Overview of papers on enhancement of European Higher Education as presented during the Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference in Rome, October 2016

In 2014 Ireland’s National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education issued a call for projects under their Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund to support a theme of ‘Teaching for Transitions’. This theme aimed to inform the focus of activities in Irish Higher Education by changing the pedagogical landscape when it comes to supporting transitions through effective teaching and learning. The call acknowledged different types of transition: transition from secondary level into Higher Education; transition from one culture to another; or transition of adults into Higher Education. The enhancement theme also sought to improve teaching and learning culture and digital capacity.

This paper reports on reflections from three lead partners of projects funded under this call. Dublin City University led the ‘Student Success Toolbox’ project, which developed a suite of digital readiness tools for supporting flexible learner transition into Higher Education during the early stages of the study life-cycle. Institute of Technology Sligo led the ‘Get Ready Education - A Learning Journey’ project, which developed a dual pathway MOOC that supports students transitioning from second level to Higher Education in Ireland.

Institute of Technology Tralee led the ‘Live and Learn in Ireland’ project, which developed a number of interactive multimedia learning units that aid international students in becoming familiar with studying and living in Ireland and thus helps them make a smoother transition into Irish Higher Education. This paper identifies both the common lessons learned of these three initiatives but also the how our experiences diverged.

Keywords

national projects · project leadership · teaching and learning enhancement · transitions