Trinity Education Project
Launched in May 2013, the Trinity Education Project was one of the central initiatives of the Strategic Plan 2014-19. Its overall purpose was to ensure that the undergraduate curriculum was developed in such a way that enhanced Trinity’s reputation for excellence, and to ensure it continues to evolve in light of new discoveries in disciplinary knowledge, pedagogy, and also in the recognition that the context in which our graduates participate is ever-changing.
The Centre for Academic Practice led a number of initiatives in the Trinity Education Project e.g. the Pedagogy work package & the Assessment Framework.
Trinity Education Project Toolkit
The Trinity Education Project Fellows spent the academic year of 2016–17 regularly meeting colleagues within Trinity College Dublin about various aspects of TEP. Assigned to individual schools and working closely with college officers on the implementation of TEP, the Fellows also gathered regularly as a team, learning from each other and sharing knowledge and practices across disciplines. In Hilary Term 2017, the TEP Fellows ran a series of ‘Ideas Exchange’ sessions open to all Trinity staff on the topics addressed in this toolkit, and on 24 April 2017, they held a day-long event called ‘The Long Table’ (detailed below) that focused particularly on issues around assessment. This period entailed a great deal of individual research and reflection about issues in higher education, and identified examples of innovative practice already happening within our university. The TEP Fellows envisioned that a concrete output that collected these insights in one place, in an accessible language and an easy-to-use format, would be useful to the community.
Trinity Education Project - Assessment Ideas Exchanges
Facilitated by the TEP Fellows and the Centre for Academic Practice, these exchanges attracted academic staff, students, administrators, and those involved in supporting student learning. The formats of these idea exchanges varied, including workshops, seminars, discussion groups and fora, and collectively they enabled the Trinity community to come together to discuss approaches to assessment in Trinity, and to explore how innovative approaches to assessment can make us better teachers.
Long table
In April 2017 the TEP Fellows hosted an ideas exchange ‘long table’, a public conversation about assessment and pedagogy, with a focus on the future of Trinity College Dublin’s undergraduate education. Mimicking some of the circumstances of a dinner party, with food, coffee/tea provided, there will were three sittings, each focused on a set of broad but defined topics. By gathering in this stylised forum, we brought an open, innovative, and democratic energy to the conversation in College around new forms of assessment.