Development – Page 12 – Digital Learning Dispatches

By Clare Gormley

In this post I would like to share some early reflections on The Sipping Point community which recently started up at DCU. Drawing loosely on the concept of Wenger’s community of practice, the idea of The Sipping Point is to provide an opportunity for staff with a shared interest in teaching to interact with each other in a non-formal setting. The basic premise is to try to foster a climate where staff across all disciplines can potentially learn from colleagues about aspects of teaching practice. The result so far is a gathering of members who meet up for one hour once a month to hear about and discuss various approaches that peers are adopting in their teaching context.

Cups

Why this format?

Based on feedback and research into various academic professional development (APD) courses offered by our unit, (you can read more about those in Gormley, O’Keeffe & Ferguson (2017)), it is clear that not all staff can or wish to commit to the timeframes involved in our accredited offerings. Even for those who do complete these courses, there are limited opportunities for a cohort to continue their learning community and interact further once the module(s) have completed. Once-off workshops are also problematic since they don’t tend to engage lecturers deeply over a period of time. And I think it’s fair to say that we have also noticed a general lack of awareness of what other lecturing staff at DCU are doing that might be of value/interest across the academic community.

DF0lbKeXgAAEL1e Hence The Sipping Point – a new avenue for like-minded souls interested in discussing teaching practice – came into being in April of this year, driven by an enthusiastic combination of positive change, collegiality and coffee. The general format is a one-hour session led by at least one lecturer presenting on a predetermined aspect of their practice for 10 minutes. After that, the topic goes open to the floor for general questioning and discussion. We meet at all three DCU campuses (Glasnevin, St Patrick’s and All Hallows) over the last week of the month.

You can read more about the Sipping Points initiative on “Learning Rush“, Clare’s Gormley’s personal blog.

We recently launched under the leadership of Lisa Donaldson and Dr Mark Glynn in the Teaching Enhancement Unit in the NIDL our new learning portfolio known as Loop Reflect.

Reflect1

The new platform, based on a customised version of Mahara specifically designed to meet DCU’s requirements, aims to support students to critically reflect on and share their academic, professional and personal achievements. In this respect the learning portfolio is intended to help students demonstrate their ability to meet DCU’s Generation 21 Graduate Aspirations, and support meaningful employment on graduation and a wider commitment to life-long and life-wide learning. The goal is to create a living portfolio which will help develop critical reflection as a “habit of mind” and assist future employers in visualising the breadth of a DCU student’s capability and learning experience.

The launch event for Loop Reflect was attended by Minister for Education & Skills, Mr Richard Bruton TD, and marks the completion of the pilot phase of Reflect which has seen more than 5,000 students sign up to use the learning portfolio across a range of disciplines and in a range of different contexts. Professor Brian MacCraith, President of DCU explained the importance of this new initiative:

“DCU is committed to providing its students with a transformative learning experience, that will enable them to flourish in the workplace and society. The world of work requires citizens with transferable skills who are resilient and adaptable, and capable of reflective and critical thinking. The Reflect portfolio challenges traditional approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, capturing all facets of student learning and providing our students with an opportunity reflect on their personal and professional as well as learning development.”