Five things to expect from your online education this year

Education Manager Bryan Rankin looks at the online education delivery model planned for the next academic year. 

Whether you’re just starting out in your first year with us or advancing to your next year of studies, welcome to the programme. Here is what you can expect starting this autumn. 

Online education

One of the most common questions we’re receiving is whether student education will return to traditional lecture theatres at some point. For the rest of this calendar year, we can confirm that education will be exclusively online, following the same model as last year. The position with COVID-19 remains dynamic and we’ll follow public health advice on both sides of the border before making any changes. Based on last year, we’re sure that our three education programmes can be successfully delivered fully online. 
We’ll continue to closely monitor student progress and, if we feel that focused, face-to-face engagement would make a big difference in future, then we’ll do what’s best for students. 

Webinars and recorded content

For the benefit of our new students, recorded lectures are where you’ll learn the course lessons and concepts, broken down into short, impactful recordings. Lecture-type recordings are supplemented by live webinars, typically two hours long. This is your chance to engage with your lecturers as they work through practical application of accounting concepts and exam questions. 

Students progressing to CAP2 and FAE will be familiar with last year’s blend of recorded lectures and live webinars. Over recent months, we’ve been working with lecturer teams to make a range of incremental improvements to our content.    

In the year ahead, learning content will be released on the Learning Hub in two tranches: one at course commencement up to halfway through the year; the second tranche released in Dec/Jan to year-end.  

Learning Hub

Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Learning Hub will continue to be our online student platform where you’ll access all education content. In terms of layout, each subject will continue to be broken up into 13 to 16 sessions. 

In addition to the recordings and webinars, each session contains comprehensive packs of sample questions on which to practice with solutions provided. You’ll see that solutions are often ‘gated’ or accessed only where the corresponding question packs have been attempted. Question packs and solutions have been widely reviewed and updated over the summer months to ensure excellence in education. 

Similarly, Discussion Forums appear in each session and are a great way of posing questions directly to our lecturing team. Many students said they found it beneficial to review Q&As from other students. This notion of ‘peer learning’ will again be emphasised this coming year. 

Finally, Knowledge Checks close out each session, so students can test their knowledge with multiple choice questions (results are not shared with training firms or employers – it’s your chance to check your progress).  

Attendance

Just as your attendance would be recorded if you went to a lecture in-person, your engagement with online lectures is also taken into account. Depending on your training firm, they may see your student engagement reports. 

Webinars are also available as recordings; however, we place a particular emphasis on the live, in-session experience – so try not to miss them! Engagement with learning content shouldn’t be put on the long finger; be aware that your engagement is monitored.  

For FAE students, there will be a particular focus on your attendance at the mandatory integrated case days (ICDs). Be aware that failure to attend the minimum number of ICDs will prevent you from sitting FAE exams in August. It’s your responsibility to ensure you’re meeting this mandatory requirement.   

Exam time

Even as students start the academic year, it’s good to have an eye on exams. The Institute will continue with the model from previous years, where students use the exam platform Cirrus while supported and onboarded via invigilation service ProctorU. 

Make sure you’re familiar with the online exam format by viewing the suite of videos and training materials on the exam section of the Institute website, and make full use of exam-grade, sample papers which will be available later in the academic year. 

We’re confident you’ll enjoy your studies in the year ahead and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your programme team at CAP1/CAP2/FAE@charteredaccountants.ie. If your query relates to exams, contact the team on CAP1exam/CAP2exam/FAEexam@charteredaccountants.ie.