Background: A plethora of new terms and digital pedagogies have been making recent headlines in higher education with the promise, or threat, that digital technology will revolutionise the way in which universities operate. Blended learning is part of this digital revolution and institutions of higher education worldwide are increasingly adopting…

Increased attention to integrated approaches has resulted from demands to prioritise literacy learning while maintaining a balanced curriculum in primary schools. Limited empirical evidence to support integrated approaches to teaching physical education (PE) exists. This study explored the integration of PE content learning and the learning of…

Palliative care is a complex area of healthcare best delivered by an interdisciplinary team approach. Breaking bad news is an inherent part of caring for people with life-limiting conditions. This study aims to explore an interdisciplinary breaking bad news role-play in a palliative care module. Participants were undergraduate medical and nursing…

This paper considers the factors that impact on student success in first year science mathematics courses at the National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUI Maynooth). These factors include previous performance in the subject, attendance at lectures and tutorials, the number of assignments submitted, and attendance at the Mathematics Support…

Certificated Courses in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, provide opportunities for faculty to develop a culture of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). The Teaching and Learning Centre runs a Certificate, Diploma and Master's Programme which is grounded in a SoTL philosophy. Central to…

Background: The resources, needs and implementation activities of educational projects are often straightforward to document, especially if objectives are clear. However, developing appropriate metrics and indicators of outcomes and performance is not only challenging but is often overlooked in the excitement of project design and implementation.…

One of the central themes addressed by this paper is the design of the curriculum for architectural education using three schools of architecture: the Bauhaus in Dessau, Crown Hall in Chicago and the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU) in Sao Paulo. It also reflects on the practices in other schools such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin…

The numbers of postgraduate doctoral students has steadily risen in Ireland and internationally in recent years. The Irish government has made a clear commitment to expand and develop research education, and the work of postgraduate students constitutes a vital part of the contribution of the university to research. Nationally, and within and…

The author's proposition is that there is a pedagogy of supervision, not that "this" is it in its entirety but that there is a pedagogy of supervision, that it has relevance for other levels of the curriculum, and that this pedagogy of supervision provides an entry point for academics to become involved in the scholarship of research,…

Lesson study is a form of teacher professional development that is intrinsic to the Japanese educational system in first and second level schools and in teacher education. Lesson study has been credited with the success of Japanese pupils in international comparative tests of mathematics achievement (Stigler and Hiebert, 1999). It is gaining…

Background: The BSc Public Health and Health Promotion at University College Cork (UCC) aims to produce graduates who are passionate about their discipline. Teachers need to communicate this "passion" to students, but it can be difficult to know whether this has been achieved. The TFU framework makes such an outcome explicit, through…

This paper explores the work of an ongoing research project at University College Cork (UCC) which has sought to further the understanding of students in the BA Early Childhood Studies (BAECS) programme on issues of global diversity, set within childhood contexts. It tracks the process of development of the project thus far, highlighting key…

In the context of Ireland's changing demographics, this paper explores the importance of pedagogic research in informing both philosophies and pedagogical practices in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) which endeavours to facilitate student teachers' engagement with the teaching and learning process in Ireland's multicultural classrooms. By…

The use of computer-based automated assignment systems in economics has expanded significantly in recent years. The most widely used system is Aplia which was developed by Paul Romer in 2000. Aplia is a computer application designed to replace traditional paper-based assignments in economics. The main features of Aplia are: (1) interactive content…

The third annual conference of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) was held at Trinity College Dublin on 11-12 November 2009, and was attended by over 300 delegates. The theme--"Research-Teaching Linkages: Practice and Policy"--was timely and generated some fascinating papers, workshops and…