CIT Teaching & Learning Unit

Date

Title & Descriptor

Tuesday,

6^th September 2016

Blackboard Induction

Presenter: Roisin Garvey, Department of Technology Enhanced Learning.

In this initial training session, participants were provided with training on the role that Blackboard plays in CIT and how it can be utilised to best serve a variety of approaches to teaching and learning.

Some of the information covered in this session included:

• The role of Blackboard in CIT and how Blackboard communicates with other CIT IT systems.
• Customising Blackboard and the Blackboard layout to suit your training requirements.
• Uploading, editing and organising learning content and best practice for making it available to students.
•  Searching and adding rich media for supporting teaching and learning
• The basics of offering assessments and grading students in Blackboard.

Tuesday,

6^th September 2016

Staff Induction: Starting Off in CIT; Understanding and Navigating the Course Journey As A Lecturer

Presenter(s): Human Resources and Dr Siobhán O’ Sullivan (Teaching and Learning Unit)

This presentation was an informal information giving and sharing session and offered an opportunity to meet new staff and ask questions.

Meeting students for the first time can be a daunting experience for the student and lecturer alike. This initial meeting albeit stressful and anxious for both parties can be constructively used to:

• Convey the value of the lecture
• Understand learning outcomes and how they map to assessment
• Establish the course ground rules
• Map the course structure
• Find out where students are at in terms of their prior knowledge
• Determine what their and your expectations are
• Identify the “go to” people should problems or questions arise

This clarity from the beginning will make the students less anxious as they feel their journey ahead is clear; strategic places in the course journey are clearly defined and the journey has a clear starting point and end.

Wednesday,

7^th September 2016

Addressing Some Common IT Problems

Presenter: Tom Bonner, IT Services

This workshop consisted of information on IT Services support mechanisms as well as the basic systems and IT infrastructure they provide to all staff.

In light of the wide range of input that IT has to the staff working environment, a short Q&A session was held where some issues were addressable on the spot and others were queued for attention later.

Wednesday,

7^th September 2016

Staff Mentoring; Drop-In Information Sessions

Staff who were interested in making themselves available as mentors to new staff in 2016/2017 were invited to come along to coffee and nibbles at the Melbourn building to find out more about staff mentoring at CIT.

Specifically, information was provided on:

• Becoming an Induction mentor to new staff
• Training to be a Peer Mentor for established staff
• Research mentoring of Post Grad students

Thursday,

8^th September 2016

Research into Student Learning and Teaching for Understanding

Presenter: Professor Noel Entwistle, University of Edinburgh

Research into how students learn has been conducted for the last forty years or more and has built up substantial evidence about important differences in the ways in which students go about their studying in higher education.

This seminar focused on a major project within the national British ESRC research programme into teaching and learning, which looked at teaching and learning environments within departments of electronic engineering, biological sciences, economics and history in twelve contrasting higher education institutions. This project introduced new concepts designed to describe teaching and learning in more powerful ways, which were found useful by staff in the collaborating departments and has continuing value.