DCU in the Community Graduation Event 2015

Graduation Event 2015

DCU in the Community Graduation Event was held on Friday 10th July in The Mentoring Suite, DCU Library.


40 students successfully completed Bridge to Education  and Digital Media iMac programmes and were presented with certificates by Ita Tobin, Head DCU Access Service.

 Bridge to Education
2 courses: Sept – Dec 2014 and Feb – May 2015
The course is accredited by QQI at Level 5 with 3 component awards in Communications, Research & Study Skills and Personal & Professional Development. It is our core “college preparation” course delivered over a semester (12 weeks, 3 mornings per week, 10 hours per week). Bridge to Education is designed for mature students giving serious consideration to returning to full-time further and higher education. It helps build academic skills needed to participate in higher education courses with confidence, e.g. academic reading & writing, learning styles and strategies, research methods & skills, basic statistics, computers for college & ICT skills, time management & organisational skills, presentation skills and public speaking, communication skills, confidence building, dealing with assignments.

Apart from the opportunity to obtain 3 QQI Level 5 components, students are linked with DCU via campus events and workshops:
• DCU campus tour with a Student Ambassador (facilitated by DCU Student Recruitment)
• DCU Library tour and referencing workshop (facilitated by DCU Library staff)
• DCU mature students workshop (facilitated by Mature Students Officer, Orla Conlan)
• Research ethics seminar (facilitated by DCU staff linked with DCU Research Ethics Committee)
• CV and cover letter writing workshop (facilitated by DCU Careers)
• Depending on availability: trip to DCU Open Days, personal development workshop with staff at DCU School of Education Studies, study skills workshop with DCU Student Learning staff 

The programme is run in partnership with CAFTA – Community and Family Training Agency

 Digital Media iMac
2 courses: Apr – May 2015 and May – July 2015
This interactive course (10 weeks, 1 day a week, 2 hours per week) was designed for those interested in developing their digital media skills for personal and professional purposes, and who wished to gain knowledge of using Apple software and applications for creating and editing audio-visual materials, such as slideshows, movies and websites.
The course introduced participants to working with Apple iLife package as well as Picasa, MovieMaker, Audacity, and the very basics of programming. As a part of the course, students had the opportunity to work on a multimedia group and individual projects which included writing scripts, creating story boards, shooting videos, and taking photographs.