Foundations and scaffolding: exploring literature and practice to build a new curriculum framework for TU Dublin

The IMPACT project at TU Dublin has been informed in part by the outcomes of the Co-CREATE project in 2019-20. Co-CREATE was a Team Teaching Fellowship project to support and underpin the building of a quality curriculum framework for the new technological university. A number of IMPACT projects (for example, NorthStar) have continued the work started within the Co-CREATE project to make it sustainable and embedded within the university. We present findings from one element of the Co-CREATE project which has informed a range of initiatives in IMPACT. This is the review of literature and practice undertaken to underpin the Co-CREATE project. The review addresses student voice and agency in curriculum design, enhancing sustainability in curriculum design, and identifies the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in the development of new programmes and provision. Curriculum in higher education has been discussed in educational literature as a fluid and contested concept. It relates to product, often described as content and syllabus, but also process, socially and politically embedded with the potential for change in positive or less positive directions. We present our findings and insights, and the recommendations we have made to stakeholders in our institution. We reflect on the purposes of higher education in the 21st century, and consider the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how they relate to TU Dublin’s mission and vision. We consider the place of graduate attributes, innovation, global citizenship and the impact of new technologies. We report on the development of curriculum frameworks and design at other technological universities, and how our experiences might be more diverse than those of traditional universities. We consider the impact of “connected” approaches to curriculum in research-intensive universities, and how these might be translated to the technological university context. We conclude with recommendations arising from the review of literature and practice which underpinned further work in Co-CREATE, and which may also be of value to others commencing this kind of work or reviewing curricula

Effects of dietary vitamin C and soybean lecithin in the nutrition of brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus L.) fingerlings

<p>The effects of different forms of vitamin C and soybean lecithin on growth performance, feed utilization and body composition of brown bullhead <em>(Ameiurus nebulosus</em>, Lesuer 1819) were evaluated during a 9-week growth trial. A special interest was to investigate a possible combine effect of these nutritional components. The diets used contained three forms of vitamin C (crystallized ascorbic acid, encapsulated L-ascorbic acid and Ca-L-threonate) (100 mg/kg) with and without the combination of soybean lecithin. Besides control diet (K), one more diet was supplemented with soybean lecithin (L) only. One-hundred-ninety-two brown bullhead of about 45 g initial body weight was randomly divided in 24 tanks (115 L each). Testing conditions included 8 fish per tank, with triplicate tanks for treatment. All diets with supplemented components had higher final weight. Specific growth rate, feed conversion rate and condition factor were significantly higher with encapsulated vitamin C diets (CC, CC_L), followed by the results of enriched ascorbic acid diets. Vitamin C and lecithin supplementation showed positive influence on significantly higher number of erythrocytes, haematocrit, triglycerides and total protein. Vitamin C content of muscle and liver tissue was not uniform and was significantly higher in AA_L, CC_L, CC and AA feeding groups. The fatty acids profile of muscle and liver tissue showed that phospholipids from soybean lecithin and vitamin C diets enhanced the quality of usable part of the fish body. Combine supplementation of vitamin C and soy lecithin indicated positive production effects, but did not cause a statistically significant difference.</p

Reflexion, analysis and language practice: from individual critical thinking to collaborative learning using blogs in a literature class

In modern times, blended learners may easily access a high variety of media to express and share their thoughts and opinions with others. These may include typical blog websites such as WordPress.com or blogger.com or indeed Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, all of which continue to encourage self-expression on the part of the users, which is known as User Generated Content (Levina & Arriaga, 2014). Furthermore, the employment of such tools for practising writing and analysis skills in a literature class requires further investigation by the CALL community, most notably for investigating the potential for raising critical thinking from an individual to a collaborative basis. This chapter aims to add to this ongoing debate and will describe the pedagogical impact, effectiveness and viability of using blogs to enhance both student learning and peer collaboration in a literature class with final year learners of French