Teaching and Learning Fellowship awards 2005

Dr Dermot Brabazon

Françoise Blin

Dr Colum Kenny

29 July 2004

Françoise Blin, SALIS, Dermot Brabazon, School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering and Colum Kenny, School of Communications have been awarded Teaching and Learning Fellowships 2005 organised by the Office of the Vice President for Teaching and Learning. Each Fellowship has a term of two years and has a total value of €25,000. The scheme is a major initiative in DCU, and demonstrates in the most tangible way the university's strategic commitment to the recognition and development of Teaching and Learning excellence.

Below is an overview of the research projects being undertaken:

Francoise Blin
The T&L Fellowship will support the exploration of a reorganisation of the division of labour and of the distribution of roles among participants and technologies in language modules supported by Moodle and designed around action-reflection task cycles. More specifically, the hierarchy between the various levels and functions of feedback, which are required if language acquisition is to take place within an instructed environment, will be investigated so that this essential component of task-based language teaching can be distributed in a more efficient and less-time consuming manner. While the work undertaken will be grounded in SALIS work practices, it is intended that the resulting model and suggested additional Moodle tools could be applied across a much broader range of disciplines. The following questions will therefore be addressed: Which type of feedback can be successfully automated? For what purpose? When is it appropriate for feedback to be peer-generated? When is it appropriate for feedback be provided by a native speaker who is not a qualified language teacher? Or by a more proficient peer? What tasks are appropriate for the above feedback mechanisms to stimulate learning? When should feedback be provided by a qualified language teacher? How do these various types of feedbacks impact on the learning outcomes? Which Moodle modules can assist the above types of feedback? How can they be best deployed in the context of task-based syllabi? Which other tools are required to enhance the provision of feedback to learners? Can we identify and document emerging roles so that a new organisation of labour in the context of language learning activities can be formulated and, if adopted by colleagues, implemented? A small team of practising language lecturers involved in educational technology research, and interested in elaborating design research methods, will develop a number of goal-oriented language learning tasks, which will be adapted and implemented across different languages and supported by Moodle. Core or add-in Moodle modules will be selected according to their mediating role in relation to the object of the learning activity triggered by the task and according to their potential role in supporting the provision of feedback at different stages during its realisation. The selected tasks will provide a range of opportunities for the provision of different types of process and product oriented feedback, while ensuring that learners engage in both oral and written interaction, synchronously or asynchronously, thus drawing on the outcomes of the Giving a voice to Moodle project.

For further details contact Francoise Blin:
Tel: 7005196
Email: Francoise.blin@dcu.ie

Colum Kenny
The Fellowship Award would be used to support a major Teaching and Learning initiative in respect of methodologies of teaching and learning about personal belief systems and their communication. This proposal builds on the success of existing but quite distinct programmes of the School of Communications, and on the development of international contacts in this field. The initiative will reach out to the community in a radical and dynamic new way in order to bring together people of different ages, genders and beliefs, in a cross-cultural learning experience incorporating the latest developments in on-line educational technology. It addresses, in an inclusive and practical manner, the emerging multi-faith and multicultural nature of Irish society.

During the first phase of the Fellowship period, I would like to:

• Set up a working group involving collaboration with interested DCU staff and persons working in the field of media and religion.
• Develop a structure of peer tutoring so that once the new module is being delivered it can become self-perpetuating with minimal input from staff.
• Develop a comprehensive Moodle website to support the delivery of the module.
• Locate suitable venues for life-long learning in the community and encourage an appropriate range of persons of various ages, gender and belief systems to participate in the module workshops.
• Develop existing materials on reconciliation and dialogue to facilitate the implementation of the proposed structures.
• Develop workshops in facilitation of group learning and in training of supervisors and tutors.

During the second phase of the Fellowship period, I would like to:

• Continue to develop all of the above.
• Deliver the module.
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• Set up a group on feedback and develop a workbook on feedback.

The learning outcomes of this process would be considerable. Participants would learn about other belief systems, and in doing so they would discover more about themselves and their own motivations. They would learn about the process of communication itself, thus getting from the course not only information but also a practical resource that is evidently of value to communities as both Ireland and the larger world become ever more multicultural. Participants would also discover the value of a virtual learning environment, which they would be encouraged to maintain as a mode of communication between the members of the group when the module workshops had formally ended. The Fellowship will thus facilitate the delivery of teaching and learning experiences of benefit not only to staff and full-time students but also to learners of all ages and to the wider community. It will provide Dublin City University with an exciting cross-disciplinary exercise in the development of both its modular structure and its teaching and learning environment.

For further details contact Colum Kenny:
Tel: 7005235
Email: colum.Kenny@dcu.ie

Dermot Brabazon
The chalk and talk (or pen and acetate) mode of lecture delivery can be quite effective but due to the complex nature of theories in the science and engineering disciplines we often supplement many of the topics with laboratory experiments. However, unless laboratory classes are sufficiently explicit, the students can still find it difficult to visualise the concept being taught. Under the DCU Strategic Plan of "Leading Change" this proposal fits in well under the academic themes of Education and learning, and Science, discovery and technological innovation. Under this heading, students learn by the more immediate response from a hands on approach or a virtual instrument. On a more general level virtual teaching can be incorporated to help teaching all disciplines. For example, language teaching can use interactive people set in different environments. I therefore see the development of this teaching methodology as a being of cross disciplinary benefit.

One of my goals over the coming two years is to generate GUIs and instrumentation for ten undergraduate laboratory experiments in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing and the School of Physics. The exam and continuous assessment results before and after the implementation of the CBL will be recorded and statistically analysed. In addition, student's reactions to these laboratories before and after CBL implementation will be monitored. Two Masters students will be taken on to implement the experiment instrumentation and to conduct the impact study.

For further details please contact Dermot Brabazon:
Tel: 7008213 Email: Dermot.brabazon@dcu.ie