Project Lead:
Dr Aoife McCarthy (aoife.mccarthy@mtu.ie)
Project Status
Project Lead Home Department:
MTU Cork - Science and Informatics - Biological Sciences
Alignment to HEA and NFETLHE SATLE 2022-23 Themes
- Best Practice in Upholding and Cultivating Academic Integrity;
Alignment to MTU Strategy Themes
- Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem;
- Learner Education & Experience;
Project Description
The aim of this project is to reimagine teaching and learning in the BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health Science programme to adhere to best practice in academic integrity (AI), with AI principles for assessment design, student ownership and standards being incorporated.
What is the anticipated impact of this project?
This project will result in the redesign of assessment, feedback and teaching practices on four core modules on the BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health Science programme. One module per programme stage will be redesigned, impacting approximately 240 undergraduate students per academic year (average approx. 60 students per module delivery).
Across the programme, a culture of academic integrity will be cultivated and emphasised with lasting implications for current and future teachers and learners.
A learning community focused on academic integrity will be established and developed in MTU, which will allow staff to share best practice, guidelines and real case studies. Any findings or resources developed as part of the project will be discussed with NAIN University members with potential to contribute to NAIN resource development and NAIN podcasts.
What will the outputs of this project be?
Student involvement as feedback providers will allow the generation of data on student perceptions of assessment feedback, assessment design and assessment literacy. In the workplan of the current project, this data will be collected prior to redesign of core modules. It is expected that following implementation, this data will be collected also and while this data won’t be available by December 2023, it will be possible to report on the impact of the project quantitatively following implementation. Such data may be presented at a teaching and learning conferences, such as the Advance HE Teaching and Learning Conference. It is anticipated that this data would contribute to an original research publication, in a teaching and learning academic journal such as Teaching in Higher Education.
This project will be presented as a case study at the academic integrity learning community developed as part of the project, with a recorded synopsis also being made available (potentially through TLU website) for wider reference.
Project outputs will also be reported through SATLE 2022 funding reports and through the National Forum Seminar Series.
Team Members:
Staff Participants (Department of Biological Sciences, MTU Cork):
- Dr Aoife Hayes, Lecturer, BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health Science Year 1 co-ordinator
- Dr Fiona Fouhy, Lecturer, BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health Science Year 2 co-ordinator
- Dr Helena Stack, Lecturer, BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health Science Year 3 co-ordinator
- Dr Aoife McCarthy, Senior Lecturer, BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health Science Programme Director and Year 4 co-ordinator
Student Participants (Department of Biological Sciences, MTU Cork)
- (TBD)
