Dublin City University (DCU) is Ireland’s first University of Sanctuary and this week we have a full programme of activities to support Refugee Week. Over the past 2-years our DCU Connected Scholarship initiative for refugees and asylum seekers has been very successful and on Friday as part of Refugee Week the Open Education Unit in the NIDL will be offering a free webinar sharing some of our lessons and experiences. The webinar will be of particular interest to educators, organisations and other institutions wishing to better understand how to harness the potential of online learning to open up educational opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers.
Title: Exploring the Transition Experiences of Refugees and Asylum Seekers to Online Learning with DCU Connected
Facilitators: Orna Farrell, Lorraine Delaney and Colum Foley
When: Friday 1st February 1:00-2:00pm GMT
How: Login to our online classroom
Abstract:
Dublin City University (DCU) was granted the status of “University of Sanctuary” in December 2016. Forty two scholarships were granted to refugees and asylum seekers by the University, of which fourteen were provided by DCU’s online education platform, DCU Connected. This session will report on the journey undertaken by a team within DCU’s National Institute for Digital Learning as they put in place the framework needed to support these scholars and the related research study which explores the nature of the transition experiences of University of Sanctuary Scholars to online distance learning. A longitudinal qualitative study is designed to seek a greater understanding of these learners’ experiences in the early stages of the study lifecycle, and of how their transition into higher education can be facilitated to enhance student success. The data collection technique is semi-structured online interviews conducted annually, and the first round of interviews has recently been conducted. The data-led analytical approach for this study is Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of thematic analysis. The next phase of the research project involves the analysis of the first phase of interview data and the generation of preliminary findings.
Download DCU’s full programme of activities for Refugee Week.
Digital Learning Dispatches 