Maynooth University The New Curriculum Alison Hood Dean of Teaching and Learning 5 September 2017

The Maynooth Education Flexibility and Choice Customize your degree Choice of how many subjects, then specialize Electives in second year Safety Nets Carry a deficit (up to 10 credits) Summer offerings Critical Skills

The Maynooth Education Data extracted following Summer examinations prior to August supplemental examinations.

Critical Skills Universal Critical Skills (taken by the majority of students: 444) Critical Skills for Social Science Social Analysis of Everyday Life Exploring the Power of Languages Great Ideas Globalization Exploring Culture New offerings for 2017–18: Critical Skills for Science Books, Reading, & Writing in Medieval Ireland How to think creatively, innovate, and solve problems

Critical Skills: Results Piloted in 2015–16 (for additional credit) Huge uptake of nearly 800 students for first year of rollout in 2016–17, making it the single largest first-year subject. Very high retention rate (3.5% reduction in overall numbers for semester II) Highly positive student feedback (qualitative and quantitative). Students taking Critical Skills had a significantly higher pass rate in their other subjects

Critical Skills: Student Feedback

Critical Skills: Student Feedback ‘This module gives you the opportunity to develop the core skills necessary for university. It is applicable to every subject choice and allows you to fully interact with every lecture. Critical skills has helped me acclimatize to academia at a university level. It has given me the confidence and skills to successfully approach the next the three years of my degree and further learning.’ Sarah Kildea, Second Year, Bcl Law And Arts

Students who took Critical Skills had a higher pass rate

Electives on offer 2017–18 Entrepreneurship, Creativity & Problem Solving (55) Digital Humanities: Technology Transforming Cultural Heritage  Science Communication: Science and the World (54) Education Engagement and Equality  Engaging with civil society: justice, welfare, and environment  Film and Screen Studies (37) Gender and Sexuality in Society and Culture (34) Global Environmental Change  Great Books  War, Terrorism and Global Security (31) Introduction to Philosophy, Theory of Mind (AI), and Logical Thinking  Accounting in Society  Perspectives of Poverty and Development  Beginning Chinese, German, Spanish  Creative Technologies and Digital Prototyping  Working Creatively in Groups and Teams  Community Education  Irish Cultural Heritage*  Continuing French, Spanish, German, nua-Ghaeilge, and Chinese * new offering for coming year Electives in bold text were most popular this year 450 students chose this option (as of January 2017)

Electives: Student Feedback Why take Elective Streams? Interest in Course Content Broaden Knowledge Base Be More Employable Smaller Class Sizes