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Our holistic learner-centered approach and our range of adult learner supports facilitate participants to:

Progress along an individual path of lifelong learning

Develop personality

Enhance their skills

Access progression routes in terms of education and employment

Become even more informed and active citizens

We have developed and refined a distinctive model of community education. "Transformative Learning" embodies a curriculum that touches the mind, heart, body and soul in a belief that it can generate enough individual and communal energy to change lives and communities.

Essential adult learner supports ensure that all participants reach their goals. Information and communication technology is integrated across the curriculum. The Open Learning Centre provides students with access to a range of technologies.

Since 1999, we have welcomed over 6,000 participants through our doors. 1,251 awards were achieved by students on courses accredited by FETAC and QQI and ICS 6 and 7 in computer skills. At present over 400 adults participate in year long education programmes.

Online Community Education

Our Online Community Education programmes combine face-to-face workshops with online lectures and assignments. Discussion, interaction and teamwork make for both an enjoyable and rewarding learning experience. We use the latest educational technology, and work with Community Partners across Ireland so everyone can access the education they deserve. We make it easy for you to do your coursework at a time that suits you best. We work around your schedule, not the other way around.

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Our holistic learner-centered approach and our range of adult learner supports facilitate participants to: Progress along an individual path of lifelong learning Develop personality Enhance their skills Access progression routes in terms of education and employment Become even more informed and active citizens We have developed and refined a distinctive model of community education.

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Webinars

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"The two years I spent doing the Practical Sustainability Course at Kinsale Further Education College were an amazing experience of learning in new creative ways, with lots of practical experience, an exciting mix of classroom lessons, guest speakers and field trips. The college has a very supportive atmosphere and a great community feeling to it."

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We in Kinsale College are constantly reviewing our approach to the teaching of learners to meet these challenges. We are continuously developing and adapting our courses to reflect changes in work practices across industry and our links with businesses in Kinsale and the wider country.

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Give to suitable services - posters:
·         Social Welfare

·         Traveller networks

·         NALA etc

Local radio stations.
Social media:
·         Facebook

·         Twitter
·         YouTube
·         LinkedIn

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Design - add picture & caption

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We could call it  ..... TAKE A CHANCE ...... SECOND CHANCE -  dara seans - Bothar Nua, The learning Well -  Cosan Nua - bothar  eile - dara seans

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PBL 2nd Meeting- Steps 3 & 4

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Linking the learning into social media

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Buddy program (mentor programming)

Teaching them how to use technology

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Extra funding covers resources

Driving- can get funding for driving lessons (Transport)
Paying for child minding

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Virtual:
Choir.
Exercise classes.
Book club.

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Laptop scheme - temporary loan for online lessons.

Online social clubs.

Teacher creates videos learners can watch to explain how to use technology.

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1. Low technology resources.
2. Low social connection.
3. Low digital skills

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NLN Tralee are doing:
Onsite:
Teaching, group work, theory.
Twice a week.
Online:
Informal chat, planning for onsite work, specified work to do.
Three days sign in 3 times for 5 mins.

Software: Learners have their own Microsoft Teams account.
Barrier: Travel as buses have reduced capacity due to COVID, coordinator trying to plan  NLN only bus.

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Onsite: most needs met.
Online: needs reduced.

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Maslow's Hierarchy

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Professor Gilly Salmon explains how to enhance the design of 'e-tivities' for online learners working successfully together. She describes how to deploy readily available social media to enhance and improve the learning experience for your student groups www.e-tivities.com

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It has just been introduced, student in the FET can apply for a number of things that will assist them  in education.

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Organize a lunch club
Chat function

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With the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 increasing with age, older adults have been encouraged to isolate during the pandemic. Unfortunately, these recommendations may lead to other concerns - research shows social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased risks of chronic conditions, hospitalization, and premature death.

UConn School of Social work students in the master of social work (MSW) and bachelor of social work (BSW) programs are connecting with older adults in Hartford and the surrounding area to help combat that isolation as part of a new research project known as SLIP: the Social isolation/Loneliness Intergenerational Project.

The 10 students assigned to the project as their fieldwork placement are each matched with four or five older adults, most of whom typically visit Hartford senior centers run by Catholic Charities, speaking by phone or video chat twice a week. The students will be trained on reminiscence therapy and life review techniques and will use them to build connections with their senior matches. A pre-test and a post-test will evaluate participants' loneliness at the beginning and end of the eight-week period.

The visits will start by phone since most seniors are comfortable with that mode of communication, but may transition to video calls if the older adults are interested, possibly using OneClick.chat, access to which the company provided to the School of Social Work free for the year. The platform is designed to be easy to use for older adults, and the National Institutes of Health has funded studies on its use in combating social isolation.

"What I love about this project is it really was sparked by the needs of the community," says assistant professor Rupal Parekh, who is co-leading the project with associate professor and MSW program director Brenda Kurz.

Early in the pandemic, Parekh asked Joel Cruz, a partner on another project and director of the Institute for the Hispanic Family and Family Strengthening Programs at Catholic Charities, how the older adults who regularly attend Catholic Charities senior centers were faring after the centers closed to keep them safe.

Despite programming being provided by the senior centers via video streaming services, according to Cruz, the seniors - many of whom would previously come to their senior center daily - really missed human connection.

"We hear in our visits, wellness checks, and phone calls, 'I just really miss human touch, spending time with others I've become fond of,'" Cruz says. "A lot have lost weight, others will express that they feel anxious or depressed or go into crying spells while on the phone with their case manager."

Often, 15-minute phone wellness checks would turn into 90-minute conversations. Parekh recalls Cruz telling her there was "no way" four or five staff members could meet the needs of the seniors who were calling several times per week.

Around that time, Kurz was working with MSW students whose in-person placements were canceled due to the pandemic, and wanted to start a service project to assist older adults in need. She reached out to Parekh, who specializes in working with older adults, and they brought the groups together.

"I was inspired by how quickly the faculty and staff developed programs in response to COVID-19 and related social work needs," says Melanie Klinck '21 MSW, a student who participated this summer in the service project that became SLIP. "That's something I'll always remember. As social workers, we need to be flexible and adaptable and proactive; we need to serve the community's immediate needs."

Klinck says the man she was matched with seemed to really enjoy their conversations, and opened up to her about his life experiences more and more as the weeks progressed. But the benefits went both ways, she says.

"One thing I thought about during the program was that we tend to surround ourselves with people who are like us. This was a great opportunity to step out of our comfort zones to talk to someone different from ourselves," Klinck says. "The intergenerational aspect really made it interesting. In the past, I've worked mostly with adolescents and young adults. This is one of the first times I've worked with the older adult population, and I would now consider working with older adults in my future career."

Giving students experience working with older populations is a benefit of the program, Parekh says. "It's a way to introduce students to how wonderful it can be to work with older adults. It's critical that we do that in the School of Social Work." According to 2017 U.S. Census data, Connecticut has the sixth-highest median age in the country.

The team is hopeful that SLIP will show the power of connection, and the therapeutic techniques used, to combat the effects of isolation.

The drastic measures taken in recent months to curtail the spread of the coronavirus have meant an abrupt end to activities that both older adults and college students are accustomed to and enjoy, says Parekh.

"Conversations using reminiscence therapy and life review techniques may help develop more positive feelings while reducing stress," she says. "The intergenerational aspect of it helps build connections and may help reduce a sense of isolation for both groups."

"Our case managers are connecting with our seniors, but there's nothing to quantify the impact. Right now, it's just stories," Cruz says. "I think the study is going to solidify what the case managers have been noticing all along - that the more adults in isolation connect with people, even if it's through the phone, the better."

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Students Partner With Older Adults to Combat Pandemic Isolation - UConn Today

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With the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 increasing with age, older adults have been encouraged to isolate during the pandemic. Unfortunately, these recommendations may lead to other concerns - research shows social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased risks of chronic conditions, hospitalization, and premature death.

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A chat function with a particular software that they are using -

Offer sports and social club online

An incentive scheme within the college

A virtual room seminar

A channel dedicated for that subject

Enhance the existing publishing platforms with interactive content - Teams with H5P software

Create a virtual escape room where teams of students complete puzzles, to help them guide their research

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The way employees work and their office environments are changing dramatically. Today's workforce is highly mobile and more in tune with emerging technologies than ever.

See how the X2O platform turns your enterprise into a digital workplace.

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Digital Workplace & Virtual Meeting Technology | X2O Media

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The way employees work and their office environments are changing dramatically. Today's workforce is highly mobile and more in tune with emerging technologies than ever. See how the X2O platform turns your enterprise into a digital workplace.

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Lcetb .. have a computer scheme already set up, every student can get a loan of a laptop.
If they have no internet - there offer dongles to the students.
Software - they receive their personal licence so they can access the software

I was talking to a co-0rdinator and he said travel is one of the main barriers for students and loss of engagement

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Could social media play a role? Facebook Groups, Facebook Live, Snapchat, Instagram... Meet the learners where they are already, then slowly invite/integrate them to where you are...

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Could a variety of learning materials in a variety of formats differentiate for each learner? Video + Workbook + One to One Phone call + Online small Group interaction

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Thoughts around combining subjects within programmes to improve interest in the relevance of the learning. i.e. combine numeracy & woodwork, numeracy & cookery, numeracy & art, craft and design

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Possible aspects to tackle
Laptop scheme

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50% dropout - why / who / how
Learner Specifics / No Learner Profile
Don't know the college procedures

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Covid 19
Education Sector
Technology
Connectivity / Access
Exclusion / Isolation
Mental Health
Self Esteem
Commitments / Time Constraints
External  / other priorities life !!!

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The teacher that is teaching
Peers
Literature
Learner
Case studies from other facilities
Management and Staff
Perspective - other people in the house - limited space -
Employers
Funding bodies - QQI Guidelines / ETB

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Real time learning - problem solving
Flipped classroom
Real world examples - relatable examples

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Level 3 Work Experience 3N0587:
Compile a personal profile appropriate
to the workplace to include personal
details, education and qualifications,
vocational skills, personal qualities,
strengths, interests, career ambitions,
relevant work experience (LO3)

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Learning outcomes at this level relate to a low
volume of practical capability and of knowledge
of theory. The outcomes relate to the
performance of relatively simple work and may
be fairly quickly acquired. Outcomes at this level
may also confer a minimum employability for low
skilled occupations and include functional literacy
and numeracy.
Determinations for the Outline of the National Framework of Qualifications (www.qqi.ie) 

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Disengagement

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Learning difficulties

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Technology
Social Inclusion

A problem statement or question that we all agree on
Not to be going too wide

Once you agree what problem we are solving - stick to that problem

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Lack of Space
Health Issues
No technology
Social Inclusion

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Lack of Motivation
Unemployed Adults
Low academic Qualifications
Age group 17-60
The teachers were from general education
No individual Nationalities