Success of ‘I Decide’ Outreach Project
‘I Decide’ is an Action Learning outreach project created by Antonella Puggioni (School of Veterinary Medicine), Melinda Halasz (School of Medicine) and Nicola Dervan (School of Physiotherapy, Sports Science and Public Health) designed to encourage students from lower socioeconomic areas to consider pursuing third level education.
The programme was set up to promote a sense of agency in children from DEIS primary schools so that they might see themselves as active creators of their futures. UCD students were invited to volunteer and share their experiences of university education with the children, while hopefully also developing awareness and empathy towards disadvantaged communities. As a long term outcome, it was hoped that the programme would increase inclusion and diversity in third level education.
The project has seen two iterations so far, one in 2022 and one in 2024. For the first phase of the project in 2022, children from fifth class in St Cholmcille’s Primary School were invited on a tour of the UCD campus. On the same day, they attended practical sessions in the Veterinary Clinical Skills Centre, where they pretended to perform clinical tasks on model animals, and in the School of Nursing, where they took their blood pressure, measured their heights and learned proper hand washing techniques.
In the second phase, lecturers and student volunteers from UCD visited the school twice and spent some time with the children answering their questions and helping them work on their comic drawings about ‘Life as a Student in UCD.’ The completed drawings were collected in a booklet titled ‘A Day in The Life of A University Student’ which was printed and distributed to the children in a final session at their school, where they also discussed what they had learned from the experience.
This is what their teacher had to say about I Decide: This project has been hugely beneficial for the children in extending their ambitions and vision for themselves. Through an energetic, immersive experience the children were engaged and fully absorbed in the activities which were expertly delivered by the facilitators. The children came back to school motivated and eager to continue with their project whilst also igniting their curiosity. The feedback from both children and parents was unanimously positive, and I would personally recommend this project to any upper primary class. 10/10.
The second iteration of the I Decide project took place in Spring of 2024, with two 6th classes from the Queen of Angels School in Sandyford taking part. The students and their teachers visited UCD in March and participated in a scavenger hunt around campus and also visited O’Reilly Hall to imagine their future graduation day. The students then had a chance to enjoy hands-on experiences of being a vet or a doctor in the School of Veterinary Medicine and School of Nursing Clinical Skills Centre. The School of Computer Science also participated in the project for the first time, offering the students an interactive virtual reality experience, which was a big hit with all! As with the previous iteration in 2022, UCD staff and students again visited the students at school to answer questions and help them work on their drawings and journals.
The electronic version with a read out option can be accessed (opens in a new window)by clicking here.
The project organisers Antonella, Melinda and Nicola were grateful to have the essential support in running this project from UCD Access & Lifelong Learning, their access leaders, in particular Kathie Orr; from Mark McCorry and Tracey Murphy in the Clinical Skills Centre in the School of Veterinary Medicine; from Elizabeth Green from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems and from all of the volunteer UCD students from across the three Schools.
I Decide is now part of the Pathway to the Professions project in UCD. A video showing some of the project highlights can be accessed (opens in a new window)by clicking here.
