IMPACT AND DISSEMINATION
The project was piloted by 12 lecturers in the three institutions involved. Each of these lecturers has continued to implement the work they undertook for the pilot beyond its lifetime and in some cases have extended their work to other courses they are teaching. In addition, as a direct result of the work of the project, the following has been achieved in each institution:
Dublin City University
- The research on transferable skills carried out during the first year of the project was used in the development of a career skills module which is now being implemented by the DCU Careers Service, in collaboration with academic staff, in three modules within the Human Resources subject area at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the DCU Business School, and at first year level in the School of Nursing. This work is also being used by the Careers Service in their work with Access students, particularly the Access Summer School. It is also used on a regular basis with individual students from all faculties and programmes during their career consultations with careers advisers. It is envisaged that this work will be further adapted to suit the template of other modules and other faculties in co-operation and collaboration with faculty academic staff.
- One of the lecturers who participated in the pilot programme has given a number of workshops on the integration of information technology into Japanese translation courses to language colleagues, both within and outside of DCU.
- The possibility of integrating transferable skills into an on-line version of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) is currently being investigated by the LOLIPOP project, which is being spearheaded by DCU.
Trinity College Dublin
- Transferable skills have been written into the learning outcomes of the Freshman (first and second) years of all the German Language programmes in the Department of Germanic Studies, and materials relating to those skills have been integrated into the course readers. The integration of transferable skills into the language programmes in the Sophister (third and fourth) years is in progress.
- The Personal Development Programme and associated workbook (Personal and Career Development Record), the Careers Service Guide and Careers Advisory Service website have developed their skills sections to include the project research findings.
- The development of transferable skills has been included as part of a peer tutoring training programme for students.
- A presentation on the integration of transferable skills into academic courses, was included as part of a staff induction programme in September 2005.
Waterford Institute of Technology
- One transferable skill per semester has been written into the learning outcomes for language courses on the Bachelor of Business Studies programme. The objective is that each skill will be developed within the language courses for that semester.
- The term "transferable skills" has been included in the general learning outcomes for the Bachelor of Business Studies and BA in Languages and Marketing programmes.
- A seminar for students on transferable skills has been developed by the WIT Careers Service and transferable skills are now mentioned in all presentations made to students by the Careers Service.
Dissemination
The project has presented papers and given presentations at a number of conferences and meetings during its three years of implementation. These include:
- Business German in Ireland Working Group, Dublin, November 2005
- Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services Biennial Conference, Warwick, September 2005
- FEDORA Summer University, Cyprus, July 2005
- 10th International Colloquium on Foreign Language Teaching, University of Limerick, June 2005
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science, Dublin, May 2005
- SEDA/AISHE Spring Conference, Inspiring Learning: Diversity and Excellence, Belfast, May 2005
- Applied French Association Meeting, Dublin, February 2005
- Diploma in Third Level Teaching and Learning, Dublin Institute of Technology, February 2005
- Certificate in Third Level Teaching and Learning, Dublin Institute of Technology, February 2004
- MSc in Applied Social Research class, Trinity College Dublin, January 2004
- Association of Graduate Careers Services in Ireland Biennial Conference, Dublin, June 2004
- Goethe Institut, German in Career and Business, Dublin, January 2004
- Association of University Language Centres AGM, Manchester, January 2004
- Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, Dublin, December 2003
- Royal Irish Academy, Intercultural Spaces: Language, Culture and Identity, Dublin City University, November 2003
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