Professional Development Events and Seminars
LEAD offer a range of professional development events, workshops and seminars throughout the year aimed at enhancing academic practices. These events include a combination of peer-led practice sharing exchanges, inter-institutional seminars, support for technology-enhanced learning and workshops led by a range of national and international experts on topics of strategic importance. Staff from all departments and at all stages of their careers are warmly encouraged to attend and we welcome suggestions for PD events that might be useful to your team or department.
In addition to the range of professional development opportunities available to you within MIC, all staff and students have access to the LinkedIn Learning platform. LinkedIn Learning can be used for:
- Professional and personal development and / or
- Curriculum support resource to recommend to students
See below for further details.
Given the need to reach out to our students at this time via online teaching, during Semester 2 LEAD at MIC is offering a series of professional development events to promote research-backed best practice in the area. Colleagues are warmly encouraged to engage in professional development opportunities designed to support student learning, with particular focus on engaging with our students in the online environment.
The LEAD team will be delighted to provide pedagogical and technological support, as appropriate, and to work with you outside of the workshop format to develop innovative practices that are specific to your academic context. We are also interested in assisting individuals/programme teams/departments to approach pedagogical innovation in a scholarly manner and we would be delighted to support scholarly outputs, e.g. presentations at Assessment in Higher Education conference, or similar. Please email LEAD@mic.ul.ie to discuss your ideas further.
Funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, the National Seminar Series gives those working in Higher Education the opportunity to connect with colleagues and to focus on shared interests in both the research and practice of teaching and learning enhancement. The series also creates opportunities to hear from national and international experts in different areas of teaching and learning.
Seminars are hosted by institutions throughout the country and are open to all. For a full list of funded seminars, click here.
You can search the Seminar Series by theme, location or date on the National Forum website.
A full list of funded seminars can be downloaded here. This document was finalised on 22 September 2020. Any changes made after that date will only be reflected in the list on the website above.
Past National Forum Seminars 2018/19
On February 1st 2019, the Learning Enhancement & Academic Development (LEAD) Centre convened a National Forum Seminar workshop “Aligning Learning, Teaching and Assessment in the Design of Higher Education Curricula” facilitated by Dr. Naomi Winstone (Director of University of Surrey’s Assessment and Learning Lab). For more details, please:
Conversations in the Consortium is a seminar series which runs across the three partner institutions of the mid-west regional cluster (MIC, UL and LIT) and it provides a forum for faculty to share experiences, ideas and useful approaches for teaching, learning and assessment. It adopts a peer-led approach, encouraging academic faculty and staff to exchange ideas and discuss shared challenges in an informal and collegiate environment.
Past events in the Conversation in the Consortium series held in MIC centred on the theme of 'Assessment and Feedback'. Sincere thanks to our colleagues who presented on the following:
- Peer Feedback and Students as Critical Friends Dr TJ Ó Ceallaigh & Dr Karen Ní Chlochasaigh (Dept. of Language & Literacy Education)
- Using Moodle Quizzes for Formative Feedback Darach Sanfey (Dept. of French Studies)
- Using Video for Reflective Practice Dr Claire Griffin-O’Brien & Siobhán O’Sullivan (Dept. of Educational Psychology, Inclusive & Special Education)
Hosted by LEAD, there are weekly TEL Q&A sessions to help you with any aspects of online teaching. These sessions run throughout the semester on Wednesdays at 1pm.
There is no need to book a place. Go to the LEAD Staff Workshops Moodle page, and scroll down to Weekly Wednesday Lunchtime TEL Q&A @ 1 pm. To enter the session, click on the MS Teams link. To submit a question use the form underneath the link, by 12 midday on the same day.
Send any other queries to LEAD@mic.ul.ie
LEAD PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
We also offer a series of seminars designed to encourage the sharing of practice on a variety of issues relating to learning, teaching and assessment. You are warmly invited to join us to engage in discussions with colleagues from across MIC on issues of shared interest and strategic importance.
Each workshop runs for approximately one hour and will be facilitated using MS Teams.
There is no need to book a place on these online workshops. Simply go to the LEAD Staff Workshops Moodle page and click the relevant MS Teams workshop links.
Send all queries to LEAD@mic.ul.ie
Workshops are offered under the following categories:
- Using TEL Tools to Enhance Teaching and Learning
- Designing Courses for Student Engagement
- Curriculum Design/Redesign
In addition, seminars held as part of the Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice are open to all who teach at MIC Limerick and MIC Thurles. Read more on the Graduate Certificate at this link.
Further details of all PD is publicised:
- on the LEAD Staff Workshops Moodle page,
- via your MIC email,
- on Twitter: follow us @mic_lead
Professional Development with LinkedIn Learning
All MIC staff and students have access to the LinkedIn Learning platform. LinkedIn Learning can be used for:
- Professional and personal development and / or
- Curriculum support resource to recommend to students
LinkedIn Learning is an award-winning industry leader in online training, with a digital library of over 16,000 courses covering a wide range of technical, business, software and creative topics.
LEAD provide guidance to academic staff at MIC on how LinkedIn Learning can support the improvement of digital skills for both staff and students. Based on the DigCompEdu Framework LEAD have curated a series of recommended learning units for staff as a guideline to improve digital skills competencies:
- Improving your Digital Skills at MIC [Learning Path]
- Transitioning from in-person to online at MIC [Collection]
LinkedIn Learning also run a series of an Academic Webinars throughout the year.
To help you get familiar with this new platform, here is a link to short videos on using LinkedIn Learning. Click here to activate your account.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EVENTS AND SEMINARS
LinkedIn Learning also host a monthly Academic Webinar Series. This is an opportunity to connect with those studying and working in Higher Education and share insights into how LinkedIn Learning can be leveraged to support student and staff professional development and curriculum support.
Upcoming Webinars
Below are the details of the upcoming 2021 planned LinkedIn Learning webinars.
- Learning & Development: 24 March Link to the webinar
- Student Success with LinkedIn: 21 April
- Academic Success: 26 May
- Summer of Learning: 9 June
Past Webinars - Resources & Slides
- Student Success with LinkedIn February 2021
- LinkedIn for Art & Creative Schools August 2020
- Higher Education Admin Webinar September 2020
- Student Success with LinkedIn October 2020
- Virtual Academic Seminar November 2020
