
This vlog series hears students and staff in Irish universities describe their experiences of online learning during COVID19
#HEinIsolation Competition Winners!!
Higher Education in Isolation Series
Week 1 (16th- 20th March)
Orla Wood
Environmental Science & Technology, DCU
Orla talks about her first week of online learning and what is like to be studying from home.
Dr Niall Madden
Lecturer of Maths, NUI Galway
COVID19 has meant swapping the classroom for the living room & teaching students on Blackboard Collaborate. Niall shows how he is engaging with students by emojis & new methods
Professor Theo Lynn
Digital Marketing and Strategy, DCU
Theo tells us how is preparing himself for classes and why it is important to make sure that your students are still coming to lectures now that they are online.
Week 2 (23rd- 27th March)
Danny Shields
Law and Political Science, Trinity College Dublin
Danny talks about how classes & assessment are going after moving back home to Galway.
Julia Dolan
MA in Peace and Development Studies, UL
Julia is an International student from Washington D.C. studying at UL and living in rural Kerry! She feels online learning has really enhanced her experience of Ireland.
Síle Ní Mhurchú
Lecturer in the Department of Modern Irish, UCC
Síle’s tip for working at home is to ‘prioritise the most important tasks’ & describes how she is managing her teaching routine.
Week 3 (30th March- 3rd April)
Jeneen Naji,
Digital Media Lecturer, Maynooth University
Janeen has found really creative ways to make her online videos for students fun and uses a range of tools to communicate with them. Jeneen is of course working from home but also is her 3 year old daughter Mona who features in the video.
Kevin Coogan,
Biology & Biomedical Science, UCD
Kevin is a first year UCD student studying Biology and Biomedical Science. He talk about how he has moved outside to what is usually is space for having friends over, in order to get away from home life distractions.
Ciara Lynch
General Nursing, Trinity College Dublin
For Ciara and other nursing students COVID19 has been a very difficult time as she tries to balance her university studies online with working in St James’ Hospital.
Week 4 (6th- 10th April)
Lucy Prenderville
PhD student, Trinity College Dublin
Lucy is a PhD student studying Magnetism. Her 5 week PhD trip to Hercules School, France was cut short so she has had to find other ways to stay in touch with Hercules, her research group & PhD supervisor!
Grace Egan
Law & German, UL
With the end of the year fast approaching Grace is focusing on her assessments which include a job interview in German through video chat & an online moot court.
Vidhi Saraswat
MSc Digital Marketing, UCD
Vidhi is an International student from India. She feels online learning has a given her the chance to adapt to the way digital marketing will be in the future!
Week 5 (13th-17th April)
Niamh Cullen
Media Studies, Maynooth University
The hands on nature of her course means Niamh needs lots of different software, like the Adobe Creative Cloud to complete assignments. She is learning to adapt to virtual communication during COVID-19 with lecturers and friends, which can be seem unnatural.
Marian Caulfield
Department of Religious Studies, UCC
Marian is an Assistant Lecturer and PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at UCC. She had been doing her teaching inside her house but is now correcting assessments in her trailer tent while also helping students in the UCC Academic Skills Centre.
Tomás Ward
School of Computing, DCU
Tomás is a Principal Investigator at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics as well as a lecturer in the School of Computing to 220 undergrads, 160 postgrads & supervisor to a number of PhD & postdoc students! But even with all this work Tomás has found ways to keep lockdown fun.
Week 6 (20th- 24th April)
Leo Snygans,
Access Arts Programme, NUI Galway
Leo is a mature student at NUI Galway but is originally from South Africa. While living in direct provision Leo found getting work done difficult with little space and bad wifi. Now living in the NUIG student village in Corrib things are much better and Leo can focus on his studies and continue to do his weekly radio show on Flirtfm!
Busie Morphe
International Development & Food Policy, UCC
Busie is a UCC Sanctuary Scholarship awardee in her 1st year of university. She is managing her assessments online via Canvas & loves to go on a run after study to keep balance.
Naman Sharma
MSc Business Analytics, UL
Naman is an international student from India. A few weeks ago when the universities closed Naman made the decision to go home and continue his studies there. This is very different to being on campus in Ireland but Naman feels he, his classmates and professors are doing well and he looks forward to finishing his degree.