Teaching is core to academic practice and is recognised as a professional and skilled activity. As such, academic staff are strongly encouraged to enrol on one of our accredited programmes in University Teaching and Learning (UTL). Our NQF level 9 programmes will equip you with the knowledge and skills to effectively plan, innovate, evaluate and research your teaching.  Our offerings are designed to be flexible, facilitating you to choose in accordance with your interests and needs. Modules are offered on a range of topics, for example: 

• Curriculum Design
• Assessment
• Active Learning with Technology
• Teaching Across Cultures
• Leading in University Teaching and Learning
• Becoming a Better University Teacher

You can opt to start in September or January each year.

For further information go to the University Teaching Qualification page

As a recently appointed lecturer to UCD, you can avail of a range of activities and resources designed to help you ‘get to grips’ with your new role.  Another key benefit of engaging in early career faculty development is the opportunity to build your network of peers both within and beyond your discipline.

For further information go to the Early-Career Faculty page

To complement School-based support and development, we provide workshops and resources on teaching strategies for all tutors and demonstrators across the university. As a tutor or demonstrators you may be involved in: 

• Facilitating tutorials
• Guiding students through laboratory practicals 
• Grading assignments and/or lab reports
• Providing constructive feedback to support student learning  
• Advising individual students and supporting learning in many other ways.

Knowledgeable and well-prepared tutors and demonstrators are essential to maintain the high quality of many of UCD’s programmes because of their vital role in enhancing the learning process and contributing to the success of our undergraduate students.   To help you prepare for this important role, make sure that you sign-up for one of our Tutor Induction Workshops. These are held in September and January each year and are two-hours long. They are open to all tutors and demonstrators university-wide.

For further information go to the Tutors and Demonstrators page

As a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in UCD you may be interested in developing your teaching skills. If so, you should discuss this in the first instance with your Principal Investigator/mentor to agree how this development need could be facilitated within the context of your research role. UCD Teaching and Learning offers a bespoke development programme for PD Fellows which runs twice a year and are delivered over 2.5 days.   

For further information go to the Post-doctoral Researchers page

This open resource, available in Brightspace Explore is a compilation of learning materials and activities to support those that teach and or support student learning at UCD. The resource will be particularly useful to those new to teaching as it focuses on elementary skills and introduces some core principles. Equally the resource may be of merit to those further along in their careers by providing a means to review and reflect on elements of their practice.

The resource is intended to support self-directed and self-paced learning. There are four areas explored:  

• My Learners; inclusive approaches to learning
• My Teaching Practice; communication, design and technology
• My Assessment Approaches; choice of assessment and implementation of feedback
• My Professional Domain; innovate, research and disseminate.

Please note this Brightspace Explore resource is non-credit bearing and there is no formal assessment associated with it.  The materials are complementary to other web resources provided by UCD Teaching and Learning and to the accredited modules of the Professional Certificate, University Teaching & Learning.

Watch the video below to find out more about the resource. Please ensure you have cookies enabled on your browser to view the video. If you cannot see the video, go to cookie preferences and allow targeting cookies.

Through Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) consultations, we provide a range of pedagogical supports to programme teams and disciplinary groups who wish to expand their use of educational technologies to enhance learning in face-to-face, blended or online teaching and learning contexts. We are also involved in the coordination a number of institutional initiatives and events which serve to bring together faculty and staff from across the UCD community to share TEL practices, resources and expertise.  

For further information go to the Technology Enhanced Learning Support page

From time to time school/programme teams will come together to plan, develop, review and share practice. UCD Teaching and Learning can provide customised workshops to meet the needs of your school/programme, as a one-off activity or as part of an ongoing development/enhancement process. Examples of workshop themes that we could cover include: 

• Programme review and enhancement
• Assessment and feedback strategies
• Blended learning design
• Peer observation of teaching
• Induction for new lecturers
• Active learning strategies
• Group work (group assessment) 
• Self-assessment of Teaching and Learning for Periodic Quality Review

If this is something that your school or programme team would be interested in discussing with a member of our team please email your request to teachingandlearning@ucd.ie  and we’ll follow-up with an appointment.