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Biography

Damien Raftery is a graduate of University College Dublin where he completed a BSc (Hons) and MSc in Mathematical Science. He has been based at the SETU Carlow since 1995 as a lecturer in the Department of Business (except for a sabbatical in 2002/2003 during which he worked for KIT elearning, Amsterdam). He has graduated with a MA in Management in Education (Waterford Institute of Technology, 2003) and a MA in Educational Studies (University of Sheffield, 2017). Since 2008, he has been partially seconded to the role of eLearning Development Officer in the Teaching and Learning Centre. He has been a programme director and member of academic council, acting as chair of its Teaching, Learning & Support Services Committee (2013-2015).

Damien was awarded Senior Fellow Advance HE SFHEA (Date of Fellowship 29th July 2024). He completed the National Forum's Education for Sustainability online course (Digital Badge issued 16th July 2024).

Quantitative Techniques, Digital Pedagogy

Academic and Research Interests

Research interests include learning, teaching and assessment in higher education, including generative AI and academic integrity; flipped and blended learning, including screencasting and use of VLEs; quantitative literacy and mathematics/statistics education.

Engagement and Collaboration

 

Member of the Irish Learning Technology Association, including founding committee member and treasurer, conference reviewer, and EdTech conference hosting committee 2018 and 2002.

Teaching and supervision of dissertations on the MA in Teaching and Learning

Advice and professional training on quantitative research methods and data analysis to postgraduate and undergraduate researchers

Past Research Students

  • Karolyn McDonnell (2016-2021) Online Discussion as Assessment in Social Care
  • Miriam Monaghan (2004-2005) A Study of Information Technology usage within Irish Manufacturing SME’s in the South East
  • Brendan Lynch (2007-2008) A study of the social factors which impinge on the ability of physically disabled students to attend a third level college and their lifestyle within

Areas of interest as a supervisor include

  • Learning, teaching and assessment in higher education
  • Flipped and blended learning (including technology-enhanced learning, online learning, screencasting)
  • Generative artificial intelligence and academic integrity
  • Quantitative literacy
  • Mathematics/statistics education

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Raftery, D. (2023). Will ChatGPT pass the online quizzes? Adapting an assessment strategy in the age of generative AI. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 7(1) https://doi.org/10.22554/ijtel.v7i1.114

Doyle, M. & Raftery, D. (2020) “Tweet tweet”: evaluating applied social care student opinions of engaging with contemporary research and debate through Twitter, Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 5(1) (available: https://journal.ilta.ie/index.php/telji/article/view/55)

Raftery, D. (2018) Ubiquitous mobile use: student perspectives on using the VLE on their phone. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 3(2) https://doi.org/10.22554/ijtel.v3i2.

Raftery, D. & Risquez, A. (2018) Engaging students through the VLE: comparing like with like using the #VLEIreland student survey. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 3(2) https://doi.org/10.22554/ijtel.v3i2.42

Farrelly, T., Raftery, D. & Harding, N. (2018) Exploring lecturer engagement with the VLE: findings from a multi-college staff survey. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 3(2) https://doi.org/10.22554/ijtel.v3i2.41

Risquez, A., Raftery, D. and Costello, E. (2015), The open dataset on students’ perceptions of virtual learning environments in Ireland: Collaborating to listen to the student voice. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46: 1070–1074. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12323

O’Broin D and Raftery D (2011) ‘Using Google Docs to Support Project-based Learning’ All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (AISHE-J) 3(1) http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/issue/view/3

Kavanagh, Y., & Raftery, D. (2017). Physical Physics – Learning and Assessing Light Concepts in a novel way. MRS Advances, 1-6. doi:10.1557/adv.2017.589

Y. Kavanagh, N O’Hara, R. Palmer, P. Lowe, D Raftery. (2017) ‘Physical Physics: Getting Students active in Learning Materials Science’. MRS Advances, 2(31-32), 1635-1641. doi:10.1557/adv.2017.61

Books and Book Chapters

Risquez A, McAvinia C, Raftery D, O'Riordan F, Harding N, Cosgrave R, Logan-Phelan T and Farrelly T (2013) ‘An investigation of students' experiences of using virtual learning environments : implications for academic professional development’, in: Ciara O'Farrell and Alison Farrell (editors) Emerging Issues in Higher Education III : from capacity building to sustainability Athlone, Ireland: EDIN (Educational Developers in Ireland Network) http://www.edin.ie/publications.php

Raftery D (2010) ‘Developing educational screencasts – a practitioner’s perspective’. In Donnelly, R., Harvey, J., & ORourke, K. (Eds.) Critical Design and Effective Tools for E-Learning in Higher Education: Theory into Practice. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Conference Presentations

Raftery, D. (2023) A first attempt to use generative AI to very quickly create an assignment and defeat an AI detector. DEC23: Digital Education Conference, South East Technological University, December 12-13

Raftery, D. (2023) Generative Artificial (Un)Intelligence: the good, the bad and the ugly. DEC23: Digital Education Conference, South East Technological University, December 12-13

Ó Broin, D., Raftery, D. & Earle, D. (2023) StatsSkills: developing and piloting a tool for systematically developing statistics skills. DEC23: Digital Education Conference, South East Technological University, December 12-13

Raftery, D. (2023) Online quizzes and generative AI: impacts on the processes of learning and assessment. ARICI2023: Academic and Research Integrity Conference Ireland 2023, University of Galway, Oct 4-6

Raftery, D. & Wall, P.J. (2023) Redesigning online quizzes as an assessment strategy in the age of generative AI. EdTech 2023, Law Society Dublin, Jun 1-2

Raftery, D., Fitzgerald, H., McHugh, A., Dunne, M., Brazil, D. & Tully, J. (2022) Developing an enabling policy: lecture recording as a reasonable accommodation. EdTech 2022, UCC, May 26-27

Raftery, D. (2022) Experiences of piloting and using a classroom response system, online and on land. EdTech 2022, UCC, May 26-27

Raftery, D. (2021) Attending: reflections on adapting a first-year module during COVID-19. CETL-MSOR Conference 2021, Coventry University, Sept 2-3

Flynn, S., Noonan, G., Raftery, D. & Drury, T (2021) Learning with our Learners: Current Research on Remote Teaching and Learning in an Irish Higher Education Institution. EuroSoTL Connect, June 14-18

Raftery, D. (2021) Overcoming remoteness: adapting a first-year module to COVID-19 circumstances. EdTech 2021 [online], May 27-28

Raftery, D. (2019) Active learning in the maths and stats classroom using free classroom response systems. CETL-MSOR Conference 2019, workshop, DCU, Sept 5-6

Raftery, D. (2019) Predicting: getting students hooked on maths and stats. CETL-MSOR Conference 2019, lightning talk, DCU, Sept 5-6

Farrell, E. & Raftery, D. (2019) Electronic and audio feedback: student engagement and perception. EuroSoTL19, Bilbao, June 13-14

Farrell, E. & Raftery, D. (2018) Can anybody hear me? Taking the emotion out of feedback for both the lecturer and student. EdTech 2018, practitioner presentation, IT Carlow, 31st May - 1st June

McDonnell, K., Raftery, D. & O’Brien, M. (2018) Asynchronous Online Discussion Boards as Assessment in Social Care Supervised Professional Practice. EdTech 2018, research presentation, IT Carlow, 31st May - 1st June

Brazil, D. & Raftery, D. (2018) Leveraging VLE features for Technology Enhanced Assessment of Laboratory Practicals. EdTech 2018, practitioner presentation, IT Carlow, 31st May - 1st June

Meade, C. & Raftery, D. (2018) Formative assessment as learning: engaging learners Socrative style. EdTech 2018, Gasta presentation, IT Carlow, 31st May - 1st June.

Noonan, G., Raftery, D. (2017) ‘Digitally practice what you teach’ EdTech 2017, Practitioner presentation, IT Sligo, 1st-2nd June.

McHugh, D., Raftery, D. (2017) ‘Learning from feedback: Using Padlet for First Year Business Student ePortfolios’ EdTech 2017, Practitioner presentation, IT Sligo, 1st-2nd June.

Farrelly, T., Raftery, D., Harding, N., Risquez, A., O’Grady, M., McAvinia, C., Costello, E., Ryan, D., McSweeney, D., Logan-Phelan, T. (2016) ‘VLEs – What Lecturers Want and Do’ EdTech 2016, research paper presentation, Law Society, 26th-27th May.

Farrelly, T., Raftery, D., Risquez, A., McAvinia, C., Harding, N., Costello, E., O’Grady, M., Ryan, D., McSweeney, D., Logan-Phelan, T. (2015) ‘Exploring lecturer engagement with the VLE: initial findings from a multi-college survey’ EdTech 2015, research paper presentation, University of Limerick, 28th-29th May.

Fannon, L., Kelly, O., MacBlain, M., Raftery, D. and Brennan, S. (2015). “Cross-institutional development of sharable learning technology tools for flexible accounting education" EADTU 2015 Conference Proceedings.

Risquez, A., McAvinia, C., Raftery, D., Costello, E., O’Riordan, F., Palmer, M., Harding, N., Cosgrave, R., Logan-Phelan, T., Farrelly, T. (2013) ‘Engaging students through the VLE: findings from the VLE Usage Survey 2008-2013’ 6th Annual Learning Innovation Network (LIN) Conference, Ashling Hotel Dublin, 17th October.

Risquez A, McAvinia C, Raftery D, Harding N, Costello E, Farrelly T, O'Riordan F & Palmer M (2012) ‘Uptake and Usage of Virtual Learning Environments: Findings from a multi-institutional student usage survey’ EdTech 2012, research paper presentation, NUI Maynooth, 31 May-1 June.

Raftery D (2008) ‘Developing educational screencasts: practical tips and pedagogical issues from the chalkface’ EdTech 2008, Dundalk Institute of Technology, 22-23rd May.

Raftery D (2008) ‘Useful resources for teaching a first course in statistics from a statistical literacy perspective’ 3rd Irish Mathematics Service Teaching Conference, Waterford Institute of Technology 26-27th May

Raftery D (2006) ‘In Pursuit of Teaching Excellence: Encouraging Teaching Excellence in Higher Education’ AISHE Conference 2006, Maynooth 31st August-1st September (http://www.aishe.org/events/2005-2006/conf2006/proceedings/)

Other research outputs (selected)

Raftery, D., Ó Broin, D. & Earle, D. (2024) StatsSkills web app: a tool for systematically practising statistics skills. Beyond Poster, eCOTS (Electronic Conference On Teaching Statistics) 2024. https://www.causeweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots24/program/posters/14 

Raftery, D. (2020) Enhance curiosity and learning by getting students to make predictions. Virtual Poster, eCOTS (Electronic Conference On Teaching Statistics) 2020. https://www.causeweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots20/posters/1-03

Raftery, D. (2018) Using classroom response systems to foster students' active engagement with statistics. Virtual Poster, eCOTS (Electronic Conference On Teaching Statistics) 2018. https://www.causeweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots18/posters/1-06

Kane C, Raftery D & Gormley P (2012) ‘eBRICS (NDLR LInCS Project)’ EdTech 2012, Poster, NUI Maynooth, 31 May-1 June.

Raftery D & McDonald S (2011) ‘Assessing for learning and quantitative literacy’ 18th International Conference of Adults Learning Mathematics (ALM), Poster, ITT Dublin, 26-29th June

Raftery D, Fannon F & Brennan S (2011) 'FASTER (Financial Accounting eLearning Resources)' EdTech 2011, Poster, Waterford Institute of Technology, 1-2nd June

Raftery D (2009) ‘We all need to be numerati: fostering quantitative literacy in higher education’ LIN 2nd Annual Conference, poster, Athlone 15th Oct