I’ve done a few courses at DIT’s Learning Teaching and Technology Centre (LTTC) and am just finishing my latest, the brilliant MSc (Applied E-Learning). It’s proof, yet again, of the diversity of talent, the pragmatic inspiration, and the extent of expertise of the staff at the LTTC.
Not that more proof is needed. The Centre have just hosted their second DRHEA E-Learning Summer School this week, themselves following on from in-house summer schools that have run for several years. I loitered around for the last two days at the summer school this year, and harassed a few attendees wh0 were from institutions in the Dublin region. They were, as I was last year at the end of the week, tired from a hard week of immersion into finding out about e-learning, but enthused with a range of ideas they could take back to their practice. This is the hallmark of the Centre. I’ve read (on the Interweb) that teaching centres can be at a distance from what goes on on the ground – a common complaint in the UK, it seems. In all the courses I have done, every one of them has been delivered so that it interweaves with the participants’ practice, allows for discussion with peers of common ground and has given me something to take back to my teaching. That’s no mean feat, but it’s something they do well. Their loyal and ever-growing fan-base in DIT is a testament to the collegial nature, in the very best sense, that the Centre fosters. It struck me this week that it must be very satisfying that a small group of dedicated people can ultimately have a direct impact on a large number of students’ college experience.
In September, for the first time in six years, I won’t be doing a course at the Centre. I’ll be peering through the windows on Mount St., wandering the corridors looking for a flip chart, lurking online waiting for a discussion post. I might just grow a moustache and start all over again.I’m still not quite sure about my epistemology.
In the meantime, thanks to all of my Mount St friends!!
I concur with your thoughts, feelings and observations Michael. Not being an employee of DIT (until the merger:-) but having spent 10 years studying there. Three of which at the LTTC, inspired is how I feel from my time there. Don’t worrie Michael there is life after the LTTC 🙂 It’s now time for you to spread the good word and inspire 🙂
Robbie
Thanks Robbie! I’ll be getting the mobile phones out in the lab next year!
Michael
Very motivating post, Michael. Our impact is only as powerful as those who engage/work/study with us. So, you, and others, are an integral part of the “recipe for success”!
Thanks Martina! It’s a really nice sense of community.