News & Events

Active Learning: Quick Wins & Grand Designs      

This year’s UCD Teaching and Learning Symposium took place on Wednesday 27th April 2022 on the topic of Active Learning and was attended by just over 100 members of UCD faculty and staff.  This was the sixth annual UCD Teaching and Learning Symposium and the second to be delivered online with the keynote speakers joining from London and Birmingham.  The symposium was opened by the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Marie Clarke who spoke about the importance of active learning in the post-pandemic context.

Two international keynote speakers, Professor John Mitchell from UCL and Professor Prem Kumar, from the University of Birmingham, addressed the theme from different perspectives.

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The first keynote “Embedding active learning in programme level curriculum design” was delivered by Professor John Mitchell, UCL Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.  Professor Mitchell talked about how, in a major programme level curriculum, active learning was embedded as a core learning tool as part of an integrated curriculum.  He used, as an example, the Integrated Engineering Programme at UCL which introduced an integrated approach to active project-based learning across eight departments in 2014. He discussed the drivers for change, the programme structure, the process and challenges of faculty-wide curriculum change and the response of students to the new curriculum.  The examples of authentic learning with projects illustrated the huge scope for generating student creative and novel thinking in tackling real-world challenges.  

The second keynote “Can we fix it?" was delivered by Professor Prem Kumar, Emeritus Professor from University of Birmingham.  Professor Kumar's background is in the physiological sciences.  Pointing out that the pace of change often outstrips the curriculum, he invited the audience to consider the range of possible futures, sharing his view that the role of the university is not just to supply the workforce but to provide lifelong education to support students to ‘learn … the best attitude to what is not yet known’.

Professor Kumar described some simple tools that teachers can use to incorporate effective active learning practices in their teaching.  He delivered a compelling argument for using active learning, including strong evidence of the benefits for students and the resulting enriching experience for both students and faculty and concluded that we can afford to forgo (some) content for understanding.

The symposium also featured contributors from within our own university community, who shared their expertise and experience in workshop one, "Grand designs: Ideas for practice and implications for planning”. The contributors were Dr Julia Backmann, UCD School of Business, Associate Professor Naomi McAreavey, UCD School of English, Drama and Film and Dr Tomás Russell, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, facilitated by Associate Professor Geraldine O'Neill from UCD Teaching and Learning.

Please note, that the third video below, Dr. Julia Backmann's video is available to UCD colleagues only and is hosted on the HEAnet Media Hosting service, after clicking the link, you will be prompted to log in by selecting your institution and entering your UCD name and password, please refresh this page after you have logged in to view the video.

Workshop two, "Integrating activity to enhance learning: Quick wins in-session and online" was an experiential workshop focusing on active learning classroom strategies that engage students in meaningful tasks and are easy to implement with classes of any size, delivered by Ms Leone Gately and Mr David Jennings from UCD Teaching & Learning.

Sincere thanks to all who contributed and generously shared their experience and expertise, and in particular to the keynote speakers.

The presentations contain a wealth of practical tips and are available to UCD faculty and staff. You must log in to UCD Connect first. 

For more information on the event including speaker bios, consult the Active Learning Symposium Programme. 

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