Learning Innovation Unit

Introducing Teaching Reflections

By Brian MacCraith, President, DCU

In the Hunt Report (‘National Strategy for Higher Education’, 2011), the three interconnected core roles of Higher Education are emphasised:

• Providing teaching and facilitating learning
• Research
• Engaging with our wider society

The degree of excellence achieved in delivering the first of these core roles is critical in determining the transformational impact of Higher Education on university students. Indeed, our very future depends on it! Moreover, it is important to ensure that the interconnection of teaching and learning with the other two core roles is not only recognised but also acted upon.

At DCU, we have always valued excellence in teaching and learning and, indeed, the establishment of the Learning Innovation Unit (LIU) underpinned that emphasis. The focus of the LIU on new approaches to teaching and learning, educational research, educational technologies and academic staff development is crucial in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning at DCU. This is all the more important in light of the significant changes occurring in the learning environment, including the increasing diversity of the student population and the rapidly changing nature of engagement with the learning process.

This second issue of Teaching Reflections reflects the quality and diversity of approaches and investigations to teaching and learning that are being undertaken currently at DCU. Articles on the use of technology in the classroom, intergenerational learning, civic engagement with mathematics tuition and undergraduate research are just some of the stimulating contents included here. I congratulate all the contributors and the compilers of this excellent issue and encourage you all to read it.

Brian MacCraith