How 17 Educators and Researchers Gathered in Ireland to Redefine Student Learning
After months of remote planning, the STARS consortium finally convened in person for our initial full partner kick-off meeting. Over two days—December 3 and 4, 2024—seventeen members gathered in Dublin and Carlow, Ireland, to transform plans into action.
Two cities in two days
On the first day, we arrived in Dublin and met at The Shanty Educational Project and Trinity College Dublin. On the second day, we visited the South East Technological University (SETU) Carlow Campus, which is our project coordinator’s home base, to focus more on planning and deliverables. The SETU organised the event, with workshops led by Daire O’Broin and Niamh McCrea, assisted by colleagues from SETU Computing Carlow. The environment was productive and collaborative from the beginning.
Therefore, what was our actual agreement?
The primary agenda centered on planning the forthcoming months of the project. The team concurred on utilizing and enhancing several digital tools to initiate essential activities and established a bi-weekly meeting schedule to maintain momentum.
Main priorities identified from the meeting
- Needfinding with learners and teachers — Focus groups, participatory workshops, and semi-structured interviews will capture real experiences and needs, feeding directly into the SRL tool design.
- Building a human and non-human peer review system powered by AI — The SETU team is leading the design of a peer-review-based AI prototype, set to be unveiled at our next meeting in Tartu, Estonia.
- Going public with a website and social media — WP5 lead LUT is heading up the website (complete with a brand-new STARS logo) and social channels. In the meantime, you can already follow along on our LinkedIn page.
What is next?
The focus has now shifted to Tartu, Estonia, where the Tartu partner will also provide recent insights from their students on academic writing. The project is gaining significant momentum — please stay tuned for updates.
Meeting Photos
