Dr Amanda Gibney BE, MSc, PhD
Having designed, launched and coordinated the '3+2' BSc and ME in Structural Engineering with Architecture over the past 5 years I have been particularly interested in encouraging and developing the creativity and problem solving skills of our students. Developing these skills within the engineering context across our engineering programmes will greatly enhance the educational experience and ultimately the employment prospects of our students. My other research interests focus on the design and development of highway materials
Contact Details
School Of Architecture, Landscape & Civil Engineering
Newstead Building , UCD, Dublin 4
Tel: +353-1-7163217
amanda.gibney@ucd.ie
Dr Eilis Hennessy B.A., Ph.D., C.Psychol., Reg.Psychol.
My interest in student learning began through my own experience that different teaching methods and styles produced very different responses from my students. I discovered that showing a short illustrative video of children's behaviour greatly increased undergraduate students' interest in aspects of child development in a way that simply talking about the same behaviour could not. I also found that my graduate students could be supported and encouraged in their writing through an organized system of group-based peer support. Being awarded the UCD Fellowship in Teaching and Academic has allowed me to devote more time to the scholarship of teaching and learning and has given me the opportunity to work with colleagues from very different academic backgrounds who share my interests and enthusiasm. In addition to my work on the Fellowship I teach developmental psychology in the UCD School of Psychology and I have research interests in children's understanding of mental health, child care and out of school care.
Contact Details
School of PsychologyUCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Tel: +353-1-7168362
eilis.hennessy@ucd.ie
Dr Charo Hernandez BEd (Valladolid), BA, HDipEd, MA (NUI)
My background as a trained educator (BEd, Spain) has strongly shaped my work as an academic in UCD in bringing me to engage in researching student learning. My interest in the Scholarship of Teaching emerged most clearly when I won the UCD President's Teaching Award (1998-99) as it provided me with the opportunity to develop further links between foreign language pedagogy and research. I have also contributed to the on-going professional development of academics in Teaching and Learning in higher education. My research interests include second language teaching and learning, assessment of student learning and the professional development of teachers. I have about to completed a PhD in Education focusing on an analysis of the practices adopted in undergraduate Hispanic Studies programmes to assess students' learning.
Contact Details
School of Languages and LiteraturesNewman Building, Room D407, Belfield, Dublin 4
Tel: +353-1-7168283
charo.hernandez@ucd.ie
Dr Patricia M Kieran BE MS PhD
Personal experiences of different approaches to Engineering education, in the US and in both UCD and DCU, as well as interaction with UK institutions, through an ExxonMobil Teaching Fellowship - have given me an interest in exploring methods for improving the way in which I teach engineering subjects. And this, in turn, has lead me to explore strategies for facilitating student learning. For me, one of the great advantages of the current UCD Fellowship scheme is the opportunity it provides to work with like-minded colleagues from across the discipline spectrum.
Contact Details
School of Chemical & Bioprocess EngineeringUCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Tel: +353-1-7161956
patricia.kieran@ucd.ie
Mr Henry McLoughlin BSc
Over the past 15 years I have been interested in the question of how best to teach students how to write computer programs. This is something which many students find difficult. The traditional approach has been to show examples and to hope that the student will be somehow learn by osmosis. In many cases this doesn't work. What I have been attempting to do is to develop an explicit, teachable method of programming. The approach is based on mathematical techniques and students using it have been able to write programs which are correct. I have taught this method in both UCD and in Fudan University in Shanghai and the student reaction has been very positive. I have always been interested in exploring ways in which we can use technology to assist in education. During my time as a Fellow, I developed a suite of Podcasts which I use to teach students basic technique of proving theorems. These allow students to download short lessons and take them in their own time. I am hoping to continue developing learning material and delivering it on this platform.
Contact Details
School Of Computer Science & InformaticsNewstead Building, UCD, Dublin 4
Tel: +353-1-7162480
henry.mcloughlin@ucd.ie
Niamh Moore, BA, PhD (NUI)
Over the last five years, I have begun to develop a major research interest in geographic education - in particular how students respond to field work as a learning technique - and this Fellowship has given me an opportunity to broaden and expand these interests to consider issues of University-wide concern. I have previously led the UCD Large Class Project, which examined how student learning can be enhanced at an early stage in the third level academic cycle, and this has resulted in an entirely new approach to the first year curriculum. My other research interests focus on the social, physical and environmental impacts of urban regeneration and globalisation in the urban landscape. In February 2008, my book Dublin Docklands Reinvented: the post industrial regeneration of a European City quarter was published by Four Courts Press.
Contact Details
School of Geography, Planning and Environmental PolicyNewman Building, Belfield, Dublin 4
Tel: +353-1-7168222
niamh.moore@ucd.ie
Mr Feargal Murphy MPhil
My interest in the scholarship of Teaching and Learning grew out of my enjoyment of the process of educating; seeing students change from passive recipients of information to interested, active users of knowledge, as their learning progressed. Overseeing the change to a modularised system while head of teaching and learning in my school allowed me to deepen my interest and explore teaching and learning in a wider range of subjects. I have now taken on the responsibility of Vice-Principal for Teaching and Learning in the College of Arts and Celtic Studies. My main teaching interests include Language Impairment, Semantics and Philosophy of Language.
Contact Details
UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and LinguisticsNewstead Building, UCD, Dublin 4
Tel: +353-1-7168221
feargal.murphy@ucd.ie
Dr Sara O'Sullivan BA (Mod), M.Soc.Sc, PhD (NUI)
My interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning emerged from my teaching practice and was heightened by ongoing involvement in curriculum review and enhancement during my period as School Head of Teaching and Learning (2003-4 and 2005-7). I have a range of other research interests including gender and work, sociology of the media, qualitative research methods and sociology of health and illness. In 2007 I edited Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, published by UCD Press.
Contact Details
School of SociologyNewman Building, Belfield, Dublin 4
Tel: +353-1-7168676
sara.osullivan@ucd.ie