Dr Emma O'Brien
More information
Dr. Emma O’Brien is Director of Taught Postgraduate Studies in Education in Mary Immaculate College and is the programme co-ordinator for the Master's in Education, and the Graduate Cert/Diploma and MEd in Digital Leadership in Education. She is currently principle investigator on the Erasmus + Teacher academy IDEAL Future. Emma has worked in Digital Education since 2000 . She has taught in the University of Limerick, on undergraduate, postgraduate and professional programmes. Emma has developed innovative curricula to support the needs of a variety of learners, particularly those requiring flexible models of learning to support them to return to education. Emma has supervised 125 final year students and 46 master's students and is currently supervising 5 PhD students. She has a PhD in Digital learning (2005, UL) and a Master's in Computing in Education (2003, LIT).
Emma is an accomplished researcher and has been Principle Investigator (PI) on several large scale European research projects. Her total funding income as PI amounts to over €2.6 million in the areas of digital learning, workplace learning, problem and inquiry based learning with over 50 publications in these fields. Emma was previously co-chair of FACILITATE - the national inquiry based learning network and is currently external examiner for Napier University.
For list of research grants awarded click here
For list of publications click here
For list of postgraduate supervision click here
For list of media coverage click here
Teaching
Emma currently teaches on the MEd in Digital Leadership the MEd in Educational Leadership and Management and the Master's of Education. She has previously taught on the Bachelor of Education and MEd in Leadership in Wellbeing in Education. Below is a list of modules Emma has taught on:
- EDU611 Developing a digital school of distinction
- EDU668 Digital Equality Diversity and Inclusion
- EDU669 Digital Pedagogies
- EDU602 Principles and Practice of Research
- EDU608 Leadership and Management Portfolio
- EDU639 Research Methods 1
- EDU643 Research Methods 2
- EDU605 National and International Trends and Current Issues in Education
- EDU654 Dissertation 1
- EDU655 Dissertation 2
- EDU508 Enhancing your Academic Practice 1
- EDU508 Enhancing your Academic Practice 2
- EDU454 The Role the Teacher as an ICT developer
Research interests
Emma's research involves the intersection of digital education, flexible learning, professional learning, digital leadership and transformation. She explores the role of digital tools in supporting contemporary pedagogies and transformation. She is predominantly interested in pedagogical approaches using technology to support the development of twenty first century skills such as entrepreneurial mind-set, information literacy and AI.
