Le Chéile Experience
We started with lofty goals and to have come so far and achieved so much in such a short time and under these circumstances shows the commitment from our team to provide students with a TU Dublin experience to remember.
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This would not have happened without the support of our colleagues in the school. Their invaluable inputs and their openness to change shows that as we face into a future of uncertainty, we take on the task with the knowledge that we can create a environment to support our students in developing the skills needed to solve the SDGs.
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We started this project with students at the core and we would not have been able to succeed in delivering on our goals without their active input. A heartfelt thanks to our students who worked with us on this project! We look forward to continuing this journey with you.
Una Beagon
The best thing about this experience has been the collaboration of the team members in bringing this project to fruition.
Louise Lynch
Remote working in education can be solitary, the weekly meetings were a welcome gathering of friends and colleagues, with the added benefit of a common goal to improve the programme.
Caitríona De Paor
It was fascinating to learn into how confident our students felt in their skills and abilities. Their reflections gave us real insight into how we can improve and develop our programmes.
Aimee Byrne
The commitment of my colleagues to bringing about real change for the betterment of the programme is very encouraging. I'm excited to see how this continues to develop.
Patrick Crean
A big thank you to our colleagues in the school. This project would not have happened without their input. It was clearly evident that there is a willingness and desire to create an environment that best supports our students in developing the skills needed to solve the SDGs and address a future of uncertainty.
Dervilla Niall
This project provided a focus for ourselves and our colleagues to reflect on how the world of Structural Engineering is evolving and on what opportunities we have to ensure that our graduates are prepared to take on the challenges of the future. This prompted enlightening discussions and a great camaraderie and sense of mission among the staff and students.
Impact on Staff
The impact of this project on staff has been threefold.
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Firstly, with regard to the Le Chéile project team. At the beginning of the project, we invited interested parties from our school to join the project and seven committed members volunteered. It is important to highlight this as our school only has 25 academic staff members, so this was a significant proportion. We met each week for one hour to design the project, discuss our methods, report on progress and assist each other with any issues arising. This regular meeting in an online environment has built a community of practice of engineering education researchers within our school. We have been able to get to know each other better, and have worked closely to support each other. The online environment has actually enhanced the development of our team in this regard as members were able to make the weekly meetings, when physical meetings may have been missed due to competing demands.
We developed a supportive and collaborative team, each of us with different but equally valuable skills. More experienced educational researchers have helped advise on research methods, relevant literature and qualitative analysis methods, whereas technical lecturers have been instrumental in providing insights into how particular modules could be adapted to enhance opportunities for students to develop these skills. Some team members have experience in preparing ethical applications and others superb IT and website design skills. We have now built a team of educational researchers who will continue to develop our programmes in line with one of our strategic aims based on the TU Dublin Educational Model.
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The second impact relates to the leadership skills of the project team. Each team member took on the management of a work package. They represented the team at IMPACT celebration events and led studies that involved organising surveys and interviews with other members of staff and focus groups with students. These experiences have built confidence and showcase their leadership skills within the school. This impact can contribute to the strategic aim of developing a CPD Framework for Academic staff and more clearly item 8 from the TU Dublin Educational Model – Continuously developing, committed and caring staff. Involvement in projects such as this can open up opportunities not only for educational research but for leadership development which can enhance skills required for progression and promotional opportunities.
The final impact relates to the staff within the school who were not a member of the team but who engaged in the programme review process. The surveys and interviews within this project have allowed staff to reflect on their current approaches to teaching, and more particularly the opportunities which exist in their modules to develop additional skills. This is particularly relevant to skills such as sustainability and societal awareness, not always closely associated with engineering programmes. The impact here is a ground swell of support for an update to our programme in the coming year so that we achieve our aim to"design our structural engineering programme so that students can develop skills which will enable them to become exemplary structural engineers with a focus on the future of our planet and it’s people.” The focus on including aspects of sustainability and societal issues clearly aligns to the TU Dublin Strategic Plan of People, Planet and Partnership.