"Maths anxiety is a psychological phenomenon in which a person experienced fear, tension, or discomfort when faced with mathematical tasks or situations. It is a common problem among students in higher education, particularly in subjects that requires a strong mathematical foundation such as physics, engineering, and economics. Maths anxiety could have a range of negative effects on a student's academic performance and well-being and could also have wider implications for a student's academic and career prospects. Joined the Irish Branch of the Mathematical Resilience Network for a Maths Anxiety Awareness Day workshop!"

"Maths anxiety is a psychological phenomenon in which a person experienced fear, tension, or discomfort when faced with mathematical tasks or situations. It is a common problem among students in higher education, particularly in subjects that requires a strong mathematical foundation such as physics, engineering, and economics. Maths anxiety could have a range of negative effects on a student's academic performance and well-being and could also have wider implications for a student's academic and career prospects. Joined the Irish Branch of the Mathematical Resilience Network for a Maths Anxiety Awareness Day workshop!"

"Students need to use the internet to support their studies and are a group identified with low wellbeing and high loneliness. Re-Connect is a workshop that has been developed in MTU in response to research findings that highlight difficulties caused by problematic internet use for students. The workshop is being rolled out in MTU and aims to support students in developing awareness of their internet use and its affects. The workshop also enables students with tools which can help to develop healthy internet habits or redesign habits that are causing them problems. The workshop to date has got excellent feedback from staff and student participants and aligns exactly with the government strategy for healthy campuses. Student problematic internet use can be addressed in a way that few other issues affecting health and wellbeing are. The workshop has been developed to address a student need as evidenced by research, it is a university cross collaboration, developed with student input, honed with professional expertise empowers students to redesign those habits for wellbeing and academic performance. This workshop is designed for lecturers who might want to deliver the Re-Connect workshop with their students. This workshop was delivered by Oonagh O’Brien and Catherine Murphy, who gave an overview of the Re-Connect programme, the research that drove its development and they shared resources and facilitation techniques to enable delivery of Re-Connect to student groups. "

"In this session Annmarie MacFeely from Careers Services gave us an insight into the MyCareer platform. MyCareer is a state of the art, comprehensive suite of online Career Planning, Research and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Job Hunting tools which is now available to all MTU students. Annmarie showed us how MyCareer enables students to access a pocket-sized, mini–Career Advisor which they can access from their mobile phone, 24/7. We saw how students have access to a range of student friendly tools which provide support in Career Planning, Self-Assessment, CV building and Scanning, Mock Interview Practice and feedback. In addition, students can browse an extensive library of up-to-date bite sized videos, articles and tips on anything and everything to do with Careers. It’s a great resource for all MTU full time students that they can access whenever, wherever, however it suits them"

"Since 2019 the TLU have launched and supported over 40 learning communities across MTU. During this session we heard from Learning Community members about who they are, what inspired them to start/join a Learning Community, what they have achieved and how others might initiate or join an existing learning community. Professor Jim O’ Mahony also spoke about how funding can be awarded and used effectively to transform teaching and learning both within and across disciplines."

This event shared the changes made to the assessment and feedback mechanisms on placement as part of a pilot project within the School of Business, MTU Cork Campuses. The pilot project was undertaken with funding from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (NFETLHE) within MTU as part of the university’s Reimagining Assessment and Feedback Together (RAFT) series of interventions. These changes were made following feedback from Geraldine O’Neill’s NFETLHE Research Fellowship study on 'Assessing Work-Integrated Learning' last year.

On 8th October 2021, MTU became the first university in Europe and one of the first globally to attain the International Standards for Mentoring and Coaching Programmes (ISMCP) Bronze Award. This prestigious award which was bestowed by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC Global) following a 4-month evaluation process was in recognition of MTU’s Coaching and Mentoring Culture.

As part of MTU’s commitment to excel in teaching, research and development work, for the benefit of staff, students, industry and the wider community, MTU is offering staff the opportunity for professional recognition of their teaching practice and leadership.

As part of MTU’s commitment to excel in teaching, research and development work, for the benefit of staff, students, industry and the wider community, MTU is offering staff the opportunity for professional recognition of their teaching practice and leadership.

"The Teaching and Learning Unit (TLU) and AnSEO - The Student Engagement Office are delighted to announce our annual Combined Funding Call to support staff and students who wish to undertake short term projects related to teaching, learning, assessment and student engagement (TLASE) activities. This funding call enables teams, of staff and/or students, to develop ideas that might enhance teaching, learning, assessment and student engagement across the student life cycle. The purpose of this session was to provide more information about the funding process itself, describe what supports are available and provide participants with an opportunity to hear from previous recipients in terms of what they achieved and how they felt about the experience and the impact these projects have had on staff and students."

"This seminar was split into three with the first part of the seminar exploring “10 Ideas on how to Enhance Interaction and Student Engagement in your Teaching”. It selected examples that highlight the importance of student engagement in learning. Active learning strategies, suitable to a range of different learning environments, online, blended, and face-to-face were explored, with consideration given to different group sizes. These 10 ideas and practical tips were provided alongside a collaborative discussion amongst attendees, where best practice were shared. Munster Technological University are active members of the Active Learning Network (ALN) which is a group of people from around the world (over 35 institutions represented) who share an interest in active approaches to learning. In the second part of the seminar, participants were introduced to the work of the ALN and shown how to connect with the Network. In the third and final part of the seminar, participants were introduced to the “Be ACTIVE” Framework, a new and exploratory framework focusing on Active Learning. Participants had an opportunity to actively engage in the development of a plan to implement active learning in their individual context using this framework. The framework empowered participants to plan strategies that work for them in their context to get the most out of students and develop a structured overall approach to active learning. Those who participated in this seminar: Discussed practical ways to Enhance Student Interaction in their Teaching Evaluated effective student engagement strategies for their context Described the challenges of student engagement and shared best practice Applied the “Be ACTIVE” Learning Framework and created a structured plan to embed active learning in their own teaching and learning context"

"Learning communities provide a space and a structure for people to align around a shared goal. Effective communities are both aspirational and practical. They connect people, organisations, and systems that are eager to learn and work across boundaries, all the while holding members accountable to a common agenda, metrics, and outcomes. These communities enable participants to share results and learn from each other, thereby improving their ability to achieve rapid yet significant progress. Over the last three years, the TLU have initiated and supported over 30 learning communities across MTU. This seminar provided a short update from each of our learning communities which highlighted their successes and challenges. The session was also useful to those wishing to learn more about the benefits of initiating or joining learning communities in MTU."

"Writing a thesis is a huge undertaking and one that often overwhelms doctoral candidates. Many students struggle at this stage, experience writer’s block, delay writing and in some cases fail to submit at all. Supervisors can play a crucial role in this stage of the PhD. This seminar looks at the strategies supervisors can employ to help their student complete and submit their thesis. In this seminar, Hugh Kearns facilitated a discussion of: The writing challenges faced by late-stage doctoral students. How supervisors can support students in these challenges. Developing a writing plan and completion plan with the student Providing critical and constructive feedback Supporting the student when the going gets tough The problems experienced by supervisors and potential solutions On completion of the workshop, participants can now: Implement strategies for providing writing feedback to students. Diagnose common problems that need to be resolved in the final draft. Provide support for the emotional challenges of writing up. Offer advice on writing productivity to doctoral students"

"Will you or your students be involved in research during your/their time in MTU? Do your funders require you to make your research outputs available through Open Access? Are you planning to publish articles, conference papers, monographs, book chapters or any related datasets? Are you creating reports, entries for conference proceedings or posters? Will you be hosting a conference in the coming year? Do you have a journal that needs an online home? If the answer is yes to any of the above, then you really should watch the recording and view the resources below. The aim of SWORD is to collect, disseminate and preserve all of MTU’s research under one roof. By doing this SWORD can enhance the impact of your research and broaden the scope of the research activities for you and your departments. Those who attending this session learned: What SWORD is and what it does What types of research and scholarly work are suitable for SWORD How SWORD can host conferences and journals Why you should deposit research in SWORD How to deposit your work in SWORD"

Are you tired of giving lectures and feeling like you’re the one doing all the work? Would you like to create a more positive learning environment for yourself where students are more involved and engaged in their learning? This was a highly interactive and engaging workshop that was divided into two parts to address these issues and provide some valuable insights into what can be done. Part one, involved discussions around: Why active learning could be part of your teaching What is active learning and what it might look like in your teaching context How you could engage in active learning in your classroom Some colleagues shared how they are currently using active learning strategies within their own teaching practice to engage their students in MTU Cork together with some other simple strategies that require little preparation. Part two, involved participants putting some of what they had learned into practice. They were asked to consider a module they teach and examine how they typically structure a lecture and what opportunities there are for students to engage during the lecture. They then redesigned their first lecture for this module to integrate some generally applicable AL strategies that they felt might work for them, their students, their discipline and the concepts they wanted their students to learn. To conclude, they were introduced to the Active Learning Movement, a new TLU initiative that will provide ongoing support to Lecturers should they be interested in implementing Active Learning (AL) strategies in their classrooms.

"Assessment is probably the most important thing we can do to engage students in their learning. However, not all forms of assessment are created equal! Whilst there are many benefits of using authentic assessment approaches and providing feedback, teaching staff can face challenges in terms of large class sizes and their own constraints around resourcing and time. This session was an interactive workshop for staff which focused on redesigning assessments to make them a more authentic experience for students whilst ensuring they are manageable from a staff perspective. Participants were invited to send any assignment briefs, or past exam questions that they would like help with redesigning so that they are more authentic, prior to the session. A selection of these were then used as “live” cases at the session. Contact bali@cit.ie for more information."

To understand what impedes student success, it has been common to consider the support provided to students ‘at-risk’, but what if we consider the idea of ‘critical moments’ instead? By identifying key critical moments that students encounter, we can design curricula and student support which can increase student retention and success. Therefore, we are more likely to reach a greater number of students while carrying out activities in a more cost-effective way. This is particularly the case where institutions have high numbers of widening access students, who are recognised as more vulnerable to dropping out or failing. First generation students may encounter more critical moments (family responsibilities, financial challenges, discrimination in some aspect of their experience, etc), and have less resources in place to pass through them successfully (family who have been to university, financial resources, confidence, social networks etc), This workshop drew facilitators with a European perspective and encouraged participants to think about and begin to understand the critical moments their students face in a discipline and wider student experience context. Time was spent identifying local critical moments, contrasting with known experiences across Europe and introducing the model of Transitions Pedagogy to consider practical approaches to reduce and support identified critical moments. The use of Transitions Pedagogy will help ensure any approaches are grounded in discipline context and curriculum planning. It is therefore a seminar that had particular relevance to all those who teach and those who support/manage teachers. Participants attending this seminar: Gained an understanding and explored the concept of ‘critical moments’ for students across the lifecycle in their institution Reflected on how their institution’s knowledge and support of critical moments contrasts across European Higher Education (HE) settings Were introduced to the Transitions Pedagogy model to consider critical moments in the holistic design of curricula as well as student support Identified and planned the practical/impactful methods/approaches that can reduce unnecessary critical moments and support students in those moments intrinsic to their HE journey.

Deep Learning refers to the cognitive skills and academic knowledge that students need to succeed in the 21st century. These skills include critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration and learning to learn. The mastery of these skills will enable students to think flexibly and creatively, transferring and applying their learning from one context to new situations. This seminar looked at how one academic in CIT, Dr Anna Dynan, Accounting & Information Systems has used PeerWise, a free online platform, to provide a space where her students can collaboratively create, answer, discuss, and evaluate practice questions with peers and has thereby helped her students engage with unit concepts more deeply and critically. In this seminar, participants gained an understanding of: How PeerWise can be used to engage students and enhance their learning outcomes. The impact this approach can have on student engagement and learning The student view on this collaborative approach to learning Advice/best practice/tip & tricks when using PeerWise in your module.

Work placement is, at this stage, a mandatory element of many programmes within CIT and as such poses many challenges for those involved in the process, i.e. staff, students and potential employers. Since 1983, CIT’s Department of Process Energy and Transport Engineering has been offering the B. Eng. in Chemical & Biopharmaceutical Engineering, a full-time programme delivered over four academic years producing approximately 25 graduates annually, but in recent years this has increased to over 30. This programme predominately covers core chemical engineering and specific needs of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors but continues to ensure that graduates will meet the needs of traditional chemical industries, be equipped to travel globally and are able to guide the pharma sector as it transitions from traditional batch operation to continuous operation.The philosophy of the programme is to produce broadly educated, professional engineers, who have gained a thorough grounding in fundamentals, an understanding of the state of the art, a keen sense of application, an awareness of the impact on society of their decisions, and an ability to develop as new technologies emerge and as they encounter new problems and opportunities. This programme is subject to internal re-approval every 5 years, involving external experts and is externally accredited by professional bodies such as Engineers Ireland, nationally, and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), internationally, to Master Level Meng (Level 9). To date, this programme has provided in excess of 750 graduates, the majority of whom work in Ireland, in the biopharmaceutical/pharmaceutical industry with many having risen to senior appointments. In this seminar, our colleagues from the Department of Process Energy and Transport Engineering gave an overview of how their industrial work placement module, worth 15 ECTS credits, which runs from the end of the third academic year to the end of the first semester of the award year, evolved and how it can enhance engineering competencies and therefore have a significant impact on the career paths of their graduating engineers. They shared best practise based on their research, carried out with the assistance of CIT’s AnSEO – The Student Engagement Office, and experience for the delivery of the professional work placement from execution, mentoring and assessment of same. Those attending this seminar gained a clear understanding of: • How the delivery of industrial hosted modules within engineering third level institutes can be improved • How an enhanced experiential learning experience can be created for final year students • How key industrial partnerships can be fortified by developing “culturally fit” graduates

"This workshop aimed to increase awareness and understanding of the process of recognition of prior learning. Workshop participants were given an opportunity to share views and perspectives in a structured format. A broad outline of the benefits of RPL and the current national and European policy framework provided a backdrop for the consideration of the challenges posed in practice and CIT’s policy and practice in particular. The main objectives of this workshop were that participants would be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of the benefits of a recognition of prior learning process for individual learners, cohort groups, employers and higher education providers Evaluate the challenges posed by RPL processes for higher education providers including assessment and how they relate to their professional context Describe and locate CIT policy on RPL and identify the supports available for learners and HE staff"

CIT’s Teaching & Learning Unit (TLU) launched an inaugural call in 2018 to develop and support a number of Learning Communities (LCs) across the institute and is currently working with 13 emerging LCs from across the institute as a direct result of this call. LCs facilitate the exchange of good teaching and learning ideas amongst its members and provide a platform for professional discussions and sharing of practices. This workshop enabled these emerging LCs to: Showcase their vision and ideas for both their short- and long-term ambitions Show how their activities are influencing teaching and learning in their respective disciplines. An open invitation was extended to all CIT staff to attend what turned out to be a lively and thought-provoking session where they heard more about our LCs and found out how to: Develop a new LC or Create partnerships with existing ones

"Is this your first year as a lecturer or have you been lecturing for several years already? Do you sometimes feel daunted or overwhelmed by the thought of the academic year ahead? Are there times you get that Groundhog Day feeling and wish you could do things differently? Are there aspects of your teaching and assessment practice that frustrate and annoy you? The Teaching and Learning Unit (TLU), part of the Office of Registrar and VP for Academic Affairs, was formed to support the work of the Registrar in a wide range of quality enhancement initiatives associated with teaching and learning. In this session, we aimed to: Introduce you to the TLU Team – who we are and what we do? Give an insight into the supports and services available from the TLU that can help you in your day-to day role from: Professional Development Opportunities such as our MA in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education and the variety of workshops and seminars we offer throughout the year Research and Funding Opportunities that you can access Resources we have developed in conjunction with experts in the field of teaching and learning Projects that we are pursuing Gain an understanding from you of any other ways you would like our help"

"Peer coaching is a staff development model which can be used to develop and try new strategies and determine what does and does not work by critically evaluating beliefs about teaching and learning. Peer coaching is built upon trusting relationships that develop between lecturers. The seminar outlined the nature of a coaching conversation and gave participants an opportunity to develop their listening, questioning and feedback skills. The seminar was designed to develop professional communication and dialogue one of the four domains underpinned by the National Professional Development framework’s values. Collegial coaching, technical coaching, challenge coaching and team coaching were examined and their use in third level explored. The four types of peer coaching are all very different, but they are built upon effective communication that is honest and open and based on an unbiased attitude and a willingness to help others grow professionally. This involves trust building. Effective peer coaches must be dedicated to working in a trusting relationship with a partner to continually improve his or her teaching skills. They must also be open to new ideas and willingly share classroom experiences with their partners. Effective communication means more than just teachers talking with each other. It involves: conversation skills listening skills nonverbal language giving constructive feedback developing trusting relationships The seminar/workshop employed a blended learning approach involving experiential learning techniques complimented by facilitated debriefs, group discussions and short presentations. Participants who attended this workshop: Deepened their understanding of the nature and benefits of peer coaching in enhancing CPD commitment and impact. Gained a heightened awareness of their capacity to listen with unconditional positive regard Increased their knowledge and expertise in the use of questioning to raise awareness Developed their skills in offering impactful feedback Constructed an action plan to utilise the workshop content to improve their own communication skills so they can better support their peers and engage in purposeful conversations regarding professional development, development of learning communities and communities of practice."

"How can we design assessment tasks, so they inspire our students to learn? How can we use assessment to enthuse our learners, and keep them engaged? What are the processes which underpin effective feedback and what are some of the barriers and challenges we face in helping students’ uptake of feedback? How can we approach feedback so that it is meaningful and useful to students, but manageable for ourselves? How far and in what ways do we involve students in the process of evaluative judgment, so they learn to see how they are going while they are working on tasks? These are some of the questions and issues that were explored and discussed in this interactive seminar on engaging students in assessment and feedback processes. Participants who attended this: Explored key principles underpinning the design of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in Higher Education (Sambell et al, 2013), which include assessment for and as learning; Discussed the benefits, challenges and strategies colleagues in different disciplines use to engage learners as productively as possible in assessment and feedback processes; Gained access to practical AfL resources, shared ideas with each other and considered pragmatic tactics to develop students’ assessment and feedback literacy."

“Students learn a great deal by explaining their ideas to others and by participating in activities in which they can learn from their peers” (Boud, 2001). Peer Learning can significantly assist students in the transition into and throughout higher education and strongly motivates learning and enhances student success. This workshop explored the role of Peers in providing a holistic, value-added and enriched student experience. It provided answers to some of the following questions: What is the role of the Peer? How do you select Peers to be involved in structured support? What are the boundaries? What will be the benefits? This workshop was interactive and encouraged participants to consider different approaches to using Peers to support students."

"Assessment is a complex, nuanced and highly important process and if we want students to engage fully, we must make it really meaningful to them and convince them that there is merit in the activities we ask them to undertake. To focus students’ effort and improve their engagement with learning, we need to take a fresh look at our current practice to make sure assessment is for rather than just of learning, with students learning while they are being assessed rather than it being merely a summative end process. We also need to ensure that we provide explicit and implicit messages to students and indeed all other stakeholders about how we assess. By the end of this workshop, participants had had opportunities to: Consider how to make assessment truly integrated with the learning process; Review what kinds of feedback can be helpful to students in achieving their potential; Discuss how to make assessment manageable without losing the learning payoff that fit-for-purpose assessment can bring."

How can we inspire our students to learn? How can we engage them, and keep them engaged? How best can we use the tools available to us in this digital age to enthuse them? What are the processes which underpin successful learning now? How can we ourselves be inspired and enthused, so that we enjoy our work as teachers more than ever? These are some of the questions that were explored in this interactive workshop on learning and teaching in the 21st Century. By the end of this workshop, participants had: Explored some answers to the questions above, and thought of better ones; Shared ideas with each other and with Phil; Discussed the need to re-invent feedback and assessment for the 21st Century

"If we want to improve students’ engagement with learning, a key focus of enhancement can be refreshing our approaches to assessment. Sometimes we need to take a fresh look at our current practice to ensure assessment is for rather than just of learning. In addition, we as educators in higher education understand the importance of giving good feedback to students, both to maximize achievement and to support retention. Research in the field suggests that good feedback has a significant impact on student achievement, enabling students to become adept at judging the quality of their own work during its production. In this workshop, the following aspects of assessment were considered: Fit for purpose assessment: designing assessments to promote student learning Assessing more students: ways of using productive assessment with large numbers Assessing first-year students well to promote retention Streamlining assessment: giving feedback effectively and efficiently"