos’.
Research-based teaching and learning: The curriculum contains many activities in which students actually conduct research e.g. enquiry based projects. These activities are based on authentic processes of enquiry and are connected to the research of the institute.
Research-informed teaching and learning: The curriculum is informed by a systematic enquiry into the teaching and learning process itself. The 'scholarship of teaching' approach relates to teachers who are actively involved in evidence-based efforts to establish the effects and effectiveness of student learning, teaching and academic practice.