Courses / Module

• Discuss some of the key issues in promoting student learning in higher education, particularly from the perspective of postgraduate teachers.
• Apply a variety of methods, strategies and resources (e.g., presentation methods, teaching approaches, feedback and assessment techniques) to enhance teaching and learning, depending on their own discipline and the course on which they teach.
• Recommend ways of obtaining student feedback.
• Consider how student learning can be evaluated, both formally and informally.
• Describe their personal philosophy of teaching and explain how this influences, and is reflected in, their own teaching practice.
• Make reference to higher education research, and begin to suggest how such literature might inform their teaching practice.
• Reflect on their own teaching, using feedback from a range of sources including students, peers and departmental mentors, alongside material explored within the sessions themselves and the educational literature.
• Decide on future teaching goals or areas for further development.

• All sessions will be highly participatory with a focus on working in small groups and group-led discussions rather than formal lectures. As the sessions are generic (rather than discipline-specific) it is important that participants try to apply and consider how the techniques and methods introduced in the sessions might be tailored and adapted to teaching within their own discipline and current and/or future teaching activities. A two-hour session is held each week. In addition to attending the two-hour classes, participants are advised to allocate sufficient time to complete the course assignments and meet with their chosen mentor. To help participants with their professional teaching development, all participants are requested to identify an individual within their own department who is willing to be a mentor to them for the duration of the CTL1 course. Mentors will play a pivotal role in helping course participants to reflect on the teaching that they undertake. In the case of postgraduate students, please note that the selected mentor should preferably be someone other than the postgraduate’s research supervisor. Total: 22 contact hours, minimum nine hours teaching and 69 hours private study and assignment preparation.

• Module Graded (numeric value) or Ungraded (Pass/Not Passed): Graded
• Continuous Assessment detail(s): During the semester, participants will be required to submit two compulsory assignments. Additionally, participants will take part in one observed teaching session during which their mentor will provide feedback on their teaching. The module will be graded on a Pass/Review basis. Written feedback on the assignments will be returned to all participants.

• Could the result of this module be capped? No
• Satisfactory assignments meeting stated criteria. Completion of one observed teaching session with mentor in attendance. Please note that participants are expected to make every effort to attend all of the timetabled sessions. A medical certificate and/or letter from the Head of Department may be required when a participant is absent.
• Penalties: Unsatisfactory attendance at the scheduled sessions may impact on the result for this module.

• Participants should be currently registered Maynooth University postgraduate students or graduate tutors or demonstrators currently teaching at Maynooth University. It is essential that participants are engaged in teaching, preferably for the duration of the course. A minimum of nine hours teaching spread over the semester would be ideal. Please contact the Centre for Teaching and Learning if you are unsure about whether your current teaching responsibilities meet the requirements for this course, or if you have any other queries (email: ctl@nuim.ie).

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