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.

"At this seminar participants were given an opportunity to explore approaches, strategies and methodologies for creating and maintaining a classroom environment which promotes learning. Topics such as the use of learning environment checklists, positive behavior interventions and dealing with the disruptive student were discussed. The workshop examined the work of educators such as Ken Bain, Phil Race and Bill Rogers as well as drawing from expertise from within CIT."

"This presentation focused on the Student/Lecturer Legal dynamic. It began by outlining the legal framework in this area before exploring a number of specific issues including: Disruptive students and how lecturers should deal with this Social Media issues, including lecturers’ engagement with students on social media sites Bullying and Harassment of lecturers by students, and of students by lecturers. What constitutes bullying/harassment? What procedures should be followed? The relevant case law Sexual Harassment - what constitutes sexual harassment? The relevant case law Intellectual Property, recording lectures, lecturer’s notes Academic freedom in the classroom - freedom of speech for lecturers and students Data protection and student privacy. Examples of student personal data, how should this data be used and stored, how long should it be retained? Accommodating students with special needs The presentation also discussed disciplinary procedures and redress options for lecturers and students in the context of the issues outlined above."

Stephen Brookfield talks about how when teaching something that we love, how difficult it is for us to empathise with students that find the topic boring. The more that we teach the topic, the further removed we become from our first experiences of learning it and the less empathy we are likely to have. Yet empathy and respect strongly correlate with student motivation and motivation is essential to developing understanding. This, final session will explore the importance of empathy and respect.

Increasingly, its being recognised that subjects tend to have a specific “way of thinking” that is quite unique to that subject. Experts have adopted and internalised that inner logic. For our students to develop proficiency in our subject areas that inner logic needs to be verbalised and made explicit. This session will introduce the concept and provide some examples of how to reveal the inner logic.

Good quality feedback can have a huge impact on student learning and performance. In the Feedback session, we will highlight some ways of getting good quality feedback to students fast.

How a module is assessed has long been recognised to have a huge impact on what and how students learn (think Leaving Certificate Exams). Here, some guidelines for developing assessments that promote understanding will be presented

Within every topic there are elements that are central to the topic but which students really struggle to understand. If they don’t develop an understanding they may never get the topic. This session will introduce and explain this concept and why we need to identify and focus on these concepts

The literature on teaching and learning continues to endorse the use of active learning and in-class discussions to develop understanding. In this session a few of the more frequently used in-class techniques will be demonstrated.

Having a good module structure and being well organised really helps students develop understanding. This session will explore this concept, provide examples of how to structure and organise a module.

Having a module aim helps relate the topic to the whole. Clear module aims are really useful in helping to select content. This seminar will introduce the concept of thoughtlines and how module aims can be used to remind students of the aim(s) and how material is related to the aim.