Hibernia College has won silver and bronze awards at the UK e-Learning Awards 2009, presented by e-Learning Age Magazine, the UK's leading publication for online and blended learning. The awards are held each year to showcase the latest developments and innovations in the area of e-learning. The awards ceremony took place on November 12th in London’s Sheraton Park Lane Hotel.
This year Hibernia College won silver in the “Best use of synchronous e-learning” category (beaten only by Lloyds Banking) and bronze in the “Best online or distance learning project” category for its Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education.
The silver award was given in recognition of Hibernia College’s innovative use of e-learning technology across all of its postgraduate courses that allows students to attend live online tutorials. This technology allows students across the globe to participate in online, tutor-moderated classes as if they were in the same room. In a typical week Hibernia College holds up to 70 such tutorials with students attending from over 30 countries. These programmes include the English government’s iTeach programme which supports its Transition to Teaching campaign and an international M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Medicine. This latter programme was developed in collaboration with the Pfizer corporation and is cited by the English government as an exemplar for its Next Generation Learning at Work campaign.
The bronze award was in recognition of the impact the college’s Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education has had on the Irish educational landscape. The programme now provides more primary school teachers than any other in the country and has attracted thousands of experienced and motivated professionals into the classroom. The flexibility of the programme provided by the use of e-learning now makes teaching a viable choice to those unable to attend one of the traditional colleges of education because of distance or family commitments. As one graduate teacher of the programme commented: “Without Hibernia College, I would not be where I am today. Learning online has taught me to be self-reliant and has motivated me beyond my initial expectations. I have recommended the course to everyone I have come across.”
Dr. Seán Rowland, founder and president of Hibernia College, said at the awards ceremony, “This year's awards represent a significant recognition of Hibernia College's work and achievements in the field, not just in Ireland but internationally and demonstrates once again that we can compete with the best in the world”.
For more information about the e-Learning awards go to www.elearningage.co.uk