IA20220

The world is changing fast. Many students today will go on to work in jobs that don’t yet exist. Employers are increasingly looking for individuals with the attitudes and skills that will enable them to thrive in an uncertain and fast-evolving workplace. Transversal skills such as communication, decision making, creative and critical thinking are more important than ever before.

This module utilises Virtual Reality (VR) to develop and practise transversal skills. Participants progress through a multi-stage immersive VR experience completing tasks, making decisions and exercising their critical faculties in a virtual workplace. The VR experience replicates a real-world enterprise, allowing participants to identify their areas of strength and tackle realistic workplace challenges in a safe environment.

The VR experience is part of a comprehensive learning journey. Between immersive VR sessions participants will participate in peer learning groups, take part in live feedback sessions with Innovation Academy facilitators and expert guests and make sense of the experience through guided reflective practice.

The transversal skills we practice in this module include being more aware of and using individual strengths, developing capacity for creative thinking, fostering innovation and curiosity, adopting an entrepreneurial and growth mindset, applying critical and analytical thinking to support decision making, effective communication and strategic thinking.


UCD Innovation Academy

**Enrolment on an Innovation Academy module means a commitment to active participation and engagement**

At the UCD Innovation Academy, we are a group of Educator Practitioners with extensive real-world experience as academics, business and social entrepreneurs, tech thinkers, creative professionals and design thinking practitioners.

We take an action-oriented approach to learning, with a combination of individual, group and class tasks and activities, including discussions, presentations and reflection. All of our teaching is grounded in academic rigour. Our focus is on ‘learning by doing’ in a real-world context. Classes include a combination of individual and team tasks and activities, along with discussions, presentations and reflection.

Please note that assessment for this module largely takes place during class time - with the exception of a small amount of pre-work, and the individual reflective report which is typically due within two weeks of the module finishing.