Course details

The MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (for third level education teachers) is designed to build on the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and to encourage you to research your teaching and your students’ learning in more depth. Teachers will identify a research topic to pursue and will write a publishable paper for a specific teaching and learning journal in their own disciplinary field or in the broader educational field of the scholarship of teaching and learning. The focus of the Master’s is on encouraging you to identify with your teaching as research, to peer review your teaching, to network with peers interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning and to publish in this field.  

Course Details

The MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education is normally taken over one academic year. It comprises two modules:

TL6001: Research Methodologies Relating to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (15 credits) focuses on introducing you to a variety of research methodologies designed to harness student learning. You will be encouraged to investigate and target teaching journals in your own disciplinary fields and to identify and critique methodologies used in the articles in them. You will write a 5,000 word essay discussing and critiquing your chosen methodology.

TL6002: Teaching and Learning Research Project (45 credits) focuses on the key elements necessary to build a publishable research article/paper, including the identification and profiling of the research journal chosen; the rationale for such a journal in the context of the research question; the writing of a literature review to interrogate the research question; the selection and exploration of research methods designed to investigate student learning; the collection and analysis of data and the identification of implications and interventions for future practice and research. The research project will culminate in the writing of a publishable article/paper.

On completion of the course, you will be able to:

  • identify and apply principles of a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the college classroom
  • critically evaluate your teaching in the light of your students’ learning
  • design a research project around a teaching and learning issue
  • apply appropriate research methodologies to harness data about student learning
  • research a teaching and learning issue to a professional standard, equivalent to that of a publishable paper/article
  • communicate effectively with other scholars in the field of teaching and learning
  • peer review your teaching within a SoTL community

Assessment

TL6001 is assessed by means of a 5,000 word essay on the research method/s that will be central to the writing of the research paper. TL6002 culminates in a publishable research paper of 7,000-8,000 words. However, the whole project comprises 20,000 words to allow for the discussion of the research question and its context and rationale, the profiling of a targeted journal, the exploration of the literature review, the analysis of research methodologies necessary to interrogate the question, the collection and analysis of data and the discussion of the research findings and implications.

Updated on 08 November, 2015

About University College Cork

UCC was established in 1845 as one of three Queen’s Colleges - at Cork, Galway and Belfast. These new colleges theyre established in the reign of Queen Victoria, and named after her.

Queen's College, Cork (QCC) was established to provide access to higher education in the Irish province of Munster. Cork was chosen for the new college due to its place at the centre of transatlantic trade at the time and the presence of existing educational initiatives such as the Royal Cork Institution and a number of private medical schools.

The site chosen for the new college was dramatic and picturesque, on the edge of a limestone bluff overlooking the River Lee. It is associated with the educational activities of a local early Christian saint, Finbarr. It is believed that his monastery and school stood nearby, and his legend inspired UCC’s motto: ‘Where Finbarr Taught, let Munster Learn.’

On 7 November 1849, QCC opened its doors to a small group of students (only 115 students in that first session, 1849-1850) after a glittering inaugural ceremony in the Aula Maxima (Great Hall), which is still the symbolic and ceremonial heart of the University.

The limestone buildings of the Main Quadrangle (as it is now known) are built in a style inspired by the great universities of the Middle Ages, and theyre designed by the gifted architectural partnership of Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward. The iconic image of UCC, it is set in landscaped gardens and surrounds the green lawn known to all as the Quad.

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