Project Live Exemplars 2021/22

THANK YOU

toourAcademicand ExternalPartnerParticipantsof ProjectLive2021/22:

The School of Business (Marian Crowley Henry, Jon Gruda, Julius Nyiawung,OrlaGranville,DerryAkin)andAccentureIreland

Electronic Engineering Department (Andrew Meehan) and Climate ResponseIreland

Biology Department (Mark Robinson) and the National Office for ResearchEthicsCommittee

ChemistryDepartment(CarmelBreslin,KarenHerdman,SteffiThomas) andClimateResponseIreland

Mathematics and Statistics Department (Ann O'Shea, Judi Mills),

DepartmentofEducation(MajellaDempsey)andKildareLibraryService

ComputerScience Department(DapengDong)andClimateResponse Ireland

FroebelDepartmentofPrimaryandEarlyChildhoodEducation(LaoiseNí Chleirigh, Máire Nic an Bhaird, Bernadette Wrynn, Deirdre Forde),

Geography Department(RonanFoley)andKildareCountyCouncil

PROJECT LIVE EXPO2022

2021/22

StudentFeedback: benefittedfrom anengaged learning experiencethat helpedthem preparefor work,lifeand engaged citizenship.

1,260 STUDENTS

"Itteachesyoubetterhow toworkoutsideofuniversity intherealworldandgives youmoreexperience"

"It’suniqueandgenerally makesstudentswantto engagemorebecauseit’s newanddifferent"

"Ithinkitisveryinteresting anditinvolvesputting theoryintopracticewhich makesyoubetter understandit"

"Itwasaveryeffective wayof gettingareal insighttohowthesethings work"

"Itgavemerealworld experienceand credentialsIcanaddto myCVforwhenI graduate"

SCHOOLOFBUSINESSAND ACCENTUREIRELAND

Group poster relating Organisational Behaviour Theory to Accenture Practices

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

7.5 credit module Undergraduate Class 926 students

"This live project provided students with the tools and information in relation to a reallive organisation, from which they were able to consider theories and concepts covered on the module, and to connect these. This allowed them to critique theories and their usability in real life, as well as to consider a live organisation and how theory/best practice could be enhanced there to improve the organization's processes and/or to critique theory."

DR MARIAN CROWLEY HENRY Module lead

The purpose was to have a living case study (Accenture) for this first year undergraduate class which all Business students in the university take, so that students could take theory and concepts from Organisational Behaviour (OB) and Management and relate this to business practice.

In collaboration with Accenture, we focused on three topics: Personality, Motivation and Communication Students were randomly assigned into groups of 6-7 to complete a project on one topic Accenture provided lots of company information to support the work and also agreed the winning poster per topic

The topic posters were submitted at different periods over the semester, typically 2-3 weeks following the time the theory was covered in class

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learning outcomes for the module were enhanced and attained as follows:

LO 2. Apply classic and contemporary OB and management theories andconceptstodifferentworkplacecontexts/topracticalscenarios

This was attained by students collaboratively (in groups) applying theories/concepts to a real live organisationalcontext,Accenture

LO 3 Critically assess if/how different OB and management theories and concepts may improve individual, group and organisational outcomes.

This was attained as the students had to consider and include on their poster submissions if the theory they had selected appropriately addressed the practical concerns, or to highlight recommendations and best practiceforotherorganisations

LO 5 Compare and contrast different OB theories/concepts/tools and theirapplicationindifferentorganisationalsettings.

This was attained as students gained deep knowledge of Accenture as an organisation and its processes, which they were then able to compare to organisations whichtheywereinvolvedinaswellindividually(suchas sports organisations, religious organisations, voluntary organisations, commercial organisations where they had part-time jobs/previously worked or where family members/friendswork(ed))

MODULE FIT

Theme

Pre-Module Start Stakeholder Engagement

WeekOne Introduction

WeekTwo SummarisingContent

WeekThree Theory

WeekFour Stakeholder Engagement

WeekFive Stakeholder Engagement

WeekSix Stakeholder Engagement

WeekSeven Assessment

WeekEight Theory

WeekNine Stakeholder Engagement

WeekTen Theory

WeekEleven Theory

WeekTwelve Assessment

Post-Module Reflection

PROJECT LIVE 2021-22

Detail

OnlinemeetingsbetweenModuleTeachingTeamandExternalPartnerto discussthecontentoftheassessmentandAccenturesroleandprovisionof informationforstudents

Introductiontothestudentsregardingthemodule ProjectLivegroup assessment,toHannahfromAccenture(onlineintroductionrecording)

TutorialswithMN155studentsinrelationtothegroupassignments,random groupingofstudentsontopics,informationsessionsonrequirementsof groupsassessment

TheoryinrelationtoPersonalitytopiccovered VideosfromAccenturein relationtothetopicofPersonalityweresharedwiththeclass

OnlineofficehourswithHannahfromAccentureandMN155teammember

OnlineofficehourswithHannahfromAccentureandMN155teammember ThetopicofMotivationwasalsocoveredinlecturesandtutorialsthisweek VideosfromAccentureinrelationtothetopicofMotivationweresharedwith theclass

OnlineofficehourswithHannahfromAccentureandMN155teammember ThetopicofMotivationwascompletedinlecturesandtutorialsthisweek ThePersonalitygroupassignmentwasdueupthisweek

TheMotivationgroupassignmentwasdueupthisweek(endofweek; studentsalsohadthepreviousweek-reviewweek-toworkonposterfor Motivation)

[notetheorywascoveredinweeklylecturesthroughoutthesemester]

VideomaterialfromAccentureinrelationtothetopicofCommunication wassharedwiththeMN155classthisweek ThetopicofCommunicationwas coveredwiththeclassinlecturesandtutorialsthisweek

TheCommunicationsprojectwassubmittedattheendofthisweek

Studentshadtoindividuallyreflectonthegroupprocessinrelationtotheory

“Ithas providedus foodfor thoughton howwe understand studentsand howwe providefor themintheir futurework”

Hannah Murray Accenture Ireland

Early Talent/Student Recruitment Lead

SCHOOLOFBUSINESSAND ACCENTUREIRELAND

TOP TIP

Depending on your resources, if you do have a large class, I would recommend using some of the budget to pay for administrative support, which we did Without this, it would not have worked as well/would have been too much administration work

I would recommend you just do it! The worst thing that can happen is that it was a learning experience and you would learn from any negative outcomes you would have For us, it was a very positive experience in building a relationship with the Accenture early talent lead, and in introducing first year undergraduate Business students to real life organisations and their processes and operations, where they were able to see first hand how to connect theoretical concepts covered on the module to the Accenture case

BENEFITS TO THE PARTNER

The external partner got to communicate directly with students on the module through online office hours (5 hours provided over the semester)

They got to share organisational information with the large class, promoting Accenture to the class group, who may seek internships/placements or graduate work there in the future

They also got to consider the shortlisted 9 posters (3 posters per topic) and to collaboratively agree with the lecturers which poster they deemed to be the best per topic They could see first hand how students considered Accenture through the lenses of Personality (what type of personality suits what roles), Motivation (what motivates people to apply to work/to remain as employees at Accenture), and Communication (what are the best channels/forms of communication that Accenture should use to enhance interaction/engagement and information flow among its current and future workforce)

ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

Worth 40% of overall grade for the module

Students delivered a poster for the external partner

Interested? Scan the QR Code to find out more about the MN155 Project Live Journey!

Group poster relating Organisational Behaviour Theory to Accenture Practices

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND KILDARE LIBRARIES

Mathematics Support for Secondary Schools

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT

7.5 credit module Postgraduate Class 7 students

"The project helped the preservice teachers with their curriculum design skills. They had to create new materials based on what the schools asked for. They also had to decide on the best way to deliver the workshops. They did not have experience of teaching Leaving Certificate

Higher Level mathematics, so they had to draw on their knowledge of pedagogy and of mathematics to design their materials and implement their plans. One of the student teachers said: “I gained valuable experience in teaching leaving cert higher level maths, which I didn’t get the opportunity to teach during my two years of placement.”

PROF ANN O'SHEA

Kildare Library Service have extensive links with secondary schools throughout the county, these links are further strengthened via their Support to Secondary Schools programme This programme provides a series of enhanced learning workshops in the areas of drama, creative writing, literacy and STEAM subjects In this project we aimed to create and deliver workshops and online resources on Mathematics and Statistics in order to provide extra support for Leaving Certificate students

In an effort to address the curricular learning shortfall amongst senior cycle secondary school students in Mathematics in more socially disadvantaged communities in Kildare (due to the Covid-19 lockdown), we designed a series of small group interactive webinars based on core learning topics These were developed in conjunction with two schools and the teaching staff there using the links already existing with the Kildare Library Service The webinars were delivered as an interactive extra curricular activity

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learning outcomes were:

To understand the dynamic processes by which curriculum is designed, implemented and evaluated; Develop skills in communication, working with others, and being personally effective using a range of media resources; Critically integrate theory and practice in real settings

The students in this project worked in groups to develop four workshops on four topics requested by teachers in two schools The topics came from areas of the Higher Level Leaving Certificate Mathematics course that students usually find difficult The MU students were able to gain experience of designing their own curriculum materials, while making decisions on how these should best be delivered in a classroom setting They worked closely together in their groups and with Judi Mills on developing both materials and pedagogical techniques that would enhance the understanding of the school pupils They used technology as well as manipulatives in order to help students visualize difficult concepts In doing all of this, they were able to put the educational theories that they have been exposed to over the course of the PME programme into practice Thus this project enhanced the learning objectives of this module considerably

"The second workshop has just finished, I just wanted to send you a quick email to say that the students found both revision workshops incredibly helpful. It would be great to keep the lines of communication between Maynooth University and our school open, I can only imagine the benefits it would have for our students here in Rathangan but hopefully it also offers valuable experience to your tutors" -

Feedback received from one of the cooperating schools who benefitted from the work completed by students in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Department of Education as part of Project Live

MODULE FIT

Theme

ROJECT LIVE 2021-22

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND KILDARE LIBRARIES

Mathematics Support for Secondary Schools

Detail

Pre-Module

Start

Week One Introduction General introduction to the project

Week Two Other Design Workshop

Week Three Other Design Workshop

Week Four Stakeholder Engagement Workshop Delivered

Week Five Stakeholder Engagement Workshop Delivered

Week Six Reflection

Week Seven Other Design workshop

Week Eight Other Design workshop

Week Nine Stakeholder Engagement Workshop delivered

Week Ten Stakeholder Engagement Workshop delivered

Week Eleven Reflection

Week Twelve Other Write up of student reflections

TOP TIP

Plan carefully

ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

Worth 100% of grade for the module Students delivered a presentation for the external partner

BENEFITS TO THE PARTNER

The schools involved benefitted from having workshops designed and delivered to their students on topics that are traditionally seen as difficult The schools were very happy with the work of the MU students

BIOLOGYDEPARTMENTAND THENATIONALOFFICEFOR RESEARCHETHICS COMMITTEES

Education and outreach materials for public stakeholders of the National Office for Research Ethics Committees

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

The National Office is an independent public office with a new statutory role in the regulation of health research, specifically in research ethics review Appointed by the Minister for Health, National Research Ethics Committees (NRECs) will be established in specific health research areas of national strategic importance, the initial priorities being clinical trials of investigational medicinal products and clinical investigations of medical devices Education & Outreach falls within the remit of the National Office, with a view to improving the ethical decision-making across the spectrum of health research, fostering understanding of the role of research ethics within the research community and beyond, and contributing to a ‘scientifically and ethics conscious’ society

The purpose of this project was to co-develop educational and outreach materials to be used by the National Office and at the same time to give students a thorough understanding of research ethics in Ireland

"This live project gave the students a chance to reflect on their understanding of bioethics and confront a number of their own misconceptions or biases.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This project was ran as part of the postgraduate module "BI604 Bioethics, Biopharmaceuticals & Clinical Trials" The learning students gained through the project is directly applicable to the taught content of this module and aligns with the three main learning objectives:

1) Contrast differing ethical perspectives on medical research;

2) Connect the regulatory frameworks associated with human medicines; and

3) Evaluate the suitability of clinical trial designs.

Following project completion students were asked to submit a reflective writing piece examining their changing understanding of research ethics

Student feedback was positive and indicated the students felt they benefited from the experience

The feedback from the external partner was essential for putting student learning into a real-world context and the self-reflective writing assignment gave students the opportunity to reflect on their learning process and development."

DR MARK ROBINSON Module lead

5 credit module Postgraduate Class 14 students

"Idefinitely learnedmore effectivelyby doingProject Live. Theassessment wasreasonable andprovided theopportunity toexpandour knowledgeand howtowork effectivelyin teamsinthe future."

-

Feedback from a student who was involved in the live project between the Biology Department and the National Office for Research Ethics Committees

BIOLOGYDEPARTMENTAND THENATIONALOFFICEFOR RESEARCHETHICS COMMITTEES

Education and outreach materials for public stakeholders of the National Office for Research Ethics Committees

MODULE FIT

Theme

Week One Introduction

Week Two Stakeholder Engagement

Week Three

Week Four Stakeholder Engagement

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven Assessment

Week Eight

Week Nine Assessment

TOP TIP

Planning of the assessment and content for students takes a significant amount of time

Detail

Introduction to Project Live from lecturer

Initial project brief from external partner

Feedback from external partner

Final report and presentation to external partner

Self-reflective writing

ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

Worth 60% of overall grade for the module

Students delivered a presentation and product for the external partner

BENEFITS TO THE PARTNER

The external partner got a number of new ideas regarding communication with the public

In particular they highlighted a misunderstanding amongst the students in regard to the role of the National Office and the NRECs as an area where they need to develop their outreach material

"Software engineering team project is a highly application-oriented subject Software project development covers virtually all aspects of software development, such as requirements engineering, architectural design, software testing, configuration management and project management. Depending on the industry needs, the development of methodologies in software development evolves rapidly.

This evolution has made software engineering topics fluid and dynamic that continuously challenges the effective teaching of software engineering courses. In addition, software development methods taught in the classroom are often abstract models, generalized guidelines, best practice and frameworks This abstraction is another dimension that challenges many lecturers and creates gaps for students to perceive the connection between abstract models and their applications in real-world software project development

This live project is a good opportunity for students to experience real-world development and to apply knowledge learned from the classroom to practice "

DR DAPENG DONG

COMPUTERSCIENCE DEPARTMENTANDCLIMATE RESPONSEIRELAND

A Pollution Intensity Monitoring System for Residential Heating

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT

The project was introduced to the classroom with the main intention to bridge the gap between theory and practice

This 100% Continuous-Assessment based module is designed for students to practice software engineering processes as a team; to apply project management techniques, to develop meeting skills with project stakeholders; to combine new knowledge and knowledge from previous modules to the design, development and deployment of a software system using Scrum and DevOps methods

For students to experience the real need for software engineering methods, the project needed to be complex enough that surpasses the comprehension of any single person With some preliminary study on the perimeter of the need of Climate Response Ireland the level of complexity and size of the project were deemend suitable for the module

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Throughout the semester, stakeholders from Climate Response Ireland were invited to the classroom to introduce their business context, to explain the project goal and scope, to join discussions, and to give feedback on the students’ work

The students were required to provide solutions to the project based on the knowledge learned from the class and apply the software development methodologies to the development of the project The students were also required to write design documents and project development journals on a biweekly basis These written works plus the implementation of the project reflect the academic performance of the students

The students also presented their work to the stakeholders on a regular basis, and improved their work based on the feedback received

The organisation of the activities simulated a real-world software development environment

5 credit module Undergraduate Class 148 students

"The Computer Science students, under Dr Dapeng Dong, were professional and provided all the required skillsets. The variety of technological challenges solved by the teams was impressive."

Kevin Mullen

Climate Response Ireland

-

COMPUTERSCIENCE DEPARTMENTANDCLIMATE RESPONSEIRELAND

A Pollution Intensity Monitoring System for Residential Heating

Theme

Pre-ModuleStart Introduction

WeekOne Theory

WeekTwo Theory

WeekThree StakeholderEngagement

WeekFour Reflection

WeekFive StakeholderEngagement

WeekSix Reflection

WeekSeven StakeholderEngagement

WeekEight Reflection

WeekNine StakeholderEngagement

WeekTen Reflection

WeekEleven StakeholderEngagement

WeekTwelve SummarisingContent

Post-Module Postdevelopment(micro-internships)

TOP TIP

Provide alternatives to the students

MODULE FIT ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

Worth 100% of overall grade for the module

Students delivered a presentation, prototype, video, report and product for the external partner

BENEFITS TO THE PARTNER

Our students are creative

The external stakeholders have received many interesting and novel ideas that can be used to improve other parts of the design of their project

All teams are skillful in using Web technologies Their implementations (frontend, middleware and backend) demonstrate a complete skeleton of the software system All required functional components have been developed

The external stakeholder might have found that collaborating with academics was an effective and efficient way for creating prototypes of business ideas

ELECTRONICENGINEERING DEPARTMENTANDCLIMATE RESPONSEIRELAND

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

The purpose of this live project was to develop a system that monitors the air quality pre, post and during the burning cycle of a standard domestic oil burner This was with a view towards looking at a future potential carbon capture project

The system would, ideally, be able to sample the surrounding air quality and then switch to exhaust monitoring once a temperature threshold had been exceeded The current work has indicated design issues that have to be addressed in order to do this work safely and without damaging the current equipment setup

Separate work has gone on to ensure that the ability to capture this data to the cloud for analysis and monitoring.

"This live project contributed to the student understanding of key theoretical frameworks associated with this module because the student had to frame their explanations in a manner and language that non technical partners could understand.

This forces deeper thinking on the students behalf and tests if they really understand the material."

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learning outcomes of this module were enhanced by this live project because of the following:

The practical application of knowledge and the explanation of progress to an outside party.

The system design experience, particularly learning how to develop the above within sensor constraints

The problem solving skills, developed during software and hardware interactions

ANDREW MEEHAN Module lead

5 credit module Undergraduate Class

Oil burner exhaust air quality monitoring system

MODULE

FIT

Theme

PROJECT LIVE 2021-22

ELECTRONICENGINEERING DEPARTMENTANDCLIMATE RESPONSEIRELAND

Detail

Pre-ModuleStart Introduction Ageneralintroductiontothetopic focusedon studentsreadingand understandingthetopic

WeekOne Theory Lookingathowthevariouscomponentswork/someprojectplanning

WeekTwo Other SomeSWandHWtestingtoseehowthingswork

WeekThree Other Moretesting

WeekFour Reflection Initialreviewoftheprojectplanvsprogressmade

WeekFive SummarisingContent Shortreport/Presentationcreatedontheworktodate

WeekSix StakeholderEngagement Report/Presentationdeliveredtothestakeholder afterwhich stakeholderfeedbackwasreceived

WeekSeven Theory ProjectPlanrevisited

WeekEight Other MoreSW&HWtesting

WeekNine Other MoreSW&HWtesting

WeekTen Other MoreSW&HWtesting

WeekEleven StakeholderEngagement EngagedwiththeStakeholderagain,toreviewprogressmade

WeekTwelve Assessment PresentationandPrototypereview

Post-Module Assessment FinalReportandPresentationGrading

TOP TIP

First thing to do is to have a chat to the Project Live Team, they are very approachable and supportive

Secondly I'd consider the benefits of exposing your students to life outside of the college, the opinions of non college personnel weigh heavily on students

ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

Worth 60% of overall grade for the module

Students delivered a presentation, prototype, report and product for the external partner

BENEFITS TO THE PARTNER

Exposure of their ideas to a new audience

The ability to engage, in a formal manner, with students that they might otherwise have never seen

Oil burner exhaust air quality monitoring system

"Thank you - it was a very enjoyable experience. Project Live is a wonderful opportunity to co-operate with MU and be involved"

External Partner 2022 -

CHEMISTRYDEPARTMENTAND CLIMATERESPONSEIRELAND

Testing and monitoring the quality of water in North Kildare

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT

The purpose of this project was two-fold Firstly, it was designed to give the students experience in problem solving, teamwork and to enhance their confidence in performing laboratory work, and to enhance their communication skills while working on a project that was relevant to the community

5 credit module Undergraduate Class 9 students

"This project contributed significantly to the key theoretical frameworks of the Module. It involved training the students in analytical techniques and equipment, data analysis, fitting of data to models. The students’ analytical skills, their laboratory skills and ability to reproducibly collect data, perform serial dilutions and work on a microscale was greatly enhanced. They spent full days in the lab and consequently became very confident in their work."

PROF CARMEL BRESLIN Module lead

Secondly, the students were introduced to an important topic on water quality and analysis and this is also very relevant to the people of North Kildare and the Partner Organisation, Climate Response Ireland Although the EPA perform water testing it tends to only occur when there is clear evidence of water contamination, such as fish kills In this project water samples were collected across North Kildare and the students developed methodologies for the testing of several contaminants, including nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, salinity, including some heavy metal ions, and more persistent contaminants, such as pesticides

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This module is designed to train students in practical chemistry relevant to working in industry The learning outcomes were greatly enhanced through a number of activities

Initially, the students completed a series of virtual labs that were relevant to the water analysis tasks so that they were more informed about the tests before the laboratory component started As a result the students were more prepared and had revised the analytical methods and consequently had a much greater understanding of how to proceed with the chemical analysis, fostering more independence and problem solving

The students completed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for each water test and this was done as a team task Through this activity the students gained insight into how industry approaches analytical tests, while learning valuable teamworking skills They learned how to write SOPs (a workshop was provided) They gained hands-on experience in using techniques that are widely used in industry, including spectroscopy and chromatography

In teams, students prepared a report on water analysis and consequently learned how to write concisely and in a scientific manner

The students gave a group presentation followed by questions Through this activity, their learning and ability to communicate their work was enhanced

MODULE FIT

PreModule Start Introduction

WeekOne Other

CHEMISTRYDEPARTMENTAND CLIMATERESPONSEIRELAND

Testing and monitoring the quality of water in North Kildare

Arrangedaninitialmeetingwiththestudentstoexplainthedifferentelementsofthe project Thiswasfollowedbyameetingtoassignteams,roleswithintheteamand resourcestousetofacilitatethesharingofdataanddocuments

Inweek1,thestudentsstartedontheirlabwork,developingtheteststhatwouldbe usedinthewateranalysis Thisinvolvedtrainingintechniquesandmethodologies At theendofthefirstweek,meetingswereheldwitheachteamtoreflectontheirwork, assesswhatmethodologieswereworkingandtodiscusshowothertaskswouldbe approached

WeekTwo Other

Week Three Stakeholder Engagement

WeekFour Stakeholder Engagement

WeekFive Assessment

WeekSix Reflection

TOP TIP

Week2wasfocussedonoptimisationofthelaboratorytests,againattheendofthe week,meetingswereheldwitheachgrouptoreflectontheoptimisedmethodologies

Inweek3,ClimateResponseIrelanddeliveredwatersamplesfortestingandthe studentsdevisedaplanthatcouldbeusedtotraceeachwatersampleandcarried outthefirstsetoftests

InWeek4,furtherwatertestingwascarriedout Meetingswereheldwiththestudents duringtheweektoreflectontheprogressbeingmadewiththewatersamples

Inweek5,thestudentspreparedagrouppresentation,submittedtheirSOPs (standardoperatingprocedure)andsubmittedawaterreporttoClimateResponse Ireland

Week6markedtheendoftheprojectandattheendofthisweekweorganiseda FocusGroup,withanindependentfacilitatortohearthestudentsviewsoftheproject andalsotoseewhatcouldbeimproved

ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

It takes time to set things up, so make plans early

BENEFITS TO THE PARTNER

Worth 90% of overall grade for the module

Students delivered a presentation, report and case study for the external partner

Through this module the External Partner visited and talked with the students during their laboratory work and found this interesting and useful

The External Partner also collected a number of water samples across North Kildare and at points along the Liffey, over the course of the project Consequently, the water analysis for samples collected on different days and at different times gave a more complete picture of the quality of water in North Kildare.

Theme Detail

FROEBELDEPARTMENTOF PRIMARYANDEARLY CHILDHOODEDUCATION, GEOGRAPHYDEPARTMENTAND KILDARECOUNTYCOUNCIL

Athy Sensory Trails

PURPOSE OF LIVE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

Two 5 credit modules and one 25 credit modules

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Classes

155 students across 3 modules

"From a Froebelian perspective, it provided an opportunity to deepen the understanding of the importance of outdoor learning, a key principle of Froebelian philosophy The principle ' an ecological perspective of humankind' is a key principle in our theoretical frameworks when working with future teachers Through engagement with a community-engaged learning experience where the voices of all participants are welcomed and embraced, contributed greatly to the understanding of our theoretical foundations "

LAOISE NÍ CHLEIRIGH Module leader

To create Sensory Trails for and with the community of Athy including a GIS for digital access and also education packs for each trail for all ages

This is an opportunity for the community of Athy to connect with the outdoor environment of Athy and to engage in community activities together at various points in the area There are sensory activities, historical facts, further literature links and more, within the education packs for use by all stakeholders in the area

The GIS locates the trails which can be accessed by any smart phone and stakeholders can access this GIS as they move through the trails

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learning outcomes were enhanced through engagement with Project Live, because it gave solid focus to assessment within all modules connected to the project

It highlighted the need to emphasize inclusivity and accessibility for all It helped to ensure a very high level of attendance on the module as we worked together on content for the trails and the students worked collaboratively in class

It gave an opportunity to the students to work as a learning community together and to discuss content that may or may not be suitable for the trails

It encouraged attendance which was highlighted - reaching the learning outcomes was assisted by a high level of attendance

"When this opportunity came up I ran towards it because I actually live in Athy and thought what a way to give back to the community that I grew up in"

Student Participant -

PROJECT LIVE 2021-22

FROEBELDEPARTMENTOF PRIMARYANDEARLY CHILDHOODEDUCATION, GEOGRAPHYDEPARTMENTAND KILDARECOUNTYCOUNCIL

Athy Sensory Trails

MODULE FIT

Theme

Pre-ModuleStart Assessment

WeekOne Introduction

WeekTwo Introduction

WeekThree Reflection

WeekFour SummarisingContent

WeekFive Theory

TOP TIP

Have regular meetings and be assured that it will be easier now that the pandemic has shifted It was difficult as we were on and off campus due to Covid-19 closures etc so that made it tricky at times Our timetable changed due to Covid-19 also

ASSESSMENT AT A GLANCE

Worth 50% of overall grade for the modules

Students delivered a report and product for the external partner, as well as completing a reflection about the experience

THE ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

"I found it to be a great experiential

opportunity for students. I do feel we were challenged in the large class size and due to the lectures still being online and only voluntary tutorials in person. Attendance at tutorials was extremely low. Attendance at the online office hours with the Accenture partner were also extremely low, with no students attending 3 out of 5 of these. It was difficult therefore to gauge engagement from students. However, module feedback throughout the semester and feedback from students were very positive. For instance, one student commented:

"It was useful to make connections with external stakeholders."

ANN O'SHEA

learning

"The group project was a great opportunity to work with our course material and use it in practice. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!"

MARIAN CROWLEY HENRY

"Once again a great experience!"

ANDREW MEEHAN

"It was good and is something I will continue in the future."

MARK ROBINSON

"Overall, it was a great experience working with the Experiential Learning Office and the external partner. I think Project Live plays a very important role in establishing connections between academic staff and community organisations/SMEs. It is very good practice that the Project Live Team provides a list of projects for academic staff to select and vice versa allows the external partners to identify suitable academic staff, through initial meetings.

I think the pairing mechanism is very effective."

DAPENG DONG

"It enhanced our teaching and the experience of the students. It gave us the opportunity to reflect and to work closely with a SPUR student also who we brought on board to work with us on the trails. She is developing the ed packs with us for the trails, the content of which was enhanced greatly by the content provided by the many students on the SEN module and Teanga an Ghrá module."

LAOISE NÍ CHLEIRIGH

"I found this experience excellent, by engaging with an external partner, the students develop skills (communication, learn more about their communities and develop work readiness skills) that cannot be enhanced through normal teaching activities. Furthermore, this type of experience fosters more independence in the students and enhances their ability to problem solve. From a teaching perspective, it is very rewarding."

CARMEL BRESLIN

Ollscoil Mhá Nuad

Maynooth University

Oifig um Fhoghlaim ó Thaithí

Experiential Learning Office

Experiential Learning Office

Office of the Dean of Teaching and Learning

Rowan House, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co Kildare.

www.maynoothuniversity.ie/experiential-learning