Open Education Week 2023 – “Hybrid and Virtual Learning Spaces”
2023-03-07 13:00 - 14:30 (Europe/Dublin) | Virtual
The webinar builds on the work conducted by members of the Education Innovation Working Group of the Coimbra Group on innovative learning spaces. Hybrid and virtual learning spaces are increasingly planned, designed and evaluated for their rich instructional potential, especially in the context of transnational teaching and learning initiatives, but also as an effect of post-pandemic developments in higher education institutions.

Open Education Week 2023 – “Open Educational Practices as a Catalyst for Innovation”
2023-03-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
This webinar provides an introduction to the concept of open educational practices (OEPs) as a catalyst for innovation. Participants will gain an understanding of how open educational practices can be used to increase access to quality educational resources, foster collaboration, and encourage innovation. We will discuss the benefits of OEPs, the challenges associated with them, and the ways in which they can be implemented in educational contexts. Participants will also learn about the opportunities for educators to create and share open educational resources, as well as the potential impact of OEPs on educational institutions, communities, and society. Finally, we will explore how open educational practices can be used to promote equity, inclusivity, and diversity in education.

Open Education Week 2023 – “Sustainable Models of Education Post-Covid: The Case of Extended Squared (Exten(DT)2)”
2023-03-09 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
In this webinar, we are going to introduce and discuss the project “Extending design thinking with emerging digital technologies” funded by Horizon Europe and Innovate UK. Exten(DT)2 aims to enhance the pedagogical value of design thinking through the use of expressive digital media that are integrated with emerging technologies such as AI and analytics, AR and 3D printing. The project adopts a co-design and co-production approach closely working with teachers across six European countries (Sweden, Greece, UK, Norway, Ireland, Belgium) to design, test and tailor educational interventions that are sustainable and enable development of students’ 21st century skills. The four presentations of this webinar focus on: a) introducing the Exten(DT)2 project, 2) a critical perspective to design thinking, 3) presenting emerging digital technologies and how they can be used to digitise teaching, and 4) discussing how co-designing with teachers can bring innovation to educational curricula.

Open Education Week 2023 – “Applying and Translating Learning Design and Analytics Approaches in Your Institution”
2023-03-10 10:30 - 12:30 | Virtual
This interactive workshop delivered by the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organisation and Informatics (UZ), School of Medicine, and the Open University UK (OU) will build on several large-scale implementations of learning design and learning analytics, and how you could potentially implement similar approaches in your institution.
For example, the OU has been implementing learning design for over 15 years as a structured design, specification, and review process for blended and online courses. The learning design is focused on “what students do” as part of their learning, rather than on “what teachers do” or on what will be taught. Building on this work, UZ has recently developed the Balanced Design Planning (BDP) tool specifically for educators working in hybrid and blended contexts. The tool (www.learning-design.eu/) is more focussed on intended learning outcomes and automated learning analytics and is currently developed and tested with 700+ practitioners from 25+ institutions as part of several European projects (eDesk, Teach4EDU, RAPIDE, iLED), and is publicly available for other institutions to use for free.
In this EDEN workshop we aim to showcase what we have learned from implementing the BDP concept and tool, and how we have further updated and fine-tuned the approach based upon both feedback from end users as well as participating institutions.

NTUTORR SDG Drop-In Clinic
2023-03-14 09:00 - 10:00, 2023-03-21 09:00 - 10:00, 2023-03-28 09:00 - 10:00 | Virtual
NTUTORR SDG Clinics are available to support educators who are interested in participating in the Teach-In campaign.

MoodleMunch: Presentations on Moodle and graduate mentorship and student peer review
2023-03-14 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
In this webinar, Dublin City University and Ilia State University, Georgia will deliver presentations:
1. DCU will present on how it uses Moodle to support a graduate mentorship programme involving internal and external users, drawing on the flexible Database activity (DigCompEdu competence 3.3 ‘Collaborative learning’)
2. Ilia State will present on its approach to using the Moodle assignment activity and rubric to facilitate student peer review (DigCompEdu competence 4.1 ‘Assessment strategies’)

Is the Learning Experience Significant? Using Fink's Taxonomy to (Re)Design and Evaluate Asynchronous Distance Learning Courses
2023-03-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Virtual
Evidence-based instructional strategies provide effective frameworks for designing both in-person and distance learning experiences that effectively achieve course learning outcomes. Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning (FTSL) is an evidence-based instructional strategy originally developed for in-person courses that describes six kinds of learning goals which exist in interwoven domains. When learning experiences promote interaction between different domains, a significant learning experience that lasts beyond course completion is more likely to occur. For instructors teaching asynchronous distance learning courses, how can we design learning experiences that promote meaningful and long-lasting change in the learner’s life? And, how do we evaluate and assess said experiences?
During this session, we will explore both questions using pedagogical principles that connect with FTSL, as well as insights from a recent scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) study implemented during Autumn semester 2021. In the SoTL study, we evaluated if a student’s learning experience in a 100% asynchronous distance learning course designed using FTSL contributed toward positive changes in their health promotion behaviors that lasted beyond course completion. Preliminary findings from the SoTL study demonstrate evidence of student learning gains in five of six learning domains (foundational knowledge, application, integration, the human dimension, and caring; according to Fink1). Learning gains also connect with statistically significant shifts in some student health promotion behaviors, including strengthened behavioral intentions related to safe medication use, storage, and disposal, increased likelihood to avoid medication misuse behaviors, and increased confidence toward teaching others medication safety and helping others whose use of substances has them concerned.

AHEAD Annual International Conference - Unity: How Staff and Learner Communities Drive Inclusion in Tertiary Education
2023-03-23
The community of professionals working to support equity and inclusion of people with disabilities in further and higher education, and to promote the wider concepts of universal design and UDL, is growing at a rapid pace. Equally, the welcome trend towards increased student partnership in tertiary education is providing more opportunities for learners to contribute meaningfully to this community, and the dialogue about policy and practice within it.
But what does all of that mean for the state of play regarding inclusion in tertiary education and the consistency of learner support? Is this growing community meaningfully and positively impacting on policy, practice and ultimately, student success? If so, how can we more closely align our communities, raise the voices of diverse staff and learners with them, and maximise their collective impact?
As Ireland moves towards a more unified tertiary education system, and more unified communities of policy makers, professional staff, educators and learners within these sectors, this conference will explore individual, institutional, national and international views on how we can leverage the power of community to drive equity and inclusion in the tertiary education system.

Think Twice about your CV!
2023-04-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Virtual
GetAHEAD are running a free online training session exclusively for students and graduates with disabilities registered on our WAMWorks Database on how to build and write your CV.
Did you know it is reported that a recruiter or an employer may spend as little as 6 seconds when they first see your CV. Those 6 seconds could be the deciding factor in whether they will look at your CV in more detail or whether you will go into the ‘NO’ pile!
To make sure you don’t go into the ‘NO’ pile, come along to our short one-hour session and where you can make a good first impression on employers.
When: Tuesday, April 11th from 12pm Noon to 1pm
Remember, you need to register and let us know if you have any accessibility accommodations for this webinar.

Universal Design for Learning National Conference - Building a Culture of Inclusion in Higher Education: Overcoming obstacles to enahnce & sustain UDL collaboration in further and higher education
2023-06-01
This year Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and Munster Technological University (MTU) have united to deliver a National UDL Conference. The conference not only explores a whole Institute approach to UDL but draws on learning and reflection from the HEA Path 4 Phase 1 Project in which both Universities partnered on a work package considering leadership approaches to supporting UD. With increased evidence available on the effectiveness of UDL creating a more inclusive environment across classrooms in Further & Higher Education, this year we explore UDL from three key perspectives: Leaders, academics, and student services.

Unlocking the Potential: Exploring ChatGPT and AI Tools in Teaching Practice
2023-06-09 11:00 - 13:00 | Virtual
This is the first of a series of hands-on workshops that will look at the functions and limitations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. This workshop will outline use cases and key features of Chat GPT (an AI tool that generates text in a variety of languages, styles, and formats). For this online session you will take part in workshop activities, so please be prepared to participate on your device.
Read more about this event at the booking link below.

End of Year Tasks 22-23
2023-06-12 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
This session will cover all of the important end of year tasks for academics to ensure all of your content is backed up and ready for the next academic year. This will cover how you can backup content on Moodle, MS Teams related to your Moodle courses and MS Stream videos not saved to your OneDrive.

Re-imagining Assessment & Feedback for student success Project symposium
2023-06-16 09:00 - 13:30
The second ATU Re-imagining Assessment and Feedback for Student Success Symposium in the ATU Galway City Campus room 994.

Chat GPT & Artificial Intelligence Tools - Workshop 1
2023-09-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
This is a hands-on workshops on Artificial Intelligence tools such as Chat GPT to explore the key features and quirks of AI tools that generate content in a variety of languages, styles, and formats. This is one of two instances of this being ran in September to provide you with an opportunity try Chat GPT and test its potential impact on your specific discipline and teaching practices.

What's new in Moodle?
2023-09-11 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
If you are interested in learning what is new on Moodle for the 23-24 Academic year, book your place for this session on September 11th 2023.

Chat GPT & Artificial Intelligence Tools - Workshop 1
2023-09-29 10:00 - 12:00

Introduction to Teams
2023-10-05 10:00 - 11:00
For those new or returning to Microsoft Teams, we will look at basic features and how to use for teaching an online class

Student Engagement Tools: Vevox
2023-10-05 14:00 - 15:00
A quick demonstration of Vevox polling tool and how to use within powerpoint

Moodle Assignment
2023-10-09 11:00 - 13:00
Check with K & S

Student Engagement Tools: Padlet
2023-10-10 11:00 - 11:30
Use Padlet for introductions, icebreakers, communication, feedback and colaboration. Students can post notes, images, voicenotes, links, documents, and comment-on and oganise materials. You can add Padlets directly to you moodle page and Teams tabs for seamless integration with our teaching platforms. A simple but effective tool for sychronous and asynchonous student engagment.

Gradebook Setup
2023-10-12 14:00 - 14:30
For Moodle users this session will show you how to set up your gradebook in the Galway Mayo VLE

Overview of TurnItIn - New text matching software
2023-10-13 10:00 - 10:30
This session will give an overview of TurnItIn on Moodle. The recommended settings to use (these are the default settings on the site) and how you can evaluate the reports which it produces.

Student Engagement Tools: Moodle Games
2023-10-17 14:00 - 14:30
Use Games such as Crosswords, Cryptex, Hangman, and Millionaire to make practice quizes fun and engaging. With your existing quiz questions, you can set up a series of games for students in less than 5 minutes!

Student Engagement Tools: OneNote
2023-10-24 11:00
Using the OneNote class notebook for collaboration, group work and assignments.

Chat GPT & Artificial Intelligence Tools - Workshop 2
2023-10-26 14:00 - 16:00
This hands on workshop will look at redesigning assessments with the capability of AI tools such as Chat GPT and variations of it in mind. We will be looking at the susceptibility of assessment types and group work, discussions and debate will be used to explore the considerations required in designing different assessment types.

New Moodle Assignment Grading Method
2023-11-03 10:00 - 11:00
This session will showcase a new grading method available exclusively to ATU. We have worked with our Moodle provider to develop a customised rubric to reflect how you would use a rubric on paper. This customisation allows for the selection of a grade within a defined range which is based on your preference. This was a significant road block to using the traditional rubric on Moodle as the mark assigned to each level was fixed. This new rubric allows you to set a maximum grade for each level and choose a figure between the level you choose as the grade and level below.

New Vevox PowerPoint Add-in
2023-11-07 12:00 - 13:00
Introducing the new Vevox PowerPoint add-in available to all ATU users. This new add-in allows you to use all Vevox question types within the PowerPoint app.

Hello H5P! Introduction to H5P
2023-11-08 10:00 - 10:45
This is the first of a series of short H5P webinars. In this session you will be introduced to the H5P, what it is, how you can use it and the tools to build and design interactive reusable H5P learning objects.
