Student Work

The Experience of Progressing From Community Education to Third Level Education From a Learner’s Perspective

Alan Farrell — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:08:11 PST

This study explored the experiences of community learners as they progressed from community education to third level education. It also examined the reflections of those who had completed their studies and the impact that education had on their lives. It focused on former students, students currently participating in certificate courses, and also students studying on college access programmes. It was hoped to give a broad view of perspectives on the contrast between community learning and third level education.The study attempts to focus on the positive aspects of the experience rather than the barriers which each student faced. Data collection was primarily by way of semi-structured interviews

The research design was interpertivism informed by a social constructionist epistemology. It involved the exploring of the real life experience of the participants and was therefore phenomenological in nature. The research method used consisted of one on one semi structured interviews and the data was analysed. The interviews were sructured so as to enable the participants to take a narrative approach and to document their experiences.

A literature review was conducted on the available writings in regards to community education, social inclusion, anti-poverty and access routes to third level education.The findings reveal many of the positive aspects that the learning experience has had on students as they acessed third level courses. It highlighted some of the reasons why many of them did not proceed directly on after second level. It also indicates some of the teaching practises which encouraged a more involved class participation and the motivation behind the student’s desire for a college accreditation.

The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers with regards to improving the future learning experiences of progression students.

Report on Work Placement Experience with the Organisation of Quality and Safety of Healthcare in Ireland

Keith Bermingham — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:35:18 PDT

Universal Design Project

Anita Foley — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:35:17 PDT

Report on Work Placement Experience with the Organisation of Quality and Safety of Healthcare in Ireland

Aidan Hanway — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:35:14 PDT

The Lifeline Project: Knowledge Acquisition and Modelling Assignment Report

John Brogan et al. — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:24:19 PDT

Shopping Travel Behaviour in Dublin City Centre

David O'Connor et al. — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:24:18 PDT

Traders on Dublin’s two main shopping streets considerably over-estimate spending by shoppers travelling by car and Luas while significantly undervaluing the spend of bus passengers and pedestrians. A study interviewed 1,009 shoppers on Grafton and Henry streets seeking to identify differences (if any) between perceived and actual spending levels by travel mode. Bus carried 35% of shoppers to Grafton St and 49% to Henry St; this compares with traders’ perceptions of 31% and 40% respectively. Measured in value terms, bus proved the most lucrative mode to both streets, delivering 38% of the total spend on both streets, when outliers are excluded. Pedestrian travel was similarly under-valued. Traders believed that 11% would walk to shop on Grafton St while on Henry St traders estimated that 6% of their customers came on foot. The actual figures are 20% and 19%, according to the survey. Car transport was overvalued by traders. On Grafton St traders perceived that car would account for 13% of customers whereas in reality car-borne shoppers made up 10%. Traders on Henry St believed car would carry 19% of shoppers but in fact only 9% came by car. The situation is similar for Luas: traders perceived 28% of Grafton St shoppers would arrive by tram compared to 13% in reality, and again on Henry St, traders thought Luas would carry 19% but it served just 10%. Bus priority and pedestrian enhancement may therefore warrant greater investment. The imbalance in cycling mode share between Grafton Street and Henry Street should also be investigated further.

Yes for Kids Campaign Guidelines Design Document

Hana Hudakova — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:10:11 PDT

The need for a constitutional referendum to address the issue of children’s rights and child protection has been the subject of ongoing debate and discussion within the child care sector for a number of years. As far back as 1989 the ISPCC in its Centenary Charter identified the possible need for a constitutional referendum to ensure children were extended the same rights as adults. My task was to create campaign guidelines for the constitutional referendum – Yes for kids. The logo was based and made as a potatoe stamp. It consists of two parts - kids face and tick symbol - tick as saying “yes“ and also putting smile on childs face. Because charity doesn’t have money to print new stationery the ideas was to create a set of stamps to stamp existing stationery during the referendum campaign.

Yes for Kids Campaign Guidelines Design:Report

Hana Hudakova — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:10:11 PDT

Community-Based Internet Usage Policy Development

Mashael Alhawsah (Dis) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:10:10 PDT

The Internet is a tool for learning and obtaining a vast amount of information, but it is a tool which also has associated problems. The number of risks associated with the internet has been increasing both in number and in danger. As a result, protection measures must be developed to minimize the risks. One of the most important groups of such measures are Internet Usage Policies. An Internet Usage Policy addresses the problem by providing a set of guideline to be followed which minimize the risks. This dissertation investigates the development of Internet Usage Policy with the assistance of the groups that will be affected directly by the Policy. Survey techniques will be used to gather domain requirements and help shape development of policy.

An Analysis of Road Safety and Older Driver Behaviour

Tara McHugh — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:10:09 PDT

This paper analyses road safety and the behaviour of older drivers in the area of County Monaghan. County Monaghan is a border County with many of the interviewees living in border towns. The literature review covers aspects related to issues regarding road safety and driver behaviour, not only to older drivers but to drivers of all ages. The literature review revealed the importance of road safety worldwide, highlighting the hazardous outcomes of negative driver behaviour. A methodology was planned and carried out to analyse older driver behaviour. A pilot study was conducted to determine the suitability and relevance of the methodology. The use of semi-structured interviews revealed solid data, displaying older driver behaviour and attitudes to road safety. In total 50 older drivers were interviewed, all of whom reside in the area of County Monaghan. Self reported behaviour including speeding, mobile phone use, drinking and driving, accident involvement and seat-belt use were examined. The information generated from the results allowed for a complete analysis of the driver behaviour. The results from the interviews carried out give an overall outlook of older driver behaviour in the area of County Monaghan. The findings from the study show that older drivers are more careful and cautious on the road now that they are older, they have grown out of habits they once had when they first began driving, habits such as drinking and driving and suffering from road rage yet they still display risk behaviour on our roads, behaviour such as speeding. Speeding was noted as a major factor which the older driver admitted to.

Driver Behaviour Near Schools in South County Dublin

Bernadette King (Dis) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:10:08 PDT

This study assessed the driver behaviour of 1,200 drivers near three schools in South County Dublin. This literature review focuses on articles discussing factors believed to influence drivers speed choice and the perception of drivers towards speed limits and explore how the theory of planned behaviour or reasoned action has been used to improve prediction and explanation of driver behaviour. The primary goal of this study was to assess driver behaviour near three schools and establish if they are complying with the posted speed limit. It also set out to seek to establish what factors if any were associated with driver behaviour and establish if there was a correlation between demographics and compliance with the speed limit. The main finding of this research was that one in five drivers are speeding near schools with almost 20% of the drivers breaking the speed limit by up to 10 km/h. i.e. 60 km/h. This study found that a relationship existed between age of drivers and non compliance with the speed limit. 25.5% of the drivers in the 17-30 age bracket disobeyed the speed limit, 23.3% of the drivers in the 31-50 age category disobeyed the speed limit and 13.10% of the drivers in the 50+ category disobeyed the speed limit. No significant relationship was found between gender of the drivers sampled and non compliance with the speed limit. 23% females were found to be speeding compared to 21.8% of males. Another major finding of this study was that drivers within the locations studied disobeyed the speed limit significantly more on non school term days than on school term days. On school term days drivers appeared to disobey the speed by 15.7% compared to 42.66% disobeying the speed limit on non school term days. There appeared to be a relationship between road surface conditions and non compliance of the speed limit within the locations studied. On dry road surface conditions 25 % of drivers disobeyed the speed limit, on a wet surface 29.50% of drivers disobeyed the speed and on an icy surface 11% of the drivers disobeyed the speed limit.

The Use of Knowledge Management Techniques to Aid Learning Retention in On-LIne Learning Environments

Frank O'Reilly — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 06:15:13 PDT

The focus of this research is e-Learning and Knowledge Management and the synergies between them. While they are both very distinct and different domains, they share the twin goals of delivering personal advancement and improving performance through the acquisition of new skills. They both set about to achieve these goals by means of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. However, both disciplines suffer from poor reputations due to low success rates – sometimes perceived, but often real. In particular, e-Learning has failed to live up to the promise it was said to show when it emerged as the successor to Computer-Based Training in the late 1990s. Organisations that embarked on extensive e-Learning programs have often failed to see a return on their investment in the form of performance improvements of those they trained. From the learners’ perspective, e- Learning has often failed to engage, or to deliver the outcomes and personal advancement they expected. This research aims to address the poor success rate of on-line learning by specifically examining the transfer of knowledge in the context of e-Learning solutions. It will do so by means of an experiment that will examine whether techniques from the world of Knowledge Management can be employed in the area of e-Learning to improve the learning outcomes, leading to a higher rate of personal advancement and performance improvement on the part of the learner.

Comparison of Road Safety Behaviour of Rented Dublin Bike Users With That of Owner Cyclists

Eileen Deegan — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 06:15:10 PDT

Cycling is a unique way of travelling and exercising. The Irish Heart Foundation recommends thirty minutes of exercise most days in the week to maintain a healthy heart (IHF, 2008). The introduction of the Dublin-bike scheme by Dublin city Council in connection with JCDecaux on the 13th of September 2009 has encouraged and allowed more people to cycle around the city of Dublin. Since their introduction, Dublin-bikes have grown rapidly in popularity. By the 31st of December 2009 24,016 people had subscribed to the scheme (Dublin City Council, 2009). On the 16th of August 2010, The Irish Times published that the one millionth journey had been taken on a Dublin-bike (Caollaí, É.Ó., 2010). As the Dublin-bike does not issue its users with any form of personal protective equipment (PPE), it is left up to the user to choose if they see the need for their use. Note that between the years 2002 to 2006 there were 427 collisions involving cyclists reported to the Gardaí in Dublin City, of which 11 were fatal (Tracey Solicitors, 2010) The aims and objectives of this study are to: i) carry out observational studies of safety equipment used by both categories of cyclists (Dublin-bike users and owner cyclists); ii) investigate the factors inhibiting use of PPE; iii) investigate sensory awareness/preparedness among cyclists; iv) assess cyclists’ road positioning; v) assess communication between cyclists and other traffic; and vi) assess the responsiveness of cyclists to the behaviour of pedestrians and other vehicles. At the start of this project all Dublin bike stations were identified. Questionnaires were handed out at St. Stephens Green East, St. Stephens Green south, Exchequer Street, and Cathal Brugha Street. The streets chosen for surveying owner cyclists were O’Connell Street, Nassau Street, and the area on the Red Line Luas tracks between Abbey Street and Heuston station. It was found that the age profile for cyclists in Dublin City is 18-30 years old. Dublin-bike users cycle daily with a distance of less than 3 km, they never use a helmet or High Visibility Clothing (HVC); they do not want helmets as a legal requirement and know lights are a legal requirement after dark, they never listen to an MP3-player while cycling and they feel fine while cycling. Owner cyclists travel daily with a distance of less than 3 km, they never use a helmet or HVC, they do not want helmets as a legal requirement and know lights are a legal requirement after dark, they never listen to an MP3-player while cycling, and they feel fine while cycling. In terms of good road safety practice, the following trends were observed. Helmet usage increased with increasing distance travelled and people who use helmets would like to see them made legal. If a helmet is used while cycling then HVC is likely to be used as well. Furthermore, the further the distance travelled the more confidence the person had. Younger age groups are more likely to use HVC and males are more likely to wear a helmet then females.

CARS (College Awareness of Road Safety) Project: the Redesign of a Dublin City Centre Junction With Respect to Non-Vehicular Traffic Between the Ages of 17-24.

Alex Browne et al. — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 02:12:43 PDT