Trinity College Dublin’s postgraduate certificate course in 21st Century Teaching & Learning was formally launched today at Google’s offices at The Foundry in Dublin. The first intake of 115 teachers from 16 schools have begun the one-part-time course aimed at supporting the use of technology in the classroom.
Some 400 teachers nationwide are expected to take the postgraduate certificate over the next three years. A further 600 will have the option to take individual workshops or complete three course modules to earn a certificate of participation.
Teachers participating in the programme will return to the classroom as students on weekends throughout the year to learn best practice in the use of technology in the classroom and to consider related issues in respect of leadership and change management, inclusive education and school/classroom-based research.
The postgraduate certificate is offered by Trinity’s School of Education in partnership with the Trinity Access Programmes (TAP), the School of Computer Science & Statistics and the Bridge 21 project based at the Centre for Research in IT and Education (CRITE).
The new postgraduate qualification is being delivered as part of a three-year partnership programme between Trinity College and Google announced last year, which aims to affect a significant long term change in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) education through a range of innovative interventions focused on the second level system. Google has provided funding of €1.5 million to Trinity College Dublin to support the programme.
The partnership will also include efforts to improve computer science and STEM capacity within Deis Schools. Eleven schools will this year implement a ‘widening participation’ project to cultivate a college-going culture across Deis schools, which has been successfully piloted in St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Rush, Co Dublin.
John Herlihy, VP international SME Sales and head of Google in Ireland, said: “Building teacher capacity to leverage technology in creating active, engaged classrooms will support Ireland’s next generation of technology leaders. The success of Irish students at the Google Science Fair and the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in recent weeks is fantastic and demonstrates in a very tangible way the role teachers play in inspiring their students.”
Google is a supporter of the Science Gallery, TAP and Bridge21. It has also provided funding to the Centre of Academic Achievement which provides free after school classes in science, math and engineering subjects for primary school pupils from disadvantaged areas.
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