Key skills development in higher education (e.g. academic writing, numeracy, effective approaches to study and learning).

Key skills development in higher education (e.g. academic writing, numeracy, effective approaches to study and learning). Transitioning Critical Skills and Research Knowledge when working with the Adult Learner and Mature Student: Teaching and Learning Perspectives

Presenter(s): Dr Rosarii Griffin read for a DPhil in International and Comparative Education at Oxford, and also holds an MSc in Research Methodology from there. A graduate and former governor of UCC, Rosarii began her career in education as secondary school teacher of English (incl. media studies) and French. Currently, Rosarii works in the Centre for Teaching and Learning and lectures in Adult Education, UCC. Also involved in Global Development, Rosarii is interested in emancipatory pedagogy for teaching and learning. To date, Rosarii has published 5 books in the area of international education.

Event Details:

Returning to College is difficult for most mature students. Such students often have real anxieties about returning to study, having ‘to do essays’ and live with the unsavoury fear of failure. This fear may stem from past experience of compulsory schooling: they may have left school early due to personal circumstances; or may have married young, and/or did not have the opportunity to progress in education. For others, returning to education as a mature student is a career choice – to change direction in life, to undertake continuous professional development courses, to upskill. Whatever the reasons, returning to study – especially academic study – is a daunting task in the life of a mature student.

This seminar talks about transitioning research, research skills and critical abilities. It asks questions pertinent to mature students: What is research? Why is it important? How do third level ‘essays’ different from ‘essays’ at secondary school? And, how do academics teach academic skills as well as subject knowledge within their courses?

This seminar highlights the importance of teaching students, particularly mature students, how academic skills can transition into everyday life and are useful tools in critically analysing, for instance, media material. This seminar highlights, through use of newspaper cuttings, clips from documentaries, and other media fora the uses and benefits of developing these analytical skills in order to enrich their knowledge so as to engage critically with media fora which bombard everyday life.

The seminar will be interactive, giving rise to plenty discussion, showing real-media examples, and deciphering polls and statistical findings. Seminar includes the use of video, statistics with seminar participants actively engaged with ‘real life’ problems and how lecturers can engage effectively students through their teaching, with particularly mature students.

Learning Outcomes:

1. A deeper understanding and appreciation of the benefits of academic skills and critical abilities within a global context, and the implications of this for teaching and learning.
2. A deeper appreciation of how philosophies of teaching and belief systems are reflected in professionals’ teaching practice and how these are challenged within an adult education setting, particularly working with mature students who have ‘real life’, ‘tacit’ knowledge.
3. Knowledge of how to transition our application of critical skills and enhanced research abilities when dealing with globalisation in the form of media and our understanding of the world, particularly in relation to mature students.