Student success at college is not just achieving high grades The National Forum for Teaching and Learning defines student success as the process by which students fulfil their potential and flourish at college and in society. This is a broader activity than simply achieving high grades. Psychosocial competencies are core to the definition of student success: these are the ‘soft skills’ or ‘non-cognitive skills’ that enable students to cope well with learning challenges, engage deeply in learning, and develop their identities as learners and as active citizens. Transitions are a key issue within this priority area, with transitions such as the move from school to college presenting both challenges and opportunities for students.
Initiative
Contextualized Learning through Interactive Modes of Engagement: A Digital Badge in Teaching and Learning with Sustainability and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
About this initiative
This initiative will create a Professional Development Digital Badge in Teaching and Learning with Sustainability to help facilitate the integration of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the curriculum. This initiative will convert a previously delivered 1.5-hour workshop into a 30 hour course to support staff to reimagine their modules to incorporate student-centred problem-based approaches and establish a transdisciplinary language of sustainability. This would be offered as a hybrid course via Canvas and be augmented by synchronous sessions to foster transdisciplinary dialogue and establish a learning community where sustainability problems could be addressed, e.g., climate change. Videos of institutional good practice will be created as inspirational case studies for staff to reflect upon their practice. Additionally, students will have a co-creational platform to express their needs and aspirations at collaborative sessions and/or by video. The hybrid format will demonstrate the use of web-based tools and virtual pedagogies to advance online delivery in the current/post COVID-19 learning environment. This initiative is an expansion of the SDG toolkit, which has a range of resources were developed to support staff integration of SDGs. The SDG toolkit was publicised through running workshops for staff and proved very popular. However, feedback from the workshops and the SDG Toolkit advisory team highlighted the need for a longer, paced development to support staff to think reflectively, to learn with peers and craft curricula to support the participatory modes of engagement required to effectively integrate the SDGs into assessment, teaching and learning and establish action-oriented approaches addressing Graduate Attributes.
Lead organisations
Affiliated organisations
Linked open educational resources
Initiative details
Funding programmes SATLE
Themes Student Success
Award year
2020Funding amount (€)
23320Contributors
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