| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 76.52 |
| Liaison | Maria Kirrane |
| Submission Date | July 28, 2022 |
University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
John
Barimo Dr Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching & Learning |
Does the institution have an ongoing program that offers incentives for academic staff in multiple disciplines or departments to develop new sustainability courses and/or incorporate sustainability into existing courses? :
A brief description of the incentive program(s):
Developing a Connected Curriculum: Integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals within UCC’s Curriculum
In March 2020 UCC launched a programme to strengthen our institutional commitments towards sustainability by developing a suite of workshops and digital resources to assist teaching staff with the integration of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into UCC curricula. The project is jointly led through UCC Green Campus and UCC’s Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CITRL). It aims for better coverage, measurement and assessment of SDG integration within UCC curricula to deliver on our state and institutional commitments to education for sustainable development.
The project takes systematic and intentional approach to promote integration of SDGs across the curricula from a transdisciplinary perspective which enables the linking of all aspects of teaching and learning though the common thread of sustainable development. The project has provided evidence-based, flexible and inclusive professional development resources for UCC teaching staff including workshops and an online toolkit using lessons learned from UCC and global best practice.
In the preliminary phase the project delivered focus groups sessions with 40 staff and 25 students. Resulting in techniques and resources were piloted in 17 lectures across 4 colleges at UCC which also served as in situ training for teaching staff present. The project then created training resources for teaching staff including workshops and an online toolkit. To date this project has supported the professional development for the embedding of SDGs into module curriculum for 57 UCC staff plus 14 staff from external Irish HEIs with optional 1:1 consultations with an ESD expert. The open-source toolkit is available on the UCC website ( https://www.ucc.ie/en/sdg-toolkit/ ) and employs active learning pedagogy including project-based learning, case study, and/or problem-base learning with the overarching goal of providing transformative sustainability learning (TSL). The ultimate outcome will be better coverage, measurement, and assessment of the integration of SDGs across the UCC curricula.
A strength of this programme is the professional development activities which recruited a range of teaching staff from novice to expert with regards to integrating ESD. Experts even found ways to enhance their teaching and learning practices by providing more intentional linkage and signposts of the SDGs. The experts also shared their experiences and techniques during the workshops to serve as role models and mentors for staff at an introductory level. All staff were encouraged to align and intentionalize activities, assessments and learning outcomes to optimize newly embedded sustainability concepts.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
Development of a Micro-Credential:
Funding has recently been acquired to expand this programme into a professional development micro-credential on Teaching and Learning with ESD
Connected Curriculum Design Sprint
Building on the success of the SDG Toolkit and workshops The Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning has developed and runs regular accredited Continuing Professional Development (CPD) ‘Design Sprints’ throughout the year. These design sprints provide intense professional development activities focusing on elements of the Connected Curriculum which is Priority-1 of the UCC Academic Strategy. The Design Sprint models a student-as-partner approach in curriculum development to support the integration of civic-engagement and sustainability in the curriculum. We were delighted to have 19 staff and 50 students take part in the first iteration of this course in April 2021. These sprints support academics and modules/courses in preparing, designing, aligning and refining curricula with sustainability and community engagement themes.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/cirtl/design-sprint/
President’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching
These awards recognise staff who have made an outstanding contribution in the pursuit of teaching excellence through innovative and creative forms of teaching, learning and assessment. In particular, the purpose of the awards is to encourage work that is designed and carried out to improve student learning and student outcomes, which can include course design and implementation and/or research and enquiry into teaching, learning and assessment. The awards place particular emphasis on the advancement of the Connected Curriculum.
The award scheme is open to all UCC staff who teach or support teaching including academic staff, support staff, administrative staff, research staff, technical staff, postgraduate tutors and demonstrators. Staff may be nominated for an award through self-nomination or nomination by students, colleagues/peers or alumni. In 2021, the teaching team on UW0005 Sustainability were recipients of the award.
Website URL where information about the incentives for developing sustainability course content is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
In UCC (and in Ireland in general) the word module equates to a single course that carries academic credit.
In UCC (and in Ireland in general) the word module equates to a single course that carries academic credit.
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