Clíodhna O'Callaghan
Biography
Clíodhna is a higher education professional and absolutely student & person centered. Clíodhna's background is in higher education management and in lecturing in law and education (live and online). Clíodhna is a qualified Attorney-at-Law in the State of New York, USA. Clíodhna's research interests lie in the areas of higher education policy and supports, in the context of widening participation/social justice/informal criminal justice and in digital education & training. Clíodhna is an advocate for lifelong learning, social justice/equality and raising awareness around mental health & well-being.
In 2012 Clíodhna was honoured to win the 'President's Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching & Learning' for an initiative around ‘Assessment for Learning’. In 2014 Clíodhna launched, project managed and lectured on the first law degree to go online/ blended in Ireland. Clíodhna is a community activist from the ‘Cúil Aodha’ Gaeltacht in Co. Cork and a ‘gaeilgeoir’ with a genuine grá for the language, culture and tradition. Clíodhna is passionate about lifelong learning, learning and teaching, human rights, social inclusion & justice, widening participation, equality & equity, and breaking down barriers to education for all.
Professional Activity
- Clíodhna has been working in higher education since 2007 when she initially commenced as a lecturer-in-law and in 2008 took on a promotion to Programme Director for law in Griffith College Cork. Clíodhna continued to lecture as part of her role with Griffith College in the areas of Criminal Law & Criminology. Clíodhna held management responsibility for the undergraduate, postgraduate, professional, certificate/diploma and short-term programmes in law as well as hosted regular CPD events and academic Conferences at the Cork campus. In 2014, Clíodhna was responsible for establishing and launching Griffith College's Blended Learning Law Degree programme and lectured on it in the area of criminal law until August 2015.
- Clíodhna started work in UCC in February of 2015 as Adult & Community Education Officer. In this role she held a senior management role in Adult Continuing Education at UCC. Clíodhna's role was to build and foster relationships between UCC's adult and community education programmes delivered by Adult Continuing Education (ACE) and external partners including other educational providers, the voluntary sector, statutory agencies such as the ETB's, HSE, and community groups. Clíodhna held responsibility for managing academic coordinators in the development and delivery of strategically important adult and community education programmes.
- In August of 2017 Clíodhna took over the role of ‘Mature Student Officer’ in UCC covering long term leave. Clíodhna's role involved overall responsibility for the recruitment and retention of Mature Students in University College Cork, and the strategic development of the office.
- In December of 2019 Clíodhna was delighted to commence working with the Centre for Digital Education, as Digital Education Officer, leading on the national IUA (Irish Universities Association) project - 'Enhancing Digital Teaching & Learning' for University College Cork. The aim of the project is to enhance the digital attributes and educational experiences of university students through enabling the mainstreamed and integrated use of digital technologies across the teaching and learning process. As part of this initiative Clíodhna launched a UCC staff development initiative called 'Teach Digi' which provides responsive training and support for UCC staff in the area of digital education as well as an innovative podcast series called 'Ag Caint' with students as partners as the underpinning framework.
Teaching Activity
Clíodhna has a lecturing background and now teaches staff as part of her role in UCC. Clíodhna lectured in law, (Land Law, Criminal law & Criminology) on the LLB in Irish Law programme in Griffith College Cork from 2007 – 2015 and continued to lecture in Griffith College in the area of assessment and programme design on their postgraduate certificate in training and education on a part-time basis. As part of the Digital Education Officer role Clíodhna regularly provides training and support to both academic and administrative staff in UCC in the area of digital education, for example, digital confidence and resilience building, student engagement, assessment and programme design. Contact Clíodhna on c.ocallaghan@ucc.ie if you would like to arrange training for your department/school or have any feedback on future training initiatives.