Student
Empowerment

Transforming learning, teaching and assessment through flexible pathways to higher education, empowering students to become agents of change, and building meaningful student-staff partnership across the sector.

We’re doing this through our Student Champions and Fellowships programmes, the N-TUTORR Masterclass series, a sector-wide suite of micro-credentials, My Digital Backpack, and more.

Empowering students to become agents of change, developing flexible pathways to higher education and building skills focussed on global priorities and challenges

Key activities
and outcomes

N-TUTORR’s Student Empowerment work stream is divided into three categories: Sustainable Pathways to Higher Education, Empowering Students to Become Change Agents, and the Academy for Sustainability, Leadership and Employability.

Some of the key activities and outcomes across these categories include:

Student Champions Programme

100 student champions have been recruited into paid internships across each of our seven HEI partner institutions. Student champions are involved in a range of activities locally, linked to the overarching themes of the N-TUTORR programme: digital transformation, universal design for learning, education for sustainable development, academic integrity, equality, diversity and inclusion, and employability

Fellowships Programme

Empowering students to become change agents and to build capacity for meaningful student-staff partnership across the technological HE sector. This involves co-creating, with students, inclusive schemes and initiative that support and enhance student engagement and partnership, and developing model of good student-staff partnership practice to support ongoing transformation.

My Digital Backpack

My Digital Backpack is a proof-of-concept project designed to support the development of student skills, related to the core N-TUTORR themes, awarding digital badges to a pilot group of students who undertake the self-directed online badge courses across N-TUTORR's seven HEI partners. Evaluation of this pilot scheme will inform a sector-wide development of the platform into the future.

Student Support Chatbot

An AI-powered conversational chatbot, designed to provide student support , is being developed and tested within a pilot group of students across several campuses. An evaluation of this pilot project will feed into the further development and implementation of an AI Student Support Assistant across all seven N-TUTORR HEI partners, subject to resourcing.

Student Competency Framework

Based on a review of existing frameworks related to digital literacy and sustainable citizenship, and alongside the development of the curriculum framework under N-TUTORR's Staff Development stream, a student competency framework for digital literacy, including generative AI, and sustainable citizenship, is being developed for rollout across the technological HE sector.

Micro-credentials for Regional Needs

A high-level report examining opportunities for meeting regional skills needs through microcredentials has informed the ongoing development of a suite of microcredentials across all seven N-TUTORR HEI partners, rolled out on a pilot basis. An evaluation of the pilot project will provide insights for the further development of skills-boosting microcredentials for the sector into the future.

Supporting Access

A pilot HyFlex AccessHE programme, based on a high-level consultation report assessing needs and capabilities across N-TUTORR partners as well as international good practice, is being tested among a focussed group of students across a number of N-TUTORR's partner institutions. An evaluation of the pilot, including an EDI impact assessment and the cost/value balance of implementation, will inform a model for the potential rollout of a similar programme into the future.
Student-Staff Partnership: a unique fellowship programme to transform learning

Genuine student-staff partnerships have the power to bring about transformational change in higher education in a way that is meaningful and sustainable. The Students as Partners in Innovation & Change Fellowship Programme, a key component of N-TUTORR’s Student Empowerment focus area, was designed to transform the student experience by facilitating partnerships with staff to address five thematic challenges in higher education: Digital Transformation in Teaching & Learning; Education for Sustainability; Equality, Diversity & Inclusion; Universal Design for Learning; and Academic Integrity and Assessment.

The Students as Partners in Innovation and Change Fellowship Programme is a key initiative of the Student Empowerment work stream of the N-TUTORR programme. The Fellowships initiative explicitly aimed to encourage a culture of student-staff partnership, and centre this as a key means of improving learning, teaching and the student experience

The N-TUTORR Students as Partners Fellowship programme involved 175 projects and was co-ordinated by a team of eight N-TUTORR Student Empowerment Coordinators across the sector.

A snapshot paper providing an overview of the Fellowships programme was published in September 2023. Read it here:

Transforming Learning Together: The Power of Student-staff Partnerships in Higher Education

Browse all 175 N-TUTORR fellowships projects here:

Students as Partners in Innovation and Change Fellowship Programme Guide

N-TUTORR Fellowships Impact Report

N-TUTORR was delighted to launch a collection of case studies demonstrating the impact of the Students As Partners in Innovation and Change Fellowships programme in November 2024, as the N-TUTORR programme came to a close.

This collection provides an opportunity, for all involved across the technological higher education sector in Ireland, to celebrate all that has been achieved under the N-TUTORR work stream of student empowerment and partnership.

Read the report here:

Student Empowerment in the Technological Universities and Institutes of Technology in Ireland: A collection of impact case studies from the N-TUTORR Students as Partners in Innovation and Change Fellowship programme 2022-2024

N-TUTORR Snapshot Paper: Employing service-oriented chatbots in higher education: case studies from ATU and DkIT

N-TUTORR published a snapshot paper in November 2024 to share two case studies from ATU and DkIT, where chatbots had been piloted to explore how they could be used to support students to problem-solve and find information.

Read the snapshot paper here:

Employing service-oriented chatbots in higher education: case studies from ATU and DkIT

A person using a tablet displaying the 'my digital backpack' logo and tagline on the screen.

My Digital Backpack

My Digital Backpack is an online platform developed by N-TUTORR for students across the Technological University (TU) sector to complete short non-accredited courses and earn a Digital Badge.

My Digital Backpack