The PD Framework identifies five distinct areas to assist staff to explore how they may structure their professional and personal development as teachers. These areas are called domains. The flexible structure of the Framework means that an individual or group may start with any of the five domains, as they complement each other. Engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning is an underlying component of each of the five domains.
Ireland’s first framework to support the professional development of those who teach across the sector was published by the National Forum in 2016. It is underpinned by a set of core values and provides a structured outline of professional development activities for teaching and learning within the sector.
An explanatory video of the five core values underpinning staff engagement with professional development: Inclusivity, Authenticity, Collaboration, Scholarship, Learner-centredness. The values reflect the aims of the PD Framework on empowering and encouraging staff, enhancing the learning experience and contributing to quality in teaching and learning in Irish Higher Education.
This video captures the motivation and expecations of a range of students before they go to college and the subsequenct challenges faced and overcame once in higher education
This guidebook and video resource provides detailed guidance on the development and implementation of a peer assisted student support (PASS) programme in a higher education setting (GUIDE – click here to download)
This ebook is designed to support the development of early weeks induction for students new to higher education
This video captures student perspectices on assessment
The information in this guide was submitted directly by interested vendors through a request
for information (RFI) that was issued internationally by the National Forum and HEAnet through
eTenders, the Irish Government’s tendering platform (Reference number: HEAnet_DESSI_
LearningAnalytics18). RFIs are standard business processes, through which suppliers and vendors
are asked to provide information on their products’ capabilities.
Individual vendors were not targeted. Rather, a general request was extended through eTenders,
inviting responses from self-selecting vendors that met a range of criteria, most notably that they
had already worked with HEIs in Europe to provide platforms that enabled analysis of data relating
to student engagement and success.
Vendors were asked to respond to a standardised set of questions relating to:
— User functionality
— Service agreements
— Cost
— Infrastructural and technical specification
— Compatibility with platforms currently in use in Irish HEIs
In total, nine responses were received, all of which are included in this guide. The responses have
not been altered or edited and are presented in the exact format in which they were submitted
directly by the vendors themselves.
This study was conceived as part of a broader effort on the part of the Institute to understand with greater clarity the profile of the student body and specifically to identify factors that may negatively impact on student retention and progression. The institution also sought to build a more robust evidence base on which to plan proactive initiatives designed to address retention and progression issues at institutional, department, course and module level. In particular, they recognised the need for a more evidence-based understanding of the retention and progression challenges at module and programme level in order to inform more effective and targeted deployment of resources by faculty and by central services at the earliest possible stage in the programme lifecycle.
Recognising the impact of attrition on students, UL tracked the rates for first years over a seven-year period (2005-2013) and identified an increase in attrition averaging 13%. In addition to the costs and missed opportunities incurred by students that leave college early, this pattern also represented a significant loss of revenue to the University. In order to fully understand the issues impacting on first year UL students,
the University sought to identify best practices to support first year engagement both inside and outside the classroom, to leverage the value of learner data as a resource, to identify students at risk of withdrawing prematurely and to develop an effective and meaningful Student Engagement Policy.
