DCU Voices

2021 EDITION 13 Alumni leading radical innovation in teaching and learning at DCU A new suite of courses, developed with hands-on industry engagement, will help reimagine the undergraduate experience at DCU Since its inception, DCU has sought to be different by giving students meaningful opportunities to apply their knowledge and develop key competencies. The university led the way with initiatives such as INTRA placement, pioneering dual language programmes, and the introduction of a year abroad. These were all highly novel and valuable, the essence of innovation. This ethos remains the same in 2021, as DCU launched a suite of new programmes and specialisms which are set to reimagine the traditional undergraduate experience on multiple levels. The new courses combine diverse fields such as Chemistry, Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Sustainability, Disruptive Technologies, Bioprocessing, Digital Business, Data Analytics and much more. In addition, experiential learning will be prioritised via virtual laboratories, design sprints, challenge-based learning, work placements, creative pedagogies, and innovative approaches to assessment. Crucially, each programme is based on deep industry engagement. Partners from diverse sectors are directly involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of content, ensuring that students are in touch with emerging trends and real-time skill requirements. In addition to new fields of study and unique modes of learning, the courses also focus on the development of transversal skills identified as key to thriving in an increasingly unscripted world, shaped by technology, automation and artificial intelligence. These skills include digital literacy, data analytics, creativity, future-thinking, entrepreneurship, personal agility, multilingualism, compelling communication, and intercultural competence. They will be developed in parallel with discipline-specific knowledge, ensuring that students have greater personal agency and the capability to envision and pursue their own career path with confidence, competence and conviction. Overseeing the implementation of this innovative vision are two DCU alumni. “Partners from diverse sectors are directly involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of content, ensuring that students are in touch with emerging trends and real-time skill requirements.” Dr Blánaid White (BSc Chemistry with German) is the new Dean for Strategic Learning Innovation, dedicated to ensuring that DCU operates at the vanguard of higher education. Reflecting on her own undergraduate experience in DCU, Blánaid recalls that “when I was studying in DCU, we led the way nationally with regard to INTRA placement, which was later replicated in other universities. “We have always been highly ambitious with our programmes, our teaching, and our overall mission to transform lives and societies, and I am very excited to be part of DCU leading the way once again, radically re-imagining our curriculum and designing a highly innovative learning journey for a new generation of students.” Working alongside Blánaid in the role of Transversal Skills Director, is Dr Ciarán Dunne (BA International Marketing and Languages). Tasked with identifying, embedding and evidencing key transversal skills across each programme, Ciarán explains that “higher education itself will experience significant disruption in the coming decade, in the form of new providers, more opportunities for online learning, and far greater personalisation of the student experience. “Our new programmes represent a blueprint for how we embrace this disruption, harnessing the affordances of technology, collaborating with industry, and empowering our students to thrive as impactful, globally-engaged citizens for the 21st century.” Dr Ciaran Dunne (BA International Marketing and Languages), DCU’s first Transversal Skills Director and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr BlathnaidWhite (BSc Chemistry with German); AssociateProfessor in the School of Chemical Sciences at DCU.