Initiative Lead
University College Dublin

Primary Contact
Gerardine Meaney
gerardine.meaney@ucd.ie

€96500

Enhancement across Disciplines

This interdisciplinary T&L initiative will embed digital methodologies and data literacy into teaching and learning across UCD. It will:

• Develop a structured elective pathway in ‘Digital Methods and Data Literacy’ which can be taken by any undergraduate student
• Deliver modules and facilitate student projects that develop students’ transferable digital skills, competence in using discipline appropriate software and the ability to work with data
• Enhance the employability of UCD graduates
• Operationalise existing digital resources produced by UCD researchers for teaching purposes, creating a major impetus to new research-led teaching
• Train a broad cohort of academic staff to use these resources in teaching
• Maximise the use of digital library resources in teaching and supplement them as required

The aim is a sustainable, long-term intervention to embed technology enhanced learning in research led teaching, ensuring that our students have a highly developed awareness of the potential for proactive learning through digital methodologies and that teaching staff have the capacity to integrate our portfolio of digital resources and datasets into their teaching materials. Creating public and industry awareness of this initiative through digital outreach, will enhance the employability of our graduates in sectors which require digital and data competence and basic skills in machine learning.

This initiative seeks to develop data analytics and machine learning modules, grounded in students’ existing competencies, incremental and feasible within existing structures, responding to government objectives for education in this area announced at a 2019 ‘AI Strategy for Ireland’ meeting.