The feedback between vocational education and training (VET) and the labour market can provide important input for the review and renewal of qualifications. A feedback loop that is based on learning outcomes helps provide deeper insights into what is required on the labour market, what is offered in training provisions and assessed at the end of a…

This report aims to provide insight into the realities faced by higher education academic staff at a time of fast-moving change and increasing societal demand. Fluctuating student numbers, new funding and steering mechanisms are among the features of today's European higher education landscape, but not enough is known about how academic staff are…

The Irish inter-institutional virtual learning environments (VLEs) open dataset stems from ongoing work with a rolling longitudinal survey of students' usage of VLEs which has been ongoing in 12 higher education institutions since 2008. The project has collected over 21,000 student responses to date through the growth of an extended network of…

This paper reports on a study to predict students at risk of failing based on data available prior to commencement of first year. The study was conducted over three years, 2010 to 2012, on a student population from a range of academic disciplines, n=1,207. Data was gathered from both student enrollment data and an online, self-reporting,…

In this paper, we describe an in-class experiment that is easy to implement with large groups of students. The experiment takes approximately 15-20 minutes to run and involves each student completing one of four types of Sudoku puzzles and recording the time it takes to completion. The resulting data set can be used as a teaching tool at an…

The "2015 NMC Technology Outlook for Higher Education in Ireland: A Horizon Project Regional Report" is a collaborative research effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC), National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) at Dublin City University, and the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) to inform Irish higher education…

Summative student evaluation of teaching (SET) is a contentious process, but given the increasing emphasis on quality and accountability, as well as national and international calls for centralised student feedback systems, is likely to become an inevitable aspect of teaching. This research aimed to clarify academics' attitudes to SET in a large…

This study analyses the experiences of youth workers in dealing with challenging behaviour among young people. The findings from a qualitative approach to the collection and analysis of data from 45 research participants are presented. The paper begins by briefly exploring the context of youth work in Ireland and outlining the research process.…

Background: Extra-curricular sport is an important aspect of life in Irish primary schools. Team invasion games hold a dominant position and, within this category, Gaelic games are extremely popular. Teachers have, historically, played a significant role in the promotion of Gaelic games through the organization of inter-school competitions. The…

Background: Statistics are critical in holding governments accountable for the well-being of citizens with disability. International initiatives are underway to improve the quality of disability statistics, but meaningful ID data is exceptionally rare. Method: The status of ID data was evaluated in a review of 12 national statistical systems.…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…