Training & Education Roadshow and UbiCast Technology

Griffith College wish all lecturers (both full and part time) to have a professional teaching qualification in addition to their mainstay qualifications. To this end the College sponsors all lecturers’ taking the Postgraduate Certificate in Training and Education. This programme is being delivered on a block release and blended basis over four months. Face to face sessions run one weekend a month with participants from industry also attending. This programme began this month in our Limerick campus. 

A central module on the programme is Technology Enabled Learning because, as educators, we believe “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you are part of the road”. 

We want to provide an atmosphere where our students’ can grow in their abilities to think critically, problem solve, synthesise information, and express their ideas both in written and verbal form. To do this successfully we have to embrace technology and reflect on how technology can enhance student learning? 

To that effect, we are also happy to announce that we are getting UbiCast technology installed on campus. This will present many opportunities to record lectures, revision sessions, promotional videos, etc., and to open up opportunities to put our courses – or part thereof – online 

E-learning as a pedagogical issue has brought many benefits to students’. It is convenient, and it can enable students to access educational material with ease. It can facilitate enhanced communication between and among students and lecturers. Among the most visible and valuable attributes of e-learning techniques and delivery are that they potentially give students greater access to education, in comparison to more traditional less flexible educational methods. 

Even though students expect technologies to be used in higher education, our lecturers’ still form the backbone of our education, and while technologies can effectively be used to enhance the students’ learning experience, the use of technologies will never replace the lecturers’. 

We are aware that learning communities simply do not happen by themselves. They require defined purpose and cannot thrive without ICT skills and technical equipment at college and at home. Today’s learning communities must be cultivated and nursed with professional support and that is why the Training and Education Roadshow is an integral part of our academic calendar, every year.