Online Resource for Learning Analytics (ORLA)
This Forum Insight introduces the National Forum’s Online Resource for Learning Analytics (ORLA), a new open-source library of learning analytics (LA) resources, available at teachingandlearning.ie/orla
Assessment OF/FOR/AS Learning Enhancement Theme 2016-18
This Forum Insight summarises both the substantive work that has been carried out by the Forum in conjunction with the Sector since 2016 under the Enhancement Theme and the eight Assessment & Feedback Principles that emerged from close collaboration with the sector.
Enhancing Programme Approaches to Assessment and Feedback in Irish Higher Education: Case Studies, Commentaries and Tools
This resource contains case studies, commentaries and tools supporting the enhancement of assessment and feedback in Irish higher education programmes. The collection showcases the contribution of 31 staff and two students, from 14 national and five international institutions. The topics explored in this collection highlight the complexity of programme approaches to assessment and feedback, in particular:
– the drivers of programme assessment change
– leading change to programme assessment
– exploring the evidence for what’s going on in programme(s) and
– ideas to enhance changes in programme(s) assessment.
The collection should be valuable to a range of stakeholders in higher education, i.e. academic staff, senior administrators, programme teams, students, quality assurance officers, education developers/technologists, assessment unit staff, etc.
Transitions of International Students into Higher Education in Ireland
This briefing paper aims to supplement our knowledge on transitions into Irish higher education by exploring the knowledge and experiences of those who come to Ireland from other countries to study at Irish higher education institutions. It is based on a survey of 573 international students, across five higher education institutions, who studied in Ireland during 2015.
Using Learning Analytics to Support the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
The report looks at how learning analytics can be employed to the benefit of academic managers, staff and students. Employed intelligently, it can supply predictive models to better inform approaches to teaching, highlight what is working effectively and what is not and most importantly enable more focussed student interventions.
Recommendations from the ICT Retention Scoping Group
This briefing paper presents recommendations from the ICT Retention Scoping Group, convened by the National Forum in 2016 to consider how ICT retention in higher education could be improved across the sector. The group met over two full days and included representation from across the higher education sector.
Reaching Out: Why Students Leave
This briefing paper reports on a research project established by the National Forum in partnership with the Union of Students in Ireland, which aimed to inform our understanding of why some students do not progress to the completion of their programmes of study in higher education and to determine how best to support students in their transitions into and through higher education. The study examined, through surveys and interviews, the motivations and experiences of 331 students who did not complete their programmes of study in higher education. The briefing paper adds to the growing evidence base about the challenges that students face in their transitions into and through higher education in Ireland.
Student Non-Completion on ICT Programmes
This report is based on findings from a National Forum-funded research project on student non-completion on ICT programmes led by a team based at the University of Limerick.
The Paper summarises international literature on student non-completion with a focus on students of ICT ; it outlines proven initiatives and pedagogic practices designed to tackle ICT student non-completion and it presents the results of exploratory case study research on ICT non-completion at the University of Limerick. It also includes further considerations arising specifically from the institutional case study as well as those arising more generally from the question of non-completion in the Irish context.
Transition from Further Education and Training to Higher Education
The National Forum, in partnership with the Further Education and Training (FET) sector, conducted a survey and interviews in 2016 of FET learners’ experiences of transition to higher education. A Forum Insight on Transition from Further Education and Training to Higher Education can be accessed here.
Transition from Further Education and Training to Higher Education
The first enhancement theme of the National Forum focused on transitions into and through higher education. Based on surveys and interviews with FET students, the research summarised in this insight begins to fill an important gap in our understanding of transitions, and it recognises the often substantially different experiences of those entering higher education from school, and those entering from the FET sector.