“As a Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education graduate of Hibernia College, I found the course, while intensive and challenging, refreshingly innovative and rewarding. I began the course in February 2007 as a part-time working mother and found that the on-site lessons on weekends/holiday periods were of quality content and delivered by thorough professionals. While the workload and commitment required is not for the faint hearted (nor were the three weeks in rain-soaked mountains of Corr na Móna!) I felt that the whole process was one which I would repeat to further my studies in the future as I felt I had a good partnership with the College, even when I found the workload demanding.
An enormous part of the course’s success was due to the online tutorials. They were a social point of contact with tutors and other students in my group and an invaluable educational tool which facilitated my “other” life as a mam and an employee in that I could attend them outside these roles but in the comfort of my own home at a time which suited me. I used the playback option on these tutorials as part of my exam revision study and found them most beneficial.
I am now teaching a multi-grade class of 34 children which is also challenging. Certainly I still have a lot to learn and know that the learning did not end when the course did! I do feel however that the holistic education the course provided to me in content and delivery is an example of what I would like to emulate in the classroom, which is I suppose the highest praise I could give to Hibernia College.”
- Maria Gamble, Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education
“The Higher Diploma in Primary Education is extremely current and progressive and is very relevant to the 1999 curriculum. It allows student teachers great opportunities to incorporate IT into the classroom, and integrate curricular areas with new media. The live tutorials are an excellent way for tutors and students to discuss, reflect on and gain greater knowledge of each subject.”
- Sorcha Brennan, Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education
“I have found the interactions with the rest of my class, 45 candidates representing 20 countries from 6 continents, to be the most wonderful surprise of the program. I had no idea when I started on this initiative that we would have access to such amazing diversity and that we would be able to all connect on a regular basis via the online tutorials.”
- Greg Duczynski, MSc in Pharmaceutical Medicine
“I am very much convinced of the advantages of this online graduate programme: I don’t have to spend time travelling to and from a campus, dodging traffic or wasting my time looking for a parking place. I can study from home, at almost any time of the day, and can schedule my classes around my job and my home life. Furthermore, I can repeat areas I find difficult until I understand them, without slowing down those that already do. And, what is very important, I still have direct contact to my tutor and enjoy interaction with my fellow students.”
- Christian Lenz, MSc in Pharmaceutical Medicine