Ballymote native and professional rugby player with Atlantique Stade Rochelais in France, David McGowan, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing Management at the IT Sligo Conferring.
David was able to study online part time through IT Sligo while he got on with his professional rugby career in La Rochelle. Speaking this week, David said that the online lectures mean that you can study from anywhere, anytime;
“It was ideal for me because I would usually be training in the morning. I would come back and watch the lectures in the evening and even if I missed it in the evenings because of a function or something, I could always go back and find it online when I needed to.”
“Studying online is great because if there’s a subject you’re not sure of, you can go back over it at the end of the year and watch the lecture as many times as you need to.”
David played for Connacht before moving to France to take up with La Rochelle in 2007. He was interested in doing a college course while continuing with his professional rugby career, but he was surprised when he learned that IT Sligo is a national leader in the e-learning field.
“I didn’t know it existed at all. I know some people who have studied with Open University and that kind of thing, but it didn’t appeal to me. The course at IT Sligo was great because you have the support of lecturers and you always have someone to refer to if you have a difficulty.”
“You have access to a great online library facility and search engines as well and that makes it a lot easier.”
“The fact that you’re teamed up with classmates to do projects is helpful too because it helps motivate you and you learn from their experiences as well as their own.”
To learn more about online courses at IT Sligo see http://odl.itsligo.ie/
Professional rugby playerDavid McGowan gets a helping hand from his mother at the annual IT Sligo Conferring.