Silence as presence: Integrating meta-cognitive practices in visual studies

The course portfolio provides a scholarly way to chart such student-centred learning and to unlock the gates and provide access for all. The wider significance of the course portfolio as a catalyst for integrative learning rests with its ability to galvanise staff into writing regularly about their teaching for the betterment of student learning. Ionad Bairre endorses Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) principles and, hence, is based on a developmental, research model, rather than on a training model. The course portfolio is a cornerstone of a SoTL approach and is, therefore, used as a vehicle for research, so that staff can investigate their teaching by documenting and critiquing it. The case for the course portfolio as an appropriate research tool is compelling for third-level teachers and forms the key assessment for all taking the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at University College Cork.