UCD – Timely Report on Virtual Teaching Approaches
Gerry O'Sullivan
Posted: 3 February, 2021
“The Covid-19 health crisis has necessitated a large-scale re-think of teaching approaches across the global education sector.” writes Celeste McLaughlin, Head of Academic Development for Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh in the foreword to NICE – The Network for Intercultural Competence to Facilitate Entrepreneurship. Celeste adds “Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have had to adapt quickly and at scale to provide emergency remote teaching in what has become known as the online pivot and are now re-thinking their pedagogical models beyond the pivot adopting online, blended or hybrid approaches for the 2020-21 academic year.”
The NICE resource is the key outcome of an Erasmus+ Key Action 2 Strategic Partnership 2017-20 which was led by the University of Edinburgh and included University College Dublin (Eve Brosseau) as one of the partners. The NA’s Gerry O’Sullivan was a member of the External Advisory Board.
The publication is timely given the central part virtual platforms and delivery systems are currently playing as education providers respond to the COVID pandemic challenges.
NICE is an international, blended exchange programme. It responds to a growing need for working professionals to engage with global audiences, especially in a virtual environment. The programme is designed specifically to enhance students’ employability by developing intercultural competencies and entrepreneurial skills, applying them to address global and societal challenges while collaborating virtually as transnational teams.
This handbook offers strategy, procedure, and resources for enacting the NICE
Programme.
