Students Let Minister Know How They Managed Lockdown

Department of the Economy Minister Diane Dodds received a warm welcome from the Principal Ken Webb, Director of Curriculum Michael Malone, staff and students of South Eastern Regional College, (SERC), on her arrival at our Lisburn Campus on Monday 24th August 2020.

Touring the Campus, the Minister viewed the preparations made to facilitate the safe return of students and staff, implemented across all eight Campuses, for the new academic year 2020 -21. These include the installation of 500 wall-mounted hand-sanitising stations and 40 foot-action dispensers, and the provision of 20,000 sustainable, branded face masks for students and staff.

In addition, SERC staff, led by David Burleigh, have manufactured in-house 3,500 desk partitions, 1,000 clear pop-ups, protective screens for receptions, Learning Resource Centres and restaurants to aid social distancing. Copious amounts of directional and informational signage (approximately 5,000 pieces) were also visible, designed and printed by SERC’s Creative Developers lead by Gareth Compton, to support all who come to SERC in keeping safe.

Calling in at the College’s ‘Maker Space’, the Minister met some student members of the SERC Entrepreneurs Club; Paul French, Johnny McQuillan, Martin McKeown, taking time to discuss their Student Company – “The Water Boys” – which emerged as a consequence of their excellent engagement in Project Based Learning, (PBL) during their Enterprise Fortnight Induction to the College. Their innovative idea lead to the design of a ‘low cost’, ‘low tech’, solution to water contamination, which they are currently preparing for market.

The Minister was particularly interested as to how the “The Water’ Boys” managed to work together on their innovation, complete their studies and manage their coursework during the period when the College moved from on campus to online. Paul, Johnny and Martin responded: 

“The switch was not difficult, the lecturers had been using MS TEAMS in classes and moodle, and we had great support, before and after online classes using the live links and message functions – getting quick responses”; “…I found it easier to concentrate as less distractions”; “very helpful, supportive lecturers who held full length classes live”; “aspects that I prefer online, for example, presenting”; “no excuses for not getting to class”; “allowed us to collaborate through the summer break on our innovation project with our mentors, lecturers and our Entrepreneur in Residence, Professor Terence Brannigan”.

Jenny Drummond a BTEC HNC Level 4 in Healthcare Practice joined the conversation and discussed how, “going online increased my motivation, helped me focus at a critical part of my course, encouraged me to reach my goals and helped me keep in contact with friends from College in lockdown. It was quite enjoyable and kept my mood up”.

The Minister stated such positivity was not what she had expected.

Dr Michael Malone reinforced the College’s culture of caring, going on to say that SERC had worked with each student, assessing their opportunity for remote access to online classes and resources, organising the home delivery of more than 300 ‘loan’ computers and internet dongles where necessary, to ensure that no student should be disadvantaged by the changes induced through lockdown, remarking that in many instances, attendance at class had increased.

The Students' Union also remained in regular contact with students, using a social media-based platform, with information on mindfulness, mental health and other issues that might arise during isolation.

Beyond the timetabled lectures, the vibrant online community of SERC students and staff bloomed, with many engaging in extra-curricular activities and events, such as online Kahoot Quizzes, the One Million Steps Challenge in May, Circuit of Ireland Cycle in June, the making and delivering of PPE masks, visors and scrubs to Care Homes, food parcel deliveries to those in need, regular online cookery and healthy living support.

A continuous supply of SERC staff and student good news stories were published daily on the intranet, alongside the three College Radio Stations broadcasting to local communities and much, much more, all coordinated using SERC’s Online Platform.

The message that we wished the Minister to take away from her visit being, by working together as one, strong, committed team of students, academic and corporate staff, the online community of SERC did more than just survive - we have flourished. Our deeply- embedded, solution-focussed approach, for which our College is renowned, prevailed. #OnLineAndOpenForBusiness.

Apply now for courses commencing September 2020. For more information visit www.serc.ac.uk to find out how you could be #BetterOffAtSERC

#OnlineAndOpenForBusiness Find us on Facebook, search SERC.