Academic biography

Monica Ward is an Associate Professor in the School of Computing at DCU.  She has held numbers leadership roles in the university, most recetnly as the Dean of Teaching at Learning at DCU and was formerly the Assistant Head for Teaching Excellence in the School of Computing. She has extensive experience in teaching and assessment a range of subjects from technical to transversal skills modules.  She is a pioneer of the use of technology in education and she advocates a co-creation and culturally-responsive approach with academics and students.   She is an expert in Artificial Intelligence in Education and has advised internationally and nationally on this topic.  She combines her industry experience with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to create a vibrant, active and relevant learning experiece for her students.

She is a recognised leader in digital education and she has contributed to many national and international strategy and guideline documents on EdTech. These include the EU Guidelines for Teaching Informatics, the European Digital Competency Framework (DigComp 3.0), a suite of documents on AI in Higher Education for the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in HE (Ireland), the curriculum for Computer Science for Senior Cycle secondary school students (Ireland), the National Digital Strategy for Irish, the National Plan for Irish in English-medium schools. She is currently one of the expert members of the EU Working Group on the Assessment of Digital Skills.

Her research interest include:

• Computer Assisted Language Learning (with a special focus on Less Commonly Taught Languages and Endangered Languages)
• Computer Science Education
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Educational Technologies
• Human Factors in Computing