Enhancing Teaching & Learning in Third Level Education
For the first time Griffith College’s Faculty of Teaching and Learning is offering the NFQ Level 9 Special Purpose Certificate in Training and Education as an online course.
This certificate helps address the challenge raised in the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning’s report published last month, Strategic and Learners Perspectives on Digital Capacity in Higher Education, where the author, Jim Devine, remarks that building digital capacity within higher education,
“requires us to address the complex and dynamic balance between innovation in academics’ teaching practices and the changing expectations and learning experience of students.”
Increasingly technology has an important role within the higher education environment and influences both pedagogy and the learner. As a result of the rapid development of the internet and associated technologies, the learner’s expectations of how to interact with information and the diverse ways they now learn are unrecognisable from the higher education landscape of 20 years ago.
Many teachers and lecturers now feel that they lack the technological tools to engage with the younger generation. However, recent research, some of it carried out at Griffith College, suggests that in actual fact the young learners of today do not always automatically engage and feel confident with mastering technology and that they need support in their use of learning technologies in their transition to higher education. Similarly, the teacher or lecturer - no matter how technologically literate - requires support to integrate technology into his/her pedagogy.
On completion, graduates of the SPA will have a thorough understanding of how this support can be provided through the effective design of education programmes with clearly defined aims and learning outcomes.
The Special Purpose Postgraduate Award in Education and Training aims to address the key strategic initiatives set out within the National Forum’s two reports Roadmap for Building Digital Capacity 2014-2017 and Mapping Professional Development Pathways for those who teach in Higher Education.
Having been delivered as a face-to-face course at Griffith College for the past six years, this postgraduate certificate has consistently received positive feedback from students who have decided they wish to build on their teaching careers through continued professional development.
‘This is an excellent programme for teachers in third-level education. All aspects of the programme are relevant: the teaching strategies, assessments etc. The tutors are excellent. I learnt so much in a short period of time. I'm so glad I did the programme.' - Teresa Whitaker
I found the course not only engaging and stretching but also extremely relevant to the current issues in education. It challenged me to consider and reflect on my own views on teaching and education and make changes where appropriate. It not only espoused the theory of best practice in education, but also provided an example of best practice in action through the delivery of the programme with clear learning outcomes, assessment methods, and aligned teaching practices. It was an excellent course, thoroughly enjoyable and a great learning experience. I would highly recommend it.' - Sue Saunders
‘The course provided a bridge between my professional training and development experience and the field of higher education. It gave practical insights into areas such as a higher education curriculum, pedagogical practice, assessment and higher education policy and, additionally, enabled me to build my understanding of HE. The course also gave me the belief that I could change my career and become a lecturer.' - Ita Kennelly
Many of the SPA graduates have chosen to continue their study at the College with the Master's course in Education and Training, of which this 8-week online certificate is an embedded award.
Who is the SPA in Education and Training for?
This postgraduate award is designed for third level lecturers and adult trainers wishing to develop holistic approaches to establishing and maintaining effective learning environments. Graduates go on to careers in teaching and training, youth work, education policy, or in community and voluntary sector organisations. Participants on the programme are already teaching or supporting learning in higher education, and most go on to develop academic careers in higher education.
SPA Education and Training Course Content
The course content and learning outcomes are identical to the part-time qualification. There are four central modules: education programme design, pedagogical practice, assessment strategy, and evaluation and reflection, with the latter running alongside the other three modules to ensure the student is regularly evaluating their own professional development over the eight-week period.
Students and lecturers will be taking advantage of asynchronous and synchronous interaction to help develop an online learning community. An added benefit of the online programme is that the learner will gain experience in presenting online, including delivering a micro-teaching session as part of their assessment.
Read about the SPA in Education and Training learning outcomes
Watch videos explaining the qualification’s different modules
Why Study Online?
There’s no doubt that undertaking continued professional development via a face-to-face course in a classroom is an immersive and invaluable experience, however, here at Griffith College, we believe that online learning can be a rewarding and satisfying experience too. This is particularly the case with the community of engaged, self-directed and conscious learners who typically choose to study the Special Purpose Award in Education and Training at Griffith. This online course is an exciting and interesting programme where learners gain a teaching qualification and have the opportunity to focus on their own professional development, and also meet, learn and reflect on the diverse teaching and learning experiences of lecturers, trainers, and fellow teachers.
Face-to-Face Induction
The online delivery of the SPA in Education and Training will commence with a one-day face-to-face induction on Saturday 28th March and then run via weekly online lectures, activities and webinars over an eight-week period with an additional four weeks to complete the individual assessment.
The face-to-face induction provides students with the opportunity to meet the lecturers and familiarise themselves with all the technological tools required. During the induction e-portfolios will be set-up and students will be introduced to the virtual learning environment (VLE) and activities, webinar software and will learn how to interact online with lecturers and fellow students.
Start the online SPA in Education and Training on Saturday 28 March 2015
Any Questions
Email Robert McKenna, Director for the online programme, if you have any queries about the Special Purpose Award in Training and Education.
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