To support those who teach across the sector to engage in professional development in areas they have identified as important to their role and practice, a suite of open-access short courses were launched in early 2019, having previously been piloted throughout 2018. Each of these short courses are aligned to one or more domains of the National Professional Development Framework for all staff with a teaching role in Irish higher education, and each includes engaging content and activities of 25 learner effort hours, resulting in the award of a National Forum digital badge.
The PD short courses were developed by teams of higher education colleagues across the sector who had expertise in the particular areas. As such, these short courses reflect the collaborative commitment of the higher education community to ongoing professional development towards positive individual, institutional and sectoral change.
Online versions of these short courses are being rolled out on a phased basis over the two-year period up to 2021. Additional short courses will also be added to the original suite during this timeframe.
To date, two short courses have been delivered online:
- The Getting Started with Professional Development – PACT short course was delivered online and facilitated by the National Forum in early 2019, with two subsequent PACT iterations: one currently being facilitated by colleagues in WIT and CCT College and another due to be facilitated by colleagues in TU Dublin Tallaght Campus, beginning 5 December
- The Universal Design in Teaching and Learning short course is also currently being delivered online by AHEAD.
There are three other PD short courses due to be delivered online in spring 2020:
- Programme Focused Assessment, to be facilitated by colleagues in TCD and UCD
- Recognition of Prior Learning, to be facilitated by colleagues in CIT
- Getting Started with Online Teaching, to be facilitated by colleagues in RCSI and UL
All the above online short courses also include an option to earn an additional facilitator badge in the same timeframe. A facilitator badge will enable you to deliver the same short course that you have completed, in your own institution at a time that suits the needs of staff there.
Online versions of other professional development short courses are currently in development and will run in autumn 2020. A number of the short courses are also available to take via self-study and in a face-to-face mode.
For more information on all professional development short courses, please visit the National Forum’s Professional Development Interface here and sign up to receive up-to-date notifications on any of the short courses in which you might be interested.
