Gaeilge
Donegal ETB’s Further Education and Training (FET) Service will host an exciting week of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) webinars for its staff this week from 25-29 May.
Over the last year TEL Professional Development has been central to both Donegal ETB’s TEL Strategy for its FET staff and the national TEL plan supported by SOLAS. A wide range of TEL professional development opportunities have been offered widely across the FET service to increase staff confidence when using technology to support and enhance their practice.
The impact of TEL Professional Development initiatives has been evident particularly during the recent COVID-19 crisis where staff have been actively engaged in the remote and distance delivery of their courses and programmes.
According to Donegal ETB’s FET Service TEL Coordinator Treasa Mc Ginley, “This week’s TEL webinars are core to promoting it as a support for all our staff. It’s a great opportunity to bring staff together from across the FET service and the wider ETB to share a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the area. Like many other events, this year’s plan for the TEL Seminar had to be redesigned by the TEL Working Group because of the COVID-19 containment measures. We have planned a great variety of content within the webinars to meet the needs of all our target audience. Interactive workshops will be delivered by experts and leaders both internal and external showcasing how technology can have a positive impact.”
Adult Education Officer, Charles Gorney highlights that, “TEL is not just for those who feel confident with ICT and computers as sometimes that distinction is not clear to people. In the current age of digital transformation it’s important that we understand how technology can be used as a support to society and also the FET service. Whether that’s as a piece of assistive technology to support a student in reading their class notes or immersing an engineering student in augmented reality to understand the welding processes, technology to enhance learning is out there for everyone.”
The FET Service has also rolled out a TEL mentoring initiative so staff can ‘buddy up’ with a work colleague (remotely at the moment) to help each other with integrating technology into their teaching delivery.
Its webinar series this week includes a wide range of speakers from within it staff cohort along with a range of exciting external speakers and facilitators. The webinars will be delivered via Google Meet and Zoom.
- Monday 25 May: TEL Tools Showcase – FET tutors will demonstrate how simple TEL tools can enhance teaching and learning including Padlet, ThingLink, Microsoft Immersive Reader, Google Docs Plug in and Google Classroom.
- Tuesday 26 May: Inclusive Education with AHEAD – Understanding diversity in student groups and an insight into the legal obligations of educational institutions in terms of students with disabilities and understanding Universal Design for Learning.
- Wednesday 27 May: Prodigy Learning Webinar – Showcasing of Prodigy Learning resources available to support FET provision.
- Thursday 28 May: Optimising your Smartphone for Video Content Creation with Poca Productions.
- Friday 29 May: Digital Citizenship Overview and TEL Technology Tips.
