In this Next Steps Insight, we trace ideas for the future from those who teach in higher education. These are the voices of staff as reflected in the Next Steps partner contributions. This Insight has referenced the submissions from IUA, HECA, THEA and QQI. We have also drawn from previous National Forum research and consultations with National Forum Associates (NFAs), our Advisory Groups, and the Networks and Disciplines. We include priorities identified across consultations with students which have specific implications for teaching.

In two Next Steps Insights, we trace the voice of all those who teach, and their experiences during a pandemic which necessitated the closure of campuses across the country. Part 1 documents and reflects on practice during the initial stages of the pandemic. Part 2 shares messages for the future from the analyses of these experiences and in the words of those who teach. Both Insights reference the submissions from IUA, RCSI, HECA, THEA and QQI. We have also drawn from previous National Forum research and consultations with National Forum Associates (NFAs), our Advisory Groups, and the Networks and Disciplines.

This Next Steps Insight provides a brief overview of the digital dimension of the pre-2020 teaching and learning context, and the views and priorities of institutional senior managers in the years leading up to the pandemic. A summary is then presented of the perspectives of senior managers across Irish higher education in 2021 with respect to what they have learned through the shift to online/remote teaching and learning and what needs to prioritised into the future.

This Forum Insight provides an overview of the teaching and learning policy context at European and national levels, with particular attention paid to digitisation and the pandemic recovery. It then proposes related next steps for the future of teaching and learning from a policy perspective.

This Forum Insight examines assessment practices in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and closure of campuses in 2020, foregrounding assessment principles previously developed in collaboration with sectoral partners and stakeholders, and reflecting the outcomes of two National Webinar series events in spring 2021 on the future of assessment in a changed higher education landscape. We thank the webinar presenters and participants including representatives of disciplines, agencies and networks from across Ireland and capture their contributions as Ten Things We Have Learned About Assessment.

This Insight outlines key themes in online and blended learning scholarship in the period 2010-2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic. The review begins with definitions of key terms and then outlines several major themes in online and blended learning as well as recent critical approaches.