We have been delivering the Leaving Certificate by distance learning for over thirty years at Kilroy’s College. During this period we have had hundreds of students, of all ages and abilities, take from one to seven subjects with the College over the years. One of our recent Leaving Certificate students, Carmela, who took six subjects with us and attained oneA1, two A2s, two B1s and one B2 has shared her success story with us. Read on to find out she accomplished this. Continue reading “Leaving Certificate Courses By Distance Learning”
If 2016 was a good year to be in IT, it looks like 2017 is going to be an even better year! Unemployment rates in the IT industry in 2016 were at around 1% in some areas – such as network and web security engineers and software developers and are forecast to fall even more in 2017. Given those numbers, it will come as no surprise that 81% of IT leaders have said that they have a real problem finding IT talent (as found in a recent TEKsystems survey).
Now is the perfect time to get back to the books and start working towards a new qualification – at your own pace during the summer months. Kilroy’s College has extended its summer learning offer into July with up to 50% off most of our distance training courses to accommodate prospective students who are thinking of up-skilling or changing career.
Sarah Finlay (recent graduate of our QQI Level 6 Early Childhood Curriculum minor award programme)
At Kilroy’s College we really value having students contact us to tell us about their experience in our nationally recognised distance learning training courses. This week, Lisa Wright (our resident blogger), was privileged to hear from one of our recent QQI childcare training graduates, Sarah Finlay.
Childcare Training Success Story -Unwrapped!
LW: “Sarah, what inspired you to to go back to education and work towards your QQI Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Early Childhood Care & Education (6M2007)?
Cyber Security: know your enemies: people, not computers!
Did you know that recent data published by global cyber security experts Kaspersky Lab revealed that 80% of all cyber incidents are caused by human error? Businesses lose millions recovering from staff-related incidents. It is recommended that every online business should have a trained in-house or out-sourced cyber security expert to support staff members and to protect networks.
CIW Web Security Associate
To support the global cause to create a healthier Internet, Kilroy’s College will shortly be launching a new Cyber Security online course. This CIW Web Security Associate course will teach you how to secure your network from unauthorised activity. It will teach you about security principles, such as establishing an effective security policy and about the different types of hacker activities that you are most likely to encounter. Continue reading “Cyber Security Online Training Course”
1. Take a short training course in freelance journalism
Our Freelance Journalism course has been taken by hundreds of students since the course was launched over twenty years ago. The whole genre of journalism has changed dramatically in the digital age and our Freelance Journalism home study course has evolved and been adapted by our expert course writers to meet the needs of the changing face of freelance journalism.
Another good educational resource is the BBC Academy which offers a broad range of online resources that freelance journalists may find useful.
Their range of weekly podcasts are particularly interesting and informative for those who are thinking about a career in television, radio or online.
2. Join an online community of journalists
This is a good way to exchange tips and ideas with fellow journalists. There are many options available but we like Journobiz Forums – it is free to join and can be a great source of information. You can also search on social media and look on Twitter or for a Facebook group. LinkedIn For Journalists includes advice and information for all journalists, including freelancers.
3. Register with a freelance journalist directory
Online paid directories like Upwork and Journalism.co.uk can also be worth considering. They will take some of the pain out of connecting with industry professionals and, more importantly, can help you to network with fellow industry professionals and get published.
Interview Time
7 Reasons To Enrol
I recently interviewed a Kilroy’s past Freelance Journalism student Joe Scully. Joe had contacted our Careers team to let them know that he was delighted with his qualification and that he had just got published!
LW: “What inspired you to go back to education?”
JS: “I have always wanted to be a journalist, but for one reason or another, I never got around to doing anything about it. I never did my Leaving Certificate, so I always felt that I could not get involved in journalism without it. However once I found out about this course I just decided to go for it.”
LW: “How did you hear about Kilroy’s College and our personal tutor-supported home study courses?”
JS: “I heard about Kilroy’s from a friend who had done a course and looked it up on the Internet and found the course that I was interested in – Freelance Journalism“.
LW: “Did you find it easy to complete the self-paced course within the twelve month time limit?”
JS: “Yes. I found it very easy”.
LW: “Have you ever had any experience of taking any other distance learning course in the past?”
JS: “No – this was my first experience, but I would recommend the course to anyone thinking of returning to education”.
LW: “Which topic did you personally find the most challenging, and did you find our course helpful and useful in getting to grips with that topic?”
JS: “I never really found much of the course all that difficult, the hardest part was getting started I suppose. The course was very useful though in helping me, in several ways. Mainly it gave me the confidence to believe I could become a journalist and put the tools in place for me to further my career.”
LW: “Which section of the course did you find the most enjoyable?”
JS: “I found the assignment on interviewing someone the most enjoyable by far. I would be a shy person by nature but to have the confidence to approach someone has helped me a lot. Doing research on the person and interviewing them and listening to them speak, was something I really enjoyed.
LW: “I know that you have recently had an article published – congratulations! What are you most looking forward to next in your career as a freelance journalist?”
JS: “I am looking forward to having many more articles published and to exploring more avenues. Also continuing to learn as I move forward. I am also looking forward to meeting new people and hearing their opinions on all kinds of different subjects. I am most looking forward to doing as much writing as I can”.
The first thing that we tell prospective mature students (aged over 23 years) to do is to do some basic research into nursing or midwifery as a career. Continue reading “Mature Student Nursing Degree”
Don’t let your study plans go to the dogs this Christmas!
Staying motivated when studying for the Leaving Certificate can be really hard during any holiday periods. Whether it is Christmas, New Year or the summer holidays, best intentions can sometimes get waylaid by the festivities as we try to make the most of our down time and holidays.
This week’s blog post may be of greatest interest to our past and present Business Management students. It covers the latter half of the agenda of the Women in Business Network event – occupational fraud. The talk was given by Robert Kelly FCA CFE who is Operations Director at FraudEdge. Robert outlined what signs businesses should watch out for and how they can protect against internal fraud at work. 76% of companies report suffering from at least one type of fraud (Kroll 2015) – so this is something that all business owners should worry about. Continue reading “Fraud At Work – Know It! Stop It!”
Kilroy’s College has many past and present students who are running their own businesses -from dog groomers, to dressmakers and nutritionists – we have more than sixty courses to help boost career and income prospects. 76% of companies report suffering from at least one type of fraud (Kroll 2015) and economic fraud costs Irish businesses millions of euro each year – so here are a few tips from the experts on how to prevent your business from being a victim of fraud. Continue reading “Protecting Your Business From Economic Crimes – The Ultimate Guide”
IT Job Skills In-Demand for 2017
