Student Effort Hours:
| Lectures |
24 |
| Tutorial |
7 |
| Autonomous Student Learning |
94 |
| Total |
125 |
|---|
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
1. TEACHING
Teaching for this module is centred around lectures and tutorials, both of which are essential for learning in this module.
Lectures are scheduled twice a week during term, and last for around 50 minutes. In the lectures, I'll present the week's learning using a nice slideshow presentation. But the slides will be fairly minimalistic, and won't contain too much information: mostly key definitions and key examples. In other words, I'll say much more in the lectures than is on the slides, and it won't be easy to learn the material directly from the slides. (For example, I'll give examples and make clarifications that don't appear on the slides.) There will be lecture notes as well, which go into more detail than the slides, but again, they won't be as useful for learning as actually attending the lectures. For example, in the lectures I'll also take questions from the floor, and ask questions, and use in-class polls and MCQs using UCD's polling app *Poll Everywhere*. It's impossible to capture this sort of dynamic back-and-forth in any other setting, and that's why it's really important to attend as many of the lectures as possible.
Tutorials are small-group seminars led by a graduate student who is an expert in the subject matter. The purpose of tutorials is two-fold: first, to give you a chance to ask questions about and discuss material presented in the lectures and readings in a smaller setting; and second, to develop some of the reasoning skills we are learning about in the lectures by completing non-graded exercises in small groups. Tutorials last for around 50 minutes and take place once a week for seven weeks during term. In the tutorials, the tutor will first present some of the key concepts and examples from the week's learning, and provide you with an opportunity to ask clarificatory questions. Then, they'll divide the whole group into smaller groups and ask them to collaborate on informal (i.e. non-graded) exercises related to the content of the module. For example, groups might be asked to identify the conclusions in short passages containing arguments, or identify which statements provide reasons for another statement. The tutor will provide feedback in the tutorial on each group's work as the tutorial progresses. Since tutorials provide an opportunity to actually practice your skills in reasoning and argument analysis, they are also an essential part of the learning for this module.
2. LEARNING
Learning for this module is centred around the following:
a. The content presented in lectures;
b. The lecture notes;
c. The other required readings shared by the lecturer on the course page;
d. Discussion and debate in the tutorials;
e. The non-graded tutorial exercises;
f. The graded online assessments (see below); and
g. Online and in-person feedback on the graded and non-graded assignments.
In terms of learning, you will be expected to (i) read the assigned readings in advance of the lectures (shared on the course page as PDFs); (ii) attend all of the lectures; (iii) attend and actively participate in the tutorials; and (iv) complete all of the online assessments.
In addition to the obvious things like delivering lectures, organising tutorials, and populating the course-page with readings and slides, I will support your learning by:
a. Making a video for each short quiz at the end of each quiz week, explaining why the answers were what they were;
b. Sharing a practice exam with a separate answer sheet, so you can practice exam-style questions;
c. Answering questions via email, in person after lectures, and in office hours;
d. Providing feedback and guidance on assessments in lectures and via emails.
3. GENERATIVE AI
You must not use generative Al in your assignments for any purpose. (‘Red’)
Please see here for further guidance: https://www.ucd.ie/artshumanities/study/aifutures/trafficlightsystem/