Page 44 - Reimagining Higher Education : Case Studies On Designing For Inclusion, Equity, And Access In The Buka Project

J. Brunton & C. Beatty · Supporting Digital Learning Design at an Institutional Level

Supporting Digital Learning Design at an

Institutional Level

James Brunton and

Chloé Beatty 4

The focus of some BUKA partner HEIs often extended to establishing or improving
systems and structures for building sta capacity, and so a number of the capacity

building events focused on that broader topic of how to support sta to engage in

digital/online learning design. This final subsection, within the first part of the
handbook, discusses the support provided to sta moving their teaching practices

online by the Digital Learning Design Unit (DLDU) in DCU, which was one example
provided to partner HEIs in a capacity building event. The creation and work of the

DLDU was initially spurred by the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, but can
be taken as an example of a proactive rather than reactive approach to the pivot to

online teaching and learning.

Online Teaching In The Context Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a global migration to online learning that

impacted 1.5 billion students worldwide (Bozkurt et al., 2020). However, this also

4 © The Author(s) 2023
To cite: Brunton, J. & Beatty, C. (2023). Supporting digital learning design at an
institutional level. In H. Teräs & J. Brunton (Eds.), Reimagining higher education: Case studies
on designing for inclusion, equity, and access in the BUKA project. BUKA Project: Advancing
Equity and Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8427632

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