We would like to wish you a warm welcome to our Virtual Open Day experience. Whilst it is not quite the same as coming to see our college in person, we hope you can get some sense of what it is like to be student here in Coláiste Íde CFE.

You might begin by asking yourself what is unique about Coláiste Íde CFE?

In Coláiste Íde CFE we recognise that, though we cannot tell what the future will bring, we can tell you that we are fortunate enough to have a campus which has classrooms, lecture rooms and practical areas big enough, and a timetable creative enough to have had one third of our students on site at any one time. This means that our students are personally connected to the teachers having seen them in person every day. This is enabling them to have the best possible chance to complete their courses and achieve their full potential.

How did we do this?

We are fortunate to have a campus that has two separate buildings and a sports complex with separate entrances which allowed numbers safely on site. We reconstructed the timetable for our students. We were able to allow teaching and learning to continue on campus for one third of our students in the morning, one third of our students in the afternoon and one third of our students online. The perfect mix of blended learning. We felt it vital to try to maintain as much social contact and face to face interaction with our students while on campus. This has allowed us to keep our school community strong and connected. By achieving this balance, we continue to have very high levels of student engagement and our students have built strong relationships with their expert teachers.

Another unique aspect of our college is that we have a hugely proactive student support service which consists of highly expert Guidance Counsellors and a Study Skills Centre run by expert teachers who are always available on campus and online to offer care and support to all our students.

Blended Learning

In Coláiste Íde CFE we are fortunate enough to have a campus which has classrooms, lecture rooms and practical areas big enough, and a timetable creative enough to allow teaching and learning to continue on campus for one third of our students in the morning, one third of our students in the afternoon and one third of our students online allowed for the perfect mix of blended learning. Students are personally connected to the teachers having seen them in person every day. This enables them to have the best possible chance to complete their courses and achieve their full potential.

We feel it is vital to try to maintain as much social contact and face to face interaction with our students while on campus. This has allowed us to keep our school community strong and connected. By achieving this balance, we continue to have very high levels of student engagement and our students have built strong relationships with their expert teachers.

Another unique aspect of our college is that we have a hugely proactive student support service which consists of highly expert Guidance Counsellors and a Study Skills Centre run by expert teachers (see our two videos below) who are always available on campus and online to offer care and support to all our students.

We also understand that there can be challenges with online learning for students and we understand that there is a digital divide that needs to be addressed. To ensure that all our students are facilitated, we offer a Laptop Loan System in the college and to date have issued as many as 140 laptops to students who need them.

Laptop Loan System

We understand that there can be challenges with online learning for students and we understand that there is a digital divide that needs to be addressed. To ensure that all our students are facilitated, we offer a Laptop Loan System in the college and to date have issued as many as 140 laptops to students who need them.

Colaiste Íde CFE is renowned for:

• A college that embraces diversity and inclusion and welcomes students from all over Ireland and abroad
• Highly expert teaching and learning from our dedicated staff
• Student supports including Guidance and Counselling and a dedicated Study Skills Centre
• A strong college community with a student council
• An Open Learning Centre
• Seven state of the art computer rooms
• Leisure Point Sports Centre
• Extensive experience in Blended Learning Programmes
• High levels of successful completion of courses and progression into the workforce and Higher Education both in Ireland and Abroad

For all this, we are immensely proud and we are looking forward to opening our doors and desktops to you next September. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the college at info@ide.cdetb.ie and one of our staff will respond to you personally.

Dr Jean FitzGerald
Principal
Coláiste Íde College of Further Education