James has been the Manager of the Peer-Supported Learning Centre (PSLC) since 2010 and Director since 2019. With over two decades of experience in working with students to improve their performance, and holding degrees in Computer Science and Computer Engineering, James has brought a wealth of experience to the centre during his tenure here.
Under his management, student-led peer-support programmes have been developed and offered in UL and in sister institutions within the Shannon Consortium with the centre now supporting modules from the Science & Engineering (SEN), Kemmy Business School (KBS), Education & Health Sciences (EHS), and Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (AHSS) faculties.
He has developed hybrid and online versions of the Peer-Supported Learning Groups (PSLG) support where former students of the module support current students of historically difficult modules.
In 2020, he co-led the collaboration between the five Learning Centres (LC) in the Centre for Transformative Learning (CTL) to create the Digital Learner Support Hub (DLSH) where the five LCs could centralise their online learning supports to act as a one-stop shop for students. This site, running on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) of the university, offered valuable support and resources to students during the COVID-19 lockdown and continues to be a powerful tool in helping students reach their full potential.
In 2023, he was part of the team awarded the inaugural UL Award for Excellence in Teaching Team Pedagogic Support Award from both the KBS and University level panels for the contribution of PSLG in supported first year Accounting ºÚÁÏÉç Students.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about James’ work in the PSLC please contact us at peerlearning@ul.ie or visit our website .