Toolbox – Page 2 – Digital Learning Dispatches

In October 2016, Dr James Brunton gave the final presentation on the outputs and deliverables of the Student Success Toolbox project to the National Forum’s International Expert Panel. This DCU-led project has been very successful in producing a suite of online tools for flexible part-time learners that current research suggests are lacking in early stages of the study lifecycle. The project team has produced numerous outputs and publications beyond the original scope of the project and recently developed and piloted a MOOC called Head Start Online in order to embed many of the tools in a facilitated learning experience for prospective flexible learners. We hope to fully embed these tools in the future for prospective students as part of our wider orientation to the DCU Connected experience.

In early January work commenced on two development projects aimed at building digital capacity funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.

The first project focuses on the research and development of a Toolbox for Flexible Learners in order to promote student success at early stages of the study lifecycle. This project is being led by Dr James Brunton in the NIDL and involves three partner institutions. A dedicated project website will be launched in the next couple of months and the project team is currently busy starting a comprehensive literature review that will help to inform the selection of the digital tools to be developed over the course of the year. A number of national and international presentations are also planned over the next six months to share various aspects of this work. We have just submitted our first paper for the EDEN conference in June.

The second National Forum funded project we are actively contributing to involves the important area of digitally mediated assessment/feedback, which is known in the literature to significantly influence the nature of the student learning experience. This Project, led by Lisa O’Regan at Maynooth University, has made excellent progress after a full-day meeting in early January to get the work underway. Each partner institution is now working on obtaining ethical approval for our baseline survey of current practice. Elaine Walsh and Mark Brown in the NIDL are leading the DCU part of this study. This is a two-year externally funded project that will lead to a number of case studies which we hope will highlight key lessons for other institutions. Again a dedicated project website will be launched in the next few months and several presentations of our work are planned, including a poster at the UK Assessment in Higher Education Conference.