Online: PACT Commitment to Professional Development

We are delighted to announce that Dundalk Institute of Technology and Dublin City University are teaming up in partnership with the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education to facilitate the Digital Badge for PACT in a fully online format from 20 October 2021 for six weeks.

This open course is designed to place you on a professional development (PD) pathway, and is setting you up for completing a PD portfolio for the future. Professional development is something you will do every day of your life without even thinking about it; however, being conscious of the development you undertake will allow you to record this and develop in a systematic and authentic way. This open course recognises the importance of placing PD into a demanding academic schedule, and considers strategies for both how to embark on PD and self-manage the process. It is designed to encourage you to be proactive in order to begin the process of developing your current role, achieving greater satisfaction and effectiveness in your current work or taking a new career direction.

If you would like to become a facilitator for this course, to run it in your own institution, a further commitment of five learner hours will be required, in addition to attendance at two extra webinars

About this Badge

The National Professional Development Framework has been designed to guide staff who teach in higher education to plan, develop and engage in professional development activities. The aims of the PACT badge are to familiarise you with the PD framework, to encourage you to use the PD framework to develop effective PD strategies, and to develop your PD learning community. We encourage you to be proactive in developing your professional role and a Professional Development Portfolio (PD Portfolio) that documents your PD journey.

Participants on this course will:

• Reflect on what is involved in making a commitment to your own Professional Development
• Explore and demonstrate familiarity with the national Professional Development Framework
• Be informed by others who have already used the PD Framework and Identify key actions from these conversations for your own PD practice
• Identify ‘next steps’ – moving from reflecting on PD to undertaking it

Course Schedule

The open course involves approximately 25 hours over the 6 week period, beginning 20 October 2021, with an optional 5 hour add-on over a 2 week period for those interested in becoming future facilitators of the open course themselves.

This is a facilitator-led course and weekly live sessions will be held each week to guide you through the course and learning material. All sessions will be recorded for those who are unable to attend. The facilitators for this course are Michelle Cowley-Cunningham (DkIT) and Edel Gallagher (DCU).