A Hero's Journey: Introducing Modular In-service Diploma Courses in IT at Trinity College Dublin

This paper is a reflective narrative exploring the introduction of a modular inservice programme, using the device of the Hero’s Journey (features of which are described). The programme is a response to an Irish government initiative which aims to integrate IT into the education system. Pedagogical and curriculum issues, rather than skills or technical matters, are central to the programme; it thus relies heavily on the inputs of experienced classroom teachers. Modules are taught at many centres both onand offcampus. These features provide organisational challenges. The Hero’s Journey proved to be an effective frame for analysing the experience, with both strengths and difficulties being identified and with the spiral nature of the process facilitating replanning. Reculturation, in Fullan’s use of the term, has been identified as the essence of the programme.