"The Academic Success Coaching team at MTU hosted a workshop on the value and applications of coaching approaches in Higher Education. Equally of interest to Academic and to Professional, Management and Support staff at MTU, the workshop provided an overview of the uniqueness of coaching approaches and how they can enrich teaching, supervision, and mentoring scenarios. We were joined by Dr Jill Andreanoff, a leading coaching scholar and practitioner, who shared her wealth of experience on the value of using a coaching approach in Higher Education settings. Dr Andreanoff facilitated a short interactive session exploring both mentoring and coaching, giving practical examples of how these approaches can be adopted."

"Learning communities serve many functions in education. They allow for the sharing of ideas, the standardisation of practices and the presentation of new solutions and insights. They can also enhance teamwork and collaboration, as well as reduce individual workloads within and across departments and schools. In the last 2 years the TLU have supported the creation and development of over 20 Learning Communities across MTU Cork. This session allowed them to share their experiences and gave those interested in developing their own LC an understanding of how the TLU can help support and fund their ideas."

"Though nearly as common as dyslexia, dyscalculia is neither well-known nor well-understood among educators and clinicians. In recent years students with dyscalculia have presented in different MTU Cork programmes of study and have struggled with completing core maths modules or using maths within modules of their course such as Science and Business subjects. Staff in MTU Cork were surveyed about their awareness of and questions about Dyscalculia. In addition, students with the Disability Support Service (DSS) were surveyed on their experience of dyscalculia in college. The results of these surveys were used to inform the design and content of this workshop and their findings were presented during the workshop itself. The objective of this workshop was to raise awareness about dyscalculia among the MTU community and identify best practice approaches to support our students with dyscalculia. Following universal design for learning (UDL) principles that promote increased accessibility in teaching and learning we hope that this raised awareness will in fact benefit all students who interact with maths and numbers as part of their studies at MTU Cork. A major focus of this workshop was on ways in which lecturers or tutors can support students with Dyscalculia to succeed. Hilary Maddocks has worked for many years supporting such students at Loughborough University. The student perspective was also presented as we heard from an MTU Cork student about her experiences of learning with Dyscalculia, and the DSS gave some background."

"There is a prevalence of survey usage across third level Institutes. Surveys are sometimes regarded as an easy approach to obtaining opinions and measurements. However, it is easy to conduct a survey of poor quality rather than one of high quality and real value. This seminar will provide a checklist of good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. Its purpose is to assist the participants to produce survey work to a high standard, meaning a standard at which the results will be regarded as credible. The seminar will first provide an overview of the approach to questionnaire design and then guide the participants step-by-step through the processes of data collection, data analysis, and storage. The seminar is not intended to provide a manual of how to conduct a survey, but rather to identify common pitfalls and oversights to be avoided by researchers if their work is to be valid and credible. Anyone involved in collecting data from subjects has an ethical duty to respect each individual participant’s autonomy. All surveys should be conducted in an ethical manner and one that accords with best practice. Confidentiality with regard to all participant information should always be respected, with due care given in both the collection, recording, storage and destruction of data. The seminar will highlight the importance and role of ethics, research integrity and data storage in questionnaire design. This seminar was particularly relevant to academic staff, i.e. lecturers, supervisors and researchers, but was also relevant to professional management support staff. Participants attending this seminar gained insights into: The steps involved in designing a reliable questionnaire such as qualities of good questions, questionnaire length, question wording, order of questions, etc. The importance of a Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP) in questionnaire design. How meeting ethical standards ensures researchers act in good faith and protects the integrity of the resulting data. Processes to help us to be aware of, respect and protect the personal data collected."

The value of Learning Communities, especially those that work across disciplines, is that they facilitate a sharing of expertise, knowledge and experience. Accessing ‘the wisdom in the room’ is often cited as the purpose of sharing in such communities. The word ‘dialogue’ in its original Greek form represents a process where new wisdom and insight is reached between two people which could not have been reached by either party on their own. Such a process inevitably involves the reconciling, fusing or synthesis of two or more, often conflicting, ideas or viewpoints often in an effort to clarify and articulate a common goal for the group. This seminar explored the need, nature, cause and value of conflict in the synthesis of new ideas, knowledge and learning. Participants interrogated the effectiveness of one of the most popular tools for understanding and dealing with conflict i.e. the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. In workshop format, participants explored their own preferred approach to conflict and used the Kilmann model to experiment with alternative approaches to conflict in order to promote meaningful dialogue in learning communities. Teaching and Learning Practice can be enhanced when people learn to better engage with colleagues, who have conflicting viewpoints, in a way that allows for all voices to be heard and that cultivates the positive restlessness which leads to new insights, consensus and action. On completion of this seminar participants had: Gained an understanding of the nature and importance of conflict in developing creative learning communities Became familiar with the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument Became more aware of their own preferred approach mode Had explored and practiced alternative conflict modes with peers

"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. The main purpose of this session was to support our current cohort of (LCs) but was also useful to those who would like to learn more about the benefits of initiating and sustaining an active LC."

"Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of social constructivism highlighted the importance of the contribution of others to every individual’s learning. With the increasing use of ICT and the internet, learning communities can expand beyond geographical limitations leading to new and exciting educational dimensions and learning opportunities across schools, colleges, communities and cultures. The term ‘learning community’ has become increasingly common in education usage and can mean many different things, from bringing members of the local community in to the college to collaborative learning among students or lecturers. Colleges today are complex, interwoven, interactive environments where learning flourishes when there is a spirit of openness and transparency and where lecturers are more likely to adopt a collegial approach incorporating shared leadership and authority thereby facilitating the work of the students. In colleges that are learning communities, everyone is a learner, and everyone is a teacher. This seminar explored how a coaching skill set can be used to enable learning institutions to develop the skills of enquiry, collaboration, sharing of practice and critically evaluate beliefs about teaching and learning. The overall aim of the seminar was to enhance the quality of professional communication and dialogue one of the four domains underpinned by the National Professional Development framework’s values. The seminar employed a blended learning approach involving experiential learning techniques complimented by facilitated debriefs, group discussions and short presentations. The main objectives of this seminar were that participants would have: Deepened their understanding of the nature and benefits of peer coaching. Gained a heightened awareness of how coaching skills can be used to enhance individual and group learning. Gained insight into how a departmental wide peer mentoring model is evolving in CIT. Increased their knowledge and expertise in the use of coaching skills in their professional roles. Have practiced their coaching skills in challenging situations. Constructed an action plan to utilise the workshop content to improve their peer coaching skills so they can better support their peers and engage in purposeful conversations regarding professional development, development of learning communities and communities of practice."

Cork Institute of Technology and Griffith College Cork came together to organise this seminar to examine digital teaching tools for Mathematics in Higher Education. The focus of this seminar was to explore and champion effective digital tools and technologies in the teaching of Mathematics in Higher Education in Ireland and to create an opportunity for networking and initiation of collaborative relationships in this area. It provided hands on experience of educational technology in Mathematics for participants and provided a forum for exploring challenges, exchanging ideas and disseminating practices. Talks/workshops included: Dr Maria Meehan, UCD, who discussed her experience of the use of technology in teaching Mathematics. CIT’s Technology Enhanced Learning Department who discussed Teaching Mathematics using virtual and augmented reality. Lightning Talks from participants who use education technology in their Higher Education Maths classroom/lecture who shared their experience with others Parallel Workshops on Mathematics e-assessment using Numbas catering for beginners and more advanced users.