Dean's Awards for Innovation in Teaching
Showcase Example: Healthy Trinity Online Tool (H-TOT)
In 2015-16, Prof Catherine Darker won a Dean's Award for Innovation in Teaching for her concept of the Healthy Trinity Online Tool (H-TOT). Supported by Mary O'Neill, Learning Technologist in the School of Medicine, the team created the H-TOT in response to evidence that Health Sciences professionals often struggle to achieve and maintain a healthy work-life balance throughout their careers. The H-TOT was piloted with Medicine students, whose feedback informed the beta version of the tool.
Prof Darker presented the tool to Student Counselling, who immediately saw the intrinsic value of H-TOT as a self-management support tool for all students. The tool was also met with huge enthusiasm by second-level guidance counsellors, many of whom requested access for students in the senior cycle (Leaving Cert 5th and 6th Years). The strong demand for H-TOT was evident from the outset, however practical barriers in terms of accessing the tool via Blackboard proved difficult to overcome.
In 2019, in recognition of the potential for the H-TOT, the Dean of Health Sciences provided a top-up award to help scale-up this project as part of an overall review of the Dean's Awards. This facilitated the growth of the tool, and the addition of video content. Prof Darker recruited a number of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for each section of H-TOT, and Mary continued to build the online content and find ways to make it accessible to as many students as possible. A guidance document was created for SMEs to follow to ensure internal consistency and to ensure adherance to the two primary theoretical underpinnings of the tool - 1 Locus of control – the degree to which people believe that they have control over the outcome of events in their lives, as opposed to external forces beyond their control (Rotter, 1954), and 2 - Self-efficacy - an individual's belief in their innate ability to achieve goals. It is a personal judgment of "how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations" (Bandura, 1982). This ensures the ongoing academic rigour of H-TOT.
The revised and expanded H-TOT became available via Blackboard for all incoming Junior Freshman students, and the tool was promoted by the Transition to Trinity Officer as part of the information package made available to all Junior Freshman students. In 2024, the team achieved a tremendous break-through which signals the next potential step-change for H-TOT, it is now available to every student across College who can access Blackboard.
Work continues to expand the content, with LGBTQI+ supports coming soon, and a review of all content through an EDI lens to ensure it is as inclusive as possible.
Staff and students are invited to self-enrol on H-TOT by navigating to the Blackboard login page: https://tcd.blackboard.com/
When in Blackboard, you should click on the new "Assist" prompt, and then click on the Healthy Trinity Online Tool (screenshot below).
Well done to Catherine and Mary for your tireless work on this fantastic health and wellbeing tool, we wish you and the wider community every success with its wider rollout.
