Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Book Chapters)

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  • Publication
    Learning Technologists: changing the culture or preaching to the converted?
    (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015-01-24) Flynn, Sharon
    The role of a learning technologist is varied, we are involved in lots of different activities, and no two days are ever the same. We are constantly meeting and working with a variety of people, especially those of us who are based in a central unit.  In any particular day, we may be involved in meetings, phone calls, online sessions, workshops, seminars, training sessions and events for professional development. But does it ever feel like we are seeing the same faces all the time? When we run events, is it the same reliable few that participate. Are we preaching to the converted?There is no doubt that learning technologists are busy people, but is all our activity making a real difference to the institution as a whole? Is good practice in the use of technology really being embedded in teaching and learning activities. Are we changing the culture of our institutions?In this chapter we argue that culture, in different forms, has a significant effect on the work of learning technologists and that it can be a barrier to the adoption of new technologies. We consider the work of the learning technologist and what opportunities may exist to change culture. Finally, a case study is presented which attempts to measure the longer term impact of a professional development module in the area of Learning Technologies, and to answer the question - are we changing a culture or preaching to the converted?
  • Publication
    The management and creation of knowledge: Do Wikis help?
    (IGI Global, 2011) Bruen, C.; Fitzpatrick, N.; Gormley, Paul; Harvey, J.; McAvinia, C.; |~|
    The increasing need for effective collaboration among third-level interdisciplinary groups suggests the necessity of developing teaching pedagogy that infuses teaching techniques with technologies. This case study analyses an undergraduate target module titled '0809-IE319: Operations Strategy' which has been developed by Mary Dempsey at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). Face-to-face teaching and learning environment was supported by the NUIG Blackboard virtual learning platform which utilised the Learning Objects Teams LX building block to create group wikis.
  • Publication
    Private sentiment and public issues Irish medium education and complex linguistic and political Identification
    (Waxman, 2012) Warren, Simon; |~|
    Is it possible to construct a non-essentialist politics of place?  This is a central question explored in this chapter.  The empirical focus of the chapter is the cultural politics of language surrounding the Irish-medium education policy of a secondary school in an Irish-speaking region of Ireland.  The primary objective of the chapter is the development of a theoretical framework for thinking through the possibility of a non-essentialist politics of place.  The chapter is organised around three related theoretical discussions of space/place, social/political and public/private.  Identity (of place and politics) is seen as formed at the intersection of history, economics, culture and politics producing contingent but temporarily stable identities.  Drawing on the contributions of Doreen Massey, Ash Amin and Chantal Mouffe the chapter argues that local identity is formed from the throwntogetherness of place or the collision of micro-worlds .  The diversity of perspectives and values concerning the common good that arise from such throwntogetherness , rather than fixed, essential identity, is seen as forming the basis for a politics of place.  Therefore, it is argued that it is possible to construct a non-essentialist politics of place that holds open the possibility of overcoming oppositions between the particular and the cosmopolitan, the local and the global.