This Pecha Kucha-style talk was created by Clare Gormley for OER19. It describes how a non-formal, tea-fuelled community of practice may be enabling open conversations about teaching at an Irish university.

1. Talk for OER19
The Sipping Point:
Can openness start
with a cuppa?
Clare Gormley,
Dublin City University
This work by Clare Gormley is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Pauline McLynn plays ‘Mrs Doyle’. Photo courtesy of Hat Trick Productions.

2. DCU Glasnevin Campus
DCU St Patrick’s Campus
DCU All Hallows Campus

3. Sipping

4. Topics to date:

5. Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash
When good teaching plans go ‘bad’…

6. https://padlet.com/clare_gormley/talk

7. Some recent sessions of ‘The
Sipping Point’ at DCU

8. This work by Kat on Flickr is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Share Alike 2.0
Generic
• Most recent evaluation survey
June-Sept 2017
• 30% response rate from 108
participants contacted

9. Reason #1:
Contact with peers
Participants at Sipping Point Session on Outdoor
Learning, Jan 2019, led by Dr Orla Kelly

10. Reason #2:
Source of new ideas
Participants at Sipping Point Session on ‘Teaching
for the Realities of Student Life Today’, March 2019.
Led by Dr Donal Mulligan & Dr Claire Bohan

11. Reason #3:
Openness to try new things
“Hard to say what impact
exactly. I feel attending the
sessions helps develop a more
adventurous approach to
teaching, learning and
assessment. It makes me and
the team more likely to try
different types of strategies.”

12. “I'm interested in small tweaks. I
can't overhaul my assessment
and teaching methods for every
module on a regular basis. I'm
not even sure that would be a
good idea.”
Photo by Francisco Moreno on Unsplash
BUT…

13. Suggested Feedback for improvement:
More advance notice,
please
Provide abstracts and
summaries about talks
Allow more time for
discussion
Highlight free food!
Introduce bring-a-
buddy scheme
Promote more widely
within schools

14. My own observations:

15. Observation #1:
Allow time & get
management support
Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

16. Observation #2:
It needs a facilitator/organiser
Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

17. Observation #3:
Think about sustainability
Some colleagues from DCU Teaching Enhancement Unit: Karen
Buckley, Dr Fiona O’Riordan & Suzanne Stone.

18. But is it leading to changes in teaching practice?

19. Photo: Gramercy Pictures; Courtesy Everett Collection
Always the ‘usual suspects’?

20. Twitter: @clare_gormley
Email: clare.gormley@dcu.ie