It looks like the life of the Irish student couldn’t get any easier. Now, instead of rushing to the lecture hall, they can literally roll out of bed and attend college online at Hibernia College, Ireland’s first online third-level institution.
Based in Dublin and located at www.hiberniacollege.net, the new ‘College on the Web’ provides two sets of courseware to both Irish and international students: nationally accredited Certificate, Diploma, Degree and Masters programmes to people wanting third level qualification; and full-service e-learning solutions to other educational institutions wishing to provide their own academic programmes online.
The online college hopes to offer Degree and Masters programmes in public administration, education and humanities next September.
‘In February students can enrol on the college’s pre-university course which lets people find out if this kind of learning is for them,’ says Sean Rowland, chairman of Hibernia College. ‘The first rollout course is a bachelor degree in police science with a heavy focus on human rights and criminal justice.’
The Internet-delivered courses are designed for both Microsoft and Macintosh operating environments. All Hibernia College courses are run on a modular basis. Each module requires 144 hours of student effort, consisting mainly of students downloading two lectures per week, participating in online tutorials and using e-mail to contact their tutors. The college also recommends that students attend a monthly on-site seminar, the location of which varies from throughout the year.
While online study is convenient, exams are not conducted ondline.
Cost of attending the online college is comparable to private college tuition fees. As to who would be interested in this new method of learning, Rowland says: ‘The Hibernia student profile varies. It’s an ideal chance for any 18 year olds who may want to take courses but also hold down a job at the same time. It is also an attractive opportunity for adults to gain their primary degree in a discreet, anonymous way.’
Hibernia College would work with other institutions using its technology platform, Higher Education Learning Management System (HELMS), which will be licensed to client institutions to enable them to present their own courseware via the Internet. This means that Hibernia College can support the online needs of any educational and training institution already established. The system was designed by Professor John Williams at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Hibernia currently has exclusive rights to the technology in Ireland.
The college is currently under review for accreditation with the Higher Education Training and Awards Council (HETAC).
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers