Reflective blogs: Supporting students\u27 learning experiences while on work placement

Reflective blogs can be an effective tool to help students critically evaluate their learning and professional skills development in a work placement setting. This practitioner report investigates reflective blogs as a usable and authentic assessment tool for students on work placement in a Business Computing discipline. A review of the benefits of reflective writing for students is included, such as improving critical thinking and writing skills, while encouraging development of graduate attributes and professional skills development. The report outlines the importance of preparatory work on developing reflective writing practices within the curriculum, before students commence their work placements

Authentic Assessments: Preparing Undergraduate Computing Students for a New Future of Remote Internships

It is accepted practice now in higher education in Ireland that assessments should be designed to assess the learning outcomes of a module and the skills needed for professional practice. Due to the current demands and challenges of remote working, employers are looking for a new set of employability skills where graduates can work autonomously and network remotely. Authentic assessments are an opportunity to produce ‘remote work ready’ graduates for this new working environment. However, authentic assessments can be decontextualised if they are designed without considering both academic outcomes and industry/real-world activities. The following practitioner case study reviews the research literature on authentic assessments. An authentic assessment framework design is outlined to bridge the gap between learning and teaching outcomes and industry expectations. This paper describes the redesign of an assessment practice at TU Dublin following a proposed authentic assessment framework design model. It discusses how the proposed model can help practitioners design authentic assessments to enable computing students to develop and articulate their transversal skills, while preparing them for a future of remote working. Recommendations from this case study can inform and shape the current TU Dublin assessment culture and the IMPACT Community of Practice as a sustainable, authentic assessment practice

Supporting Women In Engineering and Technology Through A Collaborative Practice And Support Network Using Targeted Interventions

Despite ongoing efforts to recruit and retain women in third level engineering programmes in Ireland, there is still a lack of diversity in these programmes with typically fewer than 20% of students being female. This paper will describe the evolution of a female focused university wide network called WITU (Women in Technology United), which aims to retain female students in engineering and technology programmes, and to increase the number of gender minorities coming onto these programmes. It is also a response to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly, SDG 4 (quality education), and SDG 5 (gender equality), and addresses actions highlighted in a recent Athena Swan review in our University. The network was formed in 2020 and extended to become University wide during lockdown, which in itself presented specific challenges. This paper describes the activities of the WITU network which runs events and celebrations for female students on our engineering and technology programmes such as ‘Meet & Greet’ events for incoming year one students, scholarship workshops, coding camps and International Women’s Day celebrations. The events are run collaboratively with students, academics and employer networks, with participation from recent female graduate role models, who are contributing to the wider engineering community. This paper describes these events and their impact on participants. Outcomes and feedback from participants show the critical role of these types of targeted interventions in supporting women and gender minorities and address some of the most pressing global challenges relating to the abovementioned SDGs