DkIT inrunning for prestigious DELTA awards
DKIT’S School of Health & Science and the Department of Hospitality have both been shortlisted for the prestigious DELTA awards.
It is the first year of the Disciplinary Excellence in Learning Teaching and Assessment (DELTA) awards from the National Forum for Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Edel Healy, Head of the School of Health & Science explained that the Department of Hospitality is the only hospitality department to receive a nomination.
‘ The project nominated is for ‘Embedding a culture of learning and teaching scholarship within the School of Health and Science, Dundalk Institute of Technology.’
She explained that ‘In our School of Health and Science we have very practically focused degrees and we used the opportunity the awards presented to showcase what we are doing.”
‘We also wanted to look at how well we are bridging the gap between the two disciplines and how it is leading to excellence in how we are teaching our students.’
Dr. Ronan Bree, lecturer in Applied Sciences at DkIT said, ‘We are different departments that work together on so many different aspects and applying for DELTA has made us reflect and see that.’
‘We have so many cross discipline approaches amongst the staff. What we really wanted to develop and what we saw we were building, was a culture of learning and that is what we wanted to show.’
Brainain Erraught, Head of the Department of Hospitality said, ‘ to be nominated for a DELTA award is a recognition of work that has gone on in the department particularly in the last five years.’
It’s nominated project is ‘Embedding Graduate Attributes into all programmes.
Brainan explained: ‘ The department has been working on our approach to embed graduate attributes in all our programmes and we were able to show those projects were very successful in their own right.’
‘One aspect of the programme involved talking to former students and, another aspect saw students work with children from a special needs school. ‘
‘We are the only hospitality department from around the country selected for the short list which is a huge accolade in itself.’
Dr. Moira Maguire, Head of the Centre for Learning & Teaching at DkIT also commented on the DELTA nominations.
‘We are very proud that our colleagues in the School of Health and Science and the Department of Hospitality have been shortlisted by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning for the prestigious DELTA awards.
They are two of only 18 teams shortlisted nationally. It is wonderful to see their significant achievements in enhancing learning recognised and celebrated in this way.’
The inaugural national DELTA Awards (Disciplinary Excellence in Learning Teaching and Assessment) will be presented by Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor.