Abstract:

Designated the First National Language by the Irish Constitution, the Irish language, is spoken on a daily basis by a small minority of people, situated mostly in remote regions along Ireland's western and southern coastlines and known collectively as An Ghaeltacht. The language remains, however, the most widely taught language in Ireland, being taken by students across all levels of education, including adult and continuing education.

As a core part of its policy of actively promoting the Irish language amongst its students and staff University College Cork (UCC) in the south-west of Ireland maintains a residential centre in the Irish speaking region of Corca Dhuibhne, approximately 140 kilometers from the main campus in Cork. Known as Dún Chíomháin (Cíomháin's fort), the centre consists of two buildings, one of which has been used as a standard computer lab since 2000.

In 2016, the centre received substantial funding to refurbish the computer lab and develop a Next Generation Learning Space aimed at promoting informal and independent learning while continuing to support and encourage group work and traditional learning. This work was completed in January 2018. In this poster I present an overview of the project, the rationale behind it, and provide feedback from the first students and staff to utilise the facility.

Keywords:

Learning-spaces, informal-learning, minority-languages, Irish, group-learning.