The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union is aware that students are currently facing numerous hurdles when it comes to having a stress-free and engaging online learning experience. As a result of this, the organisation has taken steps to provide students with the necessary resources to equip them with the continuation of online learning. In January 40% of students who responded to an ISSU survey said that they were “unconfident or very unconfident” in their school’s ability to provide a strong standard of tuition online. The ISSU Online Learning Hub is therefore being launched, to include an information campaign concerning online learning.
Meg Foley, Cork City Regional Officer stated “Students didn’t seem to be aware of their online learning rights, so we wanted to provide them with the information they needed to have a better experience with online learning”. The Online Learning Hub includes a summary of the recently released remote teaching guidelines, a list of students’ online education rights, template emails to assist students in contacting teachers, and a guide on using online learning space across various platforms.
“Some students are really struggling with the technical aspects of online learning, so we wanted to combat the confusion by providing guides to various platforms such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams” expressed Eva McDonnell, Cork City Regional Officer.
Clare Regional Officer Lara Costello added “Hopefully the students of Ireland will find these tools useful and the stress they are facing will be somewhat alleviated.”
All of these resources are available for all students at the ISSU Online Learning Hub at www.issu.ie/online-learning-hub . It is also linked on our various social media accounts.
