Three university collaborators from distinct disciplines leverage their digital literacies while co-designing a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) for the Regional University Network (RUN-EU), a European Union initiative. Their collaboration was grounded in the Triple Helix Model of university-industry-government interaction, aligning closely with Skillnet Ireland’s approach to fostering innovation through cross-sector partnerships (Jacob, 2024). Through iterative planning sessions, they constructed a framework for undergraduate and post-graduate learning. They leveraged collaborative digital tools (e.g., SharePoint, Trello, and Zoom) and adopted agile methodologies for course co-design. The process demanded fluency in digital pedagogies, an ethical use of artificial intelligence while working with open data sets, inter-institutional communication protocols, and virtual learning environments compliant with European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) standards.

This strategic engagement fostered mutual growth in digital competencies and co-created a framework for hybrid teaching that was inclusive, scalable, and transferable across the RUN-EU alliance. The project’s success underscores the transformative potential of structured digital collaborations informed by the triple helix, which calls for dynamic alignment between academic innovation, governmental policy, and industrial applicability (European Commission, 2021). Their collaboration exemplifies how transnational academic partnerships can serve as living laboratories for the development of future-ready digital skillsets.

This paper outlines research by lecturers in SETU towards empowering partnership of educators and students to implement and evaluate media and technology-based assessment for an undergraduate Media and post graduate Education programme.

We advocate that the critical ingredients to Digital Transformation journey in Tertiary education is an alignment with UNESCO’s ESD with its innovative pedagogical approach and trans-disciplinary nature. We believe to empower and include the students in design results in increased student satisfaction and success and a sense of community, this is supported by the literature. (Dzubian et al, 2018, R Ní Bheoláin, R Lowney, F O'Riordan, 2020). We have taken measures to redesign a module/ curriculum in each programme (Media/Education) to demonstrate the integration of Digital skills and digital competences.

This research will feed into policy for teaching and learning in SETU and the sustainability of educational resources in Ireland. We present emerging practice in relation to using GenAI for education and research, designing and redesigning curriculum and assessments and exploring new modules, their design approach and justification analysis.

Digital transformation encompasses knowledge sharing, socio- technical barriers and enablers in HEIs, existing and emerging issues with compatibility, integration, dependencies of systems and people to deliver content and knowledge to all students equally without privilege or exclusion. As teaching and learning quality standards become more complicated, we are cognisant of the significant shift in awareness, knowledge, skills and competencies of links with digital literacies within educated cohorts of teachers, lecturers and facilitators so that they can empower students as partners in teaching and learning for critical and higher order thinking and learning. We present our research which illustrates enhanced media and digital competency, greater Student Engagement and critical thinking skills.

We recommend that educationalists need to embrace agility and change at HE to administer and deliver curriculum using non-standard applications. In order to provide evidence to develop HE policy in this space we present the our (re-)design of modules to meet learning outcomes through adopting technology. There are tensions in global societal research discourses about emerging technologies such as AI and scant social scientific research on societal attitudes towards AI; its value and limitations in education, fears and emotions about AI technology which requires redress. Without adequate guidance or policy lecturers advocating for the use of EdTech and AI in the classroom are challenged to demonstrate understanding the socio-cultural legitimacy of AI in Irish society.

Known to help with student learning (Flink et al., 2019), immersive learning environments (ILEs) are learning situations that are constructed using a variety of techniques and software tools, including game-based learning, simulation-based learning and virtual 3D worlds. ILEs are distinguished from other learning methods by their ability to simulate realistic scenarios and environments that give learners the opportunity to practice skills and interact with other learners on theirown terms by engaging their optimum learning style. Applying adaptive learning techniques can further accentuate the teacher or lecturers toolkit and increate the potential to be inclusive, flexible, personalised and engaging for students(Holmes et al., 2019).

As generative AI technologies have become increasingly powerful and available, online assessments need to be reviewed and re-evaluated to maintain their educational value. Open-book online quizzes have long been an effective tool for engaging students and reinforcing fundamental knowledge and skills. However, the ease of using AI to complete these quizzes may undermine their intended purpose. Students are likely to have access to many generative AI tools, including an institutional version of MS Copilot Chat which is included within Office 365. It has become more powerful in 2025 and is now powered by GPT-4o, with file upload, code interpreter and data protection. Agentic tools are emerging for automating the completion of online quizzes.

This presentation will explore the findings of a short 2025 study using MS Copilot Chat, to answer a series of online quizzes used for continuous assessment in a first-year quantitative techniques module. The results will be compared to previously published results for ChatGPT for the same quizzes (Raftery 2025), and consider the accuracy of answers, the ease of use and the usefulness of explanations for students. The implications will be discussed, along with considerations for whether and how to integrate generative AI into the learning and assessment process.

Raftery, D. (2023). Will ChatGPT pass the online quizzes? Adapting an assessment strategy in the age of generative AI. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 7(1) https://doi.org/10.22554/ijtel.v7i1.114