Student FAQs
The School of Communications is based in the Henry Grattan Building, DCU Glasnevin Campus. For public transport information see https://www.dcu.ie/travel-to-dcu/getting-to-campus
In the week before the start of semester, DCU provides a series of activities, information sessions and other activities designed to help you familiarise yourself with how the university operates and provide you with the information required to start university life. You can visit the CAO Offers Hub for general orientation information. It is critically important that you attend orientation.
To assist you with your transition to University, Student Support and Development at DCU has designed a series of 8 short online courses called ‘Discover DCU’. To access these courses, simply log onto loop.dcu.ie with the username and password that has been supplied to you in your offer letter. If you have any difficulty accessing Discover DCU, email student.support@dcu.ie or call the 1st Year Student Advice Hotline at (01) 700 7165.
Discover DCU is an interactive resource and you can get started on it right away, before you come to Orientation. It is full of important information, helpful tips and advice during this pre-orientation phase, as well as academic and study skills that will benefit you throughout your studies.
More specific programme-level orientation information will be communicated to you by your programme chair. These generally occur during the first week of classes.
So that you know what is going on, and we can help you if your experience is less than smooth, it is important that you are proactive in engaging with communications from the University, i.e. you need to read correspondence that is sent to you, go to meetings when invited etc. Formal and group contact is usually electronic (via email, your portal page, and Loop) but personal interactions are also key (with lecturers, programme chairs, technical and professional support staff).
The student timetable is available here. This link is also available from your Portal Page, details of which you will receive at registration. Please note that timetables may change during the first few weeks of each semester and it is advisable to check your portal regularly.
Each year you will study several subjects (called modules). Each module has its own weighting, called credits, indicative of the total amount of time it is estimated you will need to spend on it to reach the learning outcomes. A 5-credit module typically requires 125 hours of work, some of which is timetabled, most of which is up to you (independent learning time).
Undergraduate students are required to complete 60 credits per annum, corresponding to about 45-50 hrs per week. In Year 1, all modules are core modules, meaning they are compulsory (you must register for all of them).
Fulltime postgraduate students are required to complete 90 credits worth of modules (generally 30 credits per semester plus a dissertation / project for 30 credits).
Part-time postgraduate students generally take 30 credits in Year 1 (15 credits per semester) and 60 credits in Year 2 (inclusive of dissertation / project).
Class contact time is critically important as this is where lecturers give students structured knowledge in the module subject. They provide an overview of the main points and issues pertaining to that subject, topic by topic. Beyond class contact time you are required to be self-directed in your studies.
At university level, the emphasis is on critical thinking and cumulative learning through classes (lectures, seminars, workshops) and self-directed learning outside of class (reading module material, working on assignments, practicing skills). Ultimately, the work you do (in class and via self-directed learning) will be reflected in your assignments, your grades, and your degree classification.
Undergraduate modules are assessed by continuous assessment (e.g. in-class quizzes, presentations, reports, projects, essays etc) and / or by formal university exam. Postgraduate modules are generally continuous assessment only. The assessment details for all modules are provided to students at the beginning of each module and students need to manage their own workload and calendars in terms of deadlines / exam requirements (if any).
Students taking Communication Studies, Journalism, and Multimedia are advised to budget for the purchase of a set of headphones, a data storage device, and if desired, a student subscription to Adobe. More information on these will be provided by your lecturers.
It is not a requirement to have a personal laptop as the School has its own PC and Mac labs with all the necessary software installed.
Should you wish to purchase any device or software, students are entitled to an educational discount on personal purchases of products through the HEAnet web store. Click on ‘See all Offers’, choose DCU and verify whether you are staff or student by authenticating with your DCU username and password in the pop up window.
There are no specific skills required to begin our programmes as skills-based modules form a core part of the learning cycle. However, students are required to have a working knowledge of desktop computing. Depending on demand, short workshops on basic desktop skills may be offered to students in the first two weeks of Semester 1. There are also numerous online resources [e.g. on youtube] that can help you become familiar with the basic skills of desktop computing.