The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Digital Badge is the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning open course, designed to support staff in tertiary education to design inclusive and welcoming learning environments and experiences. This course introduces staff to the UDL approach to teaching, learning and assessment and offers an opportunity to explore strategies and tools to apply this approach in practice, including the UDL framework (CAST, 2024)*. Two formats of the badge are available to Irish tertiary professionals each academic year: a national rollout and local rollouts within individual institutions facilitated by locally based colleagues. A concern for facilitators of local-level rollouts at two institutions was the lack of opportunities to engage in discourse around inclusive practice with colleagues beyond their own institution. To address this concern, the facilitators collaborated to deliver the badge simultaneously in February - April 2025 with the aim of enriching participants’ and facilitators’ experiences by providing new opportunities for collaboration and trying new ways of working together.

This practice paper presents the findings from this pilot rollout of the UDL badge and offers insights into the specific collaboration in relation to the UDL digital badge, and, more broadly, for inter-institutional collaborations.

* CAST. (2024). The UDL Guidelines.

Pharmacology and bacteriology are foundational yet challenging subjects for healthcare students, often requiring mastery of complex theoretical knowledge and clinical application skills. To address these challenges, Vevox, a real-time digital polling and engagement tool, was integrated into pharmacology and bacteriology teaching for medical and nursing students at the University of Galway. Through interactive quizzes, live polls and immediate feedback, traditional lectures were transformed into dynamic, student-centered learning experiences that promoted active learning, retrieval practice, critical thinking and clinical reasoning. Students reported greater engagement, enhanced understanding of complex concepts and increased confidence in applying knowledge to patient care. Peer evaluations confirmed that Vevox activities aligned strongly with module learning outcomes and fostered an inclusive, participative classroom environment. Challenges, including variable digital literacy and technical barriers, were mitigated through introductory sessions, clear guidance and backup plans. Evaluation of student performance, participation rates and feedback surveys demonstrated clear improvements in knowledge retention and student satisfaction. This practitioner paper provides practical strategies for integrating accessible digital tools to enhance engagement and learning outcomes in pharmacology and bacteriology education, with insights applicable across healthcare professional programmes in both hybrid and in-person settings.

‘Enhancing Academic Engagement: CAT1 (crucial academic training) and student support teams’ presents an undergraduate student-informed pilot project that aims to address the problem of engagement in higher education and the widening knowledge-gap between post-primary and higher education students. This paper presents the design, implementation, and qualitative and quantitative results of a 2024 student-informed case study at Dublin City University (DCU) Ireland, which resulted in two outcomes: a CAT1 online learning page and student support teams.

By combining learnings from an undergraduate student advisory group, the project was developed and piloted with twenty-eight first-year undergraduate music students in 2024. The project combines digital learning software Loop (powered by Moodle), a timetable plan, challenge-based learning, onsite learning environments (libraries, writing centres, student supports), student-led support teams, and four onsite seminars for targeted skill acquisition in six key areas: Timetabling; Navigating the DCU Library; Notetaking and Effective Reading; Academic Referencing; Critical Thinking and Academic Writing; and Assignment Writing.

The pilot project, informed by learning theory and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework (UDLL, AHEAD 2016) aimed to combat concerns surrounding student engagement and address the lost connections between students, their subjects, and wider university services to, ultimately, set students up for academic success.

The ongoing impact of generative AI (GenAI) has led to a lack of knowledge and clarity, as well as increasing levels of apprehension among those working in higher education. To address this in Munster Technological University (MTU), the Department of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) curated a series of talks aimed to support staff with the most current perspectives from those leading the GenAI conversation. Contributors included Prof. Mairead Pratschke from the University of Manchester, Prof. Richard Watermeyer from the University of Bristol, Prof. Peter Bryant from the University of Sydney and Dr Richard Whittle from the University of Salford.

This series of talks offered a fast-paced exploration of how GenAI is reshaping higher education. Some of the key issues discussed included the implications of GenAI for academic labour and leadership, the clear and urgent need for GenAI literacy among educators and what happens when cheap knowledge meets a financially precarious sector. This paper will reflect upon, review and synthesise the ideas presented in these talks, with an eye on the fast changing nature of this space. Finally the impact of this series on MTU staff will be shared.