Foreword

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An Irish Government directive to close colleges amid the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a switch to emergency remote teaching. Many lecturers unused to practicing online began teaching students who were unfamiliar with online learning. Completion of the semester does not necessarily indicate that it is practicable for a more extended period. This paper queries four aspects of the sustainability of emergency remote teaching: its acceptance by stakeholders; its impact upon student motivation and faculty workload; and its effect upon learning outputs. Questionnaires administered to undergraduate design students and faculty captured their respective experiences of emergency remote teaching. Acceptance of an extended pivot to online learning is not guaranteed, but will surely form a central facet of academic continuity. Increased working hours associated with online teaching endangers the work-life balance of lecturers, yet the same staff must find ways to support student motivation. Faculty’s reduced expectations of student output places strain upon the sustainability of online education founded upon an unplanned pivot. The experience of emergency remote teaching has created an opportunity for all parties to leverage the affordances of online learning – the challenge will be to ensure that all aspects of any extended switch to online are sustainable.
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Sustaining a prolonged pivot: Appraising challenges facing higher education stakeholders in switching to online learning

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This paper will set out the key planning considerations regarding the establishment of a dedicated online portal for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools at post-primary level as detailed in the <italic>Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022</italic> (PGE). The research topic is intrinsically linked with action points highlighted within strategy and policy papers concerning the improvement of online supports for teachers in recent years by the Department of Education (DE) in Ireland. The <italic>Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020</italic> refers to the objective of establishing digital communities of practice and the PGE highlights the need for a ‘dedicated online portal’ for Irish-medium schools. Embracing a problem-solving spirit, forging coalitions, building inter-agency collaboration, and ensuring teacher buy-in from the outset are all critical factors in the necessary planning process. Through the adoption of a mixed-methods approach, questionnaire and focus group respondents verified the most important thematic issues for L1 (Irish-medium) post-primary teachers respecting the establishment of what has the capacity to become a flourishing online community of practice (OCoP). The research process cast a spotlight upon how best to serve the teachers’ professional needs, confirmed the need for a collaborative approach that prioritised the significance of the collective, ascertained the existence of greater teacher openness to systemic change, and the centrality of transformative digital solutions in the L1 educational sphere.
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‘<italic>Meitheal Múinteoirí</italic>’: Planning for an Online Community of Practice (OCoP) with post-primary teachers in the Irish-medium (L1) sector

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The Irish Teaching Council introduced a new model of school-based and National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT) called Droichead (meaning ‘bridge’ in Gaelic) in 2013/14. The Droichead process is an integrated professional induction framework for newly qualified teachers. It was designed to provide whole-school support for teacher induction in both primary and post-primary schools. This study explores the implementation of Droichead in a post-primary school, and to gain insights as to its effectiveness and the potential to bring about improvements.
The study found that NQTs are un-prepared to assume full teaching duties after initial teacher education (ITE), and can benefit greatly from having mentors from within the school to guide them through their first year of teaching. The benefits of the process include emotional support for NQTs, practical help in terms of learning new teaching strategies, the promotion of reflective practice and assisting the professional development of teachers. Droichead was found to promote peer observation and can help leaders change the culture of an organisation to better embrace and support peer observation and review. The programme also promoted and developed leadership skills among the mentors, who cited a renewed enthusiasm for teaching from their involvement in Droichead. There were conflicting views on the involvement of the senior leadership team in the programme, and it would seem that the success of their inclusion depends largely on the individual style of leadership. The negative aspects of the Droichead process related to the ‘Cluster meetings’
which are compulsory for NQTs and were seen as being too similar to their initial teacher education.
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School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies, DCU Institute of Education

An Exploration of an Induction Programme for Newly Qualified Teachers in a Post Primary Irish School

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Technical Graphics is one of the technology subjects taught at Junior Certificate level in post- primary schools in Ireland. The Junior Certificate examination is held at the end of the Junior Cycle in post-primary schools, which caters for students aged from 12 to 15 years. As a teacher of Technical Graphics for the past seven years, I have gained a great understanding and insight into the different topics in the subject and how they are perceived by students. I concur with the State Examinations Commission report (2008) that students lack an understanding of the rotation element of transformation geometry, one of the six topics covered on the Junior Cycle Technical Graphics course. The purpose of this study is to implement a new teaching methodology through the use of SolidWorks in an effort to improve the students’ visualization, spatial awareness and understanding of transformation geometry.
I engaged in an action research study of my own practice as I investigated if SolidWorks could actually be used at Junior Certificate level to improve student understanding of transformation geometry. The action research took place over a five-week period and included three cycles of research. The research was carried out with a third-year Junior Cycle group aged between fifteen and sixteen years of age and all students in the class took part in the study. The first stage of the research examined student progress as they worked through the topic following teacher instruction on SolidWorks. The second stage of the research examined the students’ progress as they used the software for themselves. I carried out an assessment task with students towards the end of the study, which showed that student learning had improved in comparison to previous years.
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An Action Research Enquiry into the potential of SolidWorks in the teaching of rotation in Junior Certificate Technical Graphics

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International Journal for Transformative Research

 Why subscribe and readThe creation of the International Journal for Transformative Research (IJTR) emerged out of a belief that professionals in any work setting can research their own practice with transformative outcomes for themselves and others.　   We welcome contributions to the journal from professionals across the world with an interest in transformative research.     Why submitThe aim of transformative research is to challenge existing ways of seeing and doing things, and to generate a radical shift in our perception of social, political or educational theories, ideas and actions, creating different kinds of understandings that lead to new practices. A transformed understanding is deeper, more nuanced, more ethical and more action oriented than we had before. Research is not just about acquiring knowledge of a topic, it also involves questioning what is taken for granted and addressing life’s problems. Through transformative research we become better able to construct our own interpretations of events and set our own goals of future action. Transformative researchers engage with values and beliefs and are committed to listening to the voices of participants, and stakeholders in general, and working towards solutions that involve everyone.　　   Archiving   Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.   Plagiarism Policy   The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 

International Journal for Transformative Research

Volume 7 (2020): Issue 1 (December 2020)

Foreword

Sustaining a prolonged pivot: Appraising challenges facing higher education stakeholders in switching to online learning

‘Meitheal Múinteoirí’: Planning for an Online Community of Practice (OCoP) with post-primary teachers in the Irish-medium (L1) sector

An Exploration of an Induction Programme for Newly Qualified Teachers in a Post Primary Irish School

An Action Research Enquiry into the potential of SolidWorks in the teaching of rotation in Junior Certificate Technical Graphics

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