1. Questions and feedback
The following questions are offered to focus the debate and to provoke comment. In
addition, the HEA welcomes feedback on any and all aspects of this proposal.
1. Do you agree that the time is opportune for the creation of a National Academy for
the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning?
There are so many initiatives across the country, and so much that each institution
can learn from others that a central academy ensuring coordination and shared
expertise would be opportune. Furthermore, as individual resources become more
limited the need for synergy is greater.
The Trinity Inclusive Curriculum strategy can see the benefit of this strategy and
looks forward to working with it. TIC was conceived as a subset of a larger project,
however, while TIC has worked with other institutions, offering workshops and
presentations, and working with colleagues externally to ensure that resources
arising from TIC are useful and relevant elsewhere, greater coordination would be
beneficial, including linkages with similar strategies or with others who would be
interested in working with us in the future. At this point, it would be useful to open
dialogue regarding how the TIC resources could best be utilised or adapted for use
across the education sector, and how policy could be enhanced to ensure all
institutions actively strive to create an open and accessible academic environment
for their increasingly diverse student cohorts.
2. How can the National Academy best complement each institution’s own work to
enhance the quality of teaching and learning?
Each institution has current teaching and learning projects underway, sometimes
across a variety of offices. Most of these are currently working effectively and bring
great benefits to their areas. However, often work proceeds in a fragmented fashion,
with one area unfamiliar with similar work going on in another institution, or even in
particular areas of its own institution. This leads to:

duplication of work,

fragmented knowledge

not learning from others – miss opportunities to learn from others,

missed opportunities for synergies.
The National Academy should create a database of current work with the aim of
assessing where collaboration is possible and then act as a medium for making,
managing and overseeing connections between current work to provide a structure
against which the work can continue, be extended and be enhanced through shared
expertise. Trinity Inclusive Curriculum would be very interested in making such
connections and seeking collaborators to promote the activities and progress to date,
and to seek to mainstream at a national level.
Suggested themes would need to be extended also to account for the priorities and
concerns of the higher education sector. Currently suggested themes seem to be
somewhat limited and do not reflect the priorities in TCD, including the fact that
inclusion and access are not included.
3. How can the National Academy support the continuing professional development of
academics in Irish higher education?
The academy can enhance the CPD of academics in Irish Higher Education in two
ways. Firstly by using the current resources that may only operate at institutional
level, or even discipline level, to provide workshops, seminars and topic specific
series at national or regional level. TIC currently gives workshops within TCD, and
other institutions when requested, and has created online resources for CPD in
teaching and assessment strategies, and would be happy to work with the National
Academy to reach a wider audience. Secondly, a national institution would have the
resources and connections to develop and formalise teaching and learning
qualifications for academics.
4. How can the National Academy assist in closing the loop between the identification
of good practice and the mainstreaming of this practice across the broader academic
community?
Good practice is only mainstreamed when a combined top down and bottom up
approach is taken. A national academy would be in a position to suggest, and work
towards policy change at a national level for a top down approach. Bottom up
mainstreaming activities would include CPD training workshops and awareness
raising activities including conferences, publications and a resource website.
TIC is currently seeking to mainstream good practice regarding inclusion and
access, and has identified the need to develop relevant policy if this is to be
successful. TIC also gives workshops within TCD, and other institutions when
requested, and would be happy to work with the National Academy to reach a wider
audience.
5. How can the National Academy further the existing linkages and partnerships with
international practitioners in this field, and facilitate new partnerships with
equivalent entities in neighbouring and other jurisdictions, to contribute to and
benefit from the development of a “global interdisciplinary perspective on teaching
and learning”?1
The Academy could create research and practitioner networks in specialist fields that
could reach out to similar entities in neighbouring jurisdictions. Ongoing outreach
work may necessitate a full time coordinator who could also look towards holding
conferences and other events, and publishing resources highlighting ongoing work,
that will help open communication with neighbouring entities.
TIC has made linkages with Jisc TechDis in Britain, who have recently awarded TCD
with an award for progress in the promotion of equality through technology. It would
be fruitful to promote this link, along with other Jisc / HE Academy links.
6. Should the National Academy continue all activities of the existing teaching and
learning networks and projects, funding permitting, or should it review all existing
activities and start afresh following the review?
It would be premature to start afresh without guidance from a thorough review.
However, it is questionable whether a thorough review of all current activities is
necessary, as many activities have already undergone review (e.g. there was an
extensive review of SIF activities by Dr. Gordon K. Davies published in February
2010).
1
Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HELT), http://helt.org/
All activities that can be shown either to have current benefits, or the potential to
produce benefits with adaptation, should be retained, though maybe in an altered
format.
1. Should the National Academy be a virtual platform with a physical base in an existing
HEI, or does it need a physical presence of its own that is independent of any
individual institution?
It should have an independent base, similar to the IUQB, to give a sense of
neutrality.