Visioneers - A Smart Cities Education Programme

Smart cities are becoming a major feature of how urban spaces are managed. It is vital that citizens are empowered – through learning, hands-on experience and dialogue – to become informed and critical participants, capable of engaging confidently in discussions about these powerful and pervasive technologies, and interrogating them for conscious/unconscious biases.

Funding for Visioneers was received in the 2020 Discover Call to purchase sensor kits for our school workshops, and for the development of high-quality online resources. We now intend to develop Visioneers further by:

(i) Deepening our engagement with students by developing a three-part workshop experience, expanding from our current one-workshop approach,
(ii) Expanding our citizen science approach by providing schools with additional sensors and creating a National Community Challenge with an end-of-year virtual and in-person showcase,
(iii) Providing opportunities for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for teachers,
(iv) Increase the programme’s accessibility by incorporating Irish Sign Language into our video resources,
(iv) Promoting further inclusion by reaching students in Irish language-speaking communities in the west of Ireland, as well as female students and students from a lower socio-economic background.

The CONNECT research centre and Dublin City Council are about to make a two-year investment totaling €140,000 to be spent largely on the cost of hiring a Programme Delivery Manager for Visioneers.