eCollege is an online learning service funded by SOLAS. It was originally intended to supplement the learning of students on Further Education and Training (FET) courses, and to provide unemployed and underemployed people with an opportunity to reskill and upskill in digital skills. In March 2020, the service was opened up to the public at large as a response to Covid 19 and the necessity of lockdown. This was meant to give people something positive to do while they were unable to leave their homes.
This measure has remained in place since, which means eCollege is available to all adult citizens and residents of the Irish State. There are only three criteria which need to be satisfied to enrol in eCollege:
- You must be resident in the Republic of Ireland
- You must hold a valid PPS number
- You must be over 18
Lectures are pre-recorded and can be accessed 24/7. This allows learners to set their own schedule and learn at their own pace. This method of learning is not for everyone, but for people who do not like classroom based learning it can be preferable. As students may become stuck or confused about something, eCollege also provides tutor support for all its courses. Although the tutors are not available 24/7 and are only available during set hours.
At the end of each course, students will be sent to take an exam in a local testing centre. The exams are usually about an hour long and passing the exam will earn the student a qualification. The qualifications come from a variety of different bodies, for example the Information Technology Specialist HTML and CSS exam earns a Microsoft Technology Associate Certificate, while the Adobe Photoshop exam earns an Adobe Certified Associate Certificate.
The courses available on eCollege generally run from between three to six months, depending on the subject. eCollege courses are intended for people to do in their spare time, so tutors can be very understanding about providing extensions, as long as they can see evidence of progress.
The courses are mostly based around digital skills, with some available in business and soft skills. The courses are in areas where there are employment opportunities. Most courses are in areas like IT and digital marketing/content creation. Industries where there has been a lot of growth over the past decades. The courses range from learning how to use Microsoft Office programs, to learning Adobe Suite digital creation programs, to programming languages, and computer security.
A list of available eCollege courses can be found on their website (linked here). Registration is online and straightforward. It is done through the fetch courses (FET) website, and will require setting up an account with them. The process is free and can be done in less than 15 minutes.