EAIR Forum Cork 2024

Practical information

Track 5: Embedding and Sustaining Digitalisation

Track Chairs: Dr Sarah Thelen, Dr Göran Melin

The only true constant in Higher Education is change. From Covid to Artificial Intelligence, from the rise of blended and online learning to the return to campus-based teaching, and so on, change is always with us. And while we cannot hope to control, much less stop change, we can work to ensure that we can create sustainable and resilient systems which will not only help us to survive unexpected changes but to take advantage of new tools and potential they provide.
While digitalisation has been a feature of higher education for the last twenty years, the recent acceleration of digital technology, particularly its immense potential to transcend time and geography creates new expectations, challenges, and issues. How can digitalisation be embedded and sustained in higher education, taking account of the following perspectives:

  • The digital skills of students in a higher education context – who are these students, what skills do they already have, and what skills do they need to develop?
  • How can institutions support students in developing the digital skills necessary to succeed in both Higher Education and in society more broadly?
  • What digital skills do staff require? How are these needs being addressed across higher education systems, at sectoral level within national systems, within institutional contexts and within local disciplinary contexts?
  • How can institutions empower staff in their responses to digitalisation to embed digital fluency actively and deeply in the conceptualisation and design of curricula?
  • What is the relevance and contribution of current digital frameworks and tools such as DigCompEdu, DigComp 2.0 and 2.1, and the EU SELFIE tools?
  • How intuitively do Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) enable the creation of digital content in an accessible, inclusive, integrated, and sustainable manner?
  • How can the potential of analytics be realised to support student success?
  • How do we differentiate between data and learning analytics?
  • What are the ethics of analytics and what sort of sustainable policies and policy development processes are required to address these important questions?
  • How do we proactively respond to the challenges posed by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)?
  • How have approaches to assessment and academic integrity changed with the increasing sophistication of GenAI?

This track is chaired by:

Sarah Thelen


Dr Sarah Thelen


Dr Göran Melin

Track Details

Scroll to Top

Sustainable Travel Ideas for the EAIR Cork Forum

Travelling from Europe

Visitors from Europe can travel via Eurostar from Paris to London and from there by train to Wales and by boat to Dublin. Travellers can then take the train or bus to Cork. Alternatively, there is a daily boat connection from Roscoff or Calais (in Northern France) directly to Ringaskiddy, Cork.  

Link for Direct Ferries: https://www.directferries.ie/

Travelling from the UK

There are ways to travel to and from Ireland without flying, as there are train and bus services that link with ferry services across the Irish Sea which connect several ports in England, Wales and Scotland with Irish ferry ports of Rosslare, Dublin or Belfast with ongoing travel by car, bus or train. 

Cross County Rail Services

Where taking a flight is necessary, attendees are encouraged to consider direct flights to Ireland (Cork, Dublin) airports and to use cross country rail services where a direct flight to Cork is not possible.

Link for Irish rail: https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/

Travel options in Cork

Cork is a city where active travel options are both available and encouraged – walking and cycling.  Visitors to Cork City can get a 3 day TFI bike subscription.

Link to TFI Bike Subscription: https://www.bikeshare.ie/pricing-and-subscriptions.html

All accommodation options and EAIR Forum venues in Cork can be accessed easily by foot. 

Offsetting Travel Emissions

Forum attendees are invited to offset the unfavourable impact of air travel by combining attendance at the Cork forum with other meetings in Ireland, the UK and Europe. 

Forum attendees who wish to consider sustainable travel options may also wish to combine their attendance at the Cork EAIR Forum with their annual holiday and by so doing minimise the number of air flights taken in 2024.