 Hy, everyone. My name is Mario O'Dwyr, and I'm a Marketing Lecturer in the Watford Institute of Technology. I'm primarily involved in teaching undergraduate students, and I teach on a range of programs right throughout the school of business in WIT. I had to put this up because I truly love teaching. It's something I'm really passionate about. I love the interaction with students and I particularly love the fact that every academic year brings new people into my life and along with that new perspectives and new challenges. A'r uppeid yw hynny ymddi'r proffesiadau yna i gyn iawn i'w gawr, ac gallw'n hynny yw i'w g quelw'u gweith i'w gael ond yn cael ei wneud i fel ei wneud i bwysig i chi a'i gweithio'r sphyng ychydigol. A'r uppeid i chi'n gweithio i chi dweud i chi'n gweithio i gynnig i'w wneud i gael, ond yn cael ei wneud i gael, mae fydd wedi cyflym y gallwn yn ei wneud i gweithio, I think we as educators are talking off a lot about creating lifelong students, but if we're not willing to buy into that ourselves, I don't really know how we can expect our students to do so. So a stream leader for the marketing stream of our Bachelor of Business Studies programme at WIT, I work really closely with our final year students to try and facilitate their transfer from the world of college to the world of work. And for some students this can be a really difficult transition and it's particularly for marketing students during recessionary times, we've really been hit by the recession. So part of my job is really to prepare students for that transition and to help them to move from the comfort of college life into the world of work. And the main way I do that is through my teaching approaches and through my assessment methods, which I try to use to ensure the students are better prepared for the tough market that is out there. And earlier this year I conducted or took part in a professional certificate for entrepreneurial education in UCD that really changed my approach to thinking. And this programme encouraged me for the first time in my 20 year teaching career to really take the time and space to think about why I teach, what I teach, how I teach and how I could do it better. And it was really powerful for me and it was hugely beneficial. And it forced me to think about my teaching approach and my teaching philosophy. So what is my teaching philosophy? For me it's all about empowerment. It's about empowering students by giving them a voice, by meaningful use of technology in the classroom and also by preparing students for real business issues. Sorry, before I go on to this I should say that I heard the analogy earlier today about the midwife. Well for me a teacher is very much like a personal trainer. I'm not a very fit personal trainer but I say to students I am their personal trainer that I can give them the skills, the knowledge, the tools. I can motivate them and I can encourage them but at the end of the day they have to do the work and they have to take responsibility for their own learning. I'm a big believer in trying to push students outside their comfort zone. Your comfort zone is a very safe place to be. And students tend to spend an awful lot of time in their comfort zone and I try to challenge them to move into their learning zone. When I challenge them initially they move into the panic zone and initially there is that panic when they think how am I going to deal with this, how am I going to cope with some new challenge. But my role as an educator is really to facilitate students to move back into that learning zone by supporting them in their learning. I myself am probably in the panic zone at the moment. Earlier on when I was listening to everybody else's presentation I was very much in the learning zone. So it's not just the student that needs to move out of their comfort zone. I think we as educators need to challenge ourselves more and move out into the learning zone. So I always say to students that you will learn very little in your comfort zone that really you have to push yourself and challenge yourself and I try and do that in a classroom environment. One way in which I do that is through the use of problem based live projects where we link up with an industry partner. So what happens is that an industry partner comes in and gives students a brief and they work in teams as advertising agencies to develop a digital advertising campaign for a client. They meet with the client halfway through semester, they give them interim feedback and at the end of term they need to pitch their campaigns to representatives from the client company. High pressure, but fantastic for the students because it really mirrors that advertising agency client relationship and is trying to simulate a real world environment. And students benefit in lots of ways, in lots of skills, practical skills, but also those soft skills as well. It's usually beneficial. Over the last five years our students have worked with a variety of companies, so my students have worked with Jemson. We've also worked with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and we've also worked with Glambi and their Gain Pet Food brand. And these live projects have won a number of awards over the last five years. So a project we conducted with Enterprise Rent-A-Car won the Association of Higher Education Career Services Engagement Award in 2012. We won Gold at the AHCS Engagement Award in 2013. And another project we worked on was a finalist in the General for Work Award for Innovation and Teaching Learning. I'm a big believer in Carl Dweck's views on the importance of having a growth mindset. I always tell my students that they'll learn very little if they have a fixed mindset. And often they come to us with that fixed mindset and the belief that their talents, their abilities, their intelligence, that they're fixed things. And one of the biggest things I hear from my students is, I'm not creative. It's a course you're creative. You just need the right challenges to bring out that creativity in you. And again, just like I've had to move into my learning zone, I've had to adapt a growth mindset as well. So it's not just the students, it's also me. One way in which I encourage students to do that is to believe in themselves and to truly believe that they have those abilities. They just need the right prompts in order to bring that out. One way in which I do it is through the School of Business Mentoring Program at WIT. I introduced this five years ago where our past graduates would mentor our final year students on a one-to-one basis. So those mentors provide students with invaluable guidance preparing them for that transition from the world of college to the world of work. So they'll sign a learning contract or a mentoring agreement. They meet with their mentor right throughout the academic year and they get invaluable advice that prepares them for the world of work. Every year we have an award ceremony at the end of the year, which is the fantastic opportunity for the mentors and mentees to get together and the academic staff within WIT. Finally, for me, learning should be about fun and I try to use teaching approaches in the classroom that are fun. And I think if you're having fun and you're enjoying learning, it's all the more valuable. So we use LEGO to try and illustrate creativity and diversity. I use the marshmallow challenge in order to foster team building and interpersonal skills. I use post-its for teaching and learning strategies. I write and use teaching case studies extensively in the classroom and I integrate social media into my teaching. I think I'm in a privileged position, a leadership role in the classroom and it's something I take very seriously. What I've learned after 20 years teaching is that really good teachers are warm, they're empathetic, they're enthusiastic and they have their own love of learning that they pass on to students. And to be teaching is more than just a delivery system. To me it's not about filling heads, it's about inspiring the students instead. And I'd love to think that students will walk away from my lecturers thinking that, or walk away after they're four years in college thinking they may not remember what I said, they may not remember what I did, but I truly hope they remember how I made them feel and that for them learning was a positive experience. Gormin Mawgweth.