It’s that time of year again where college libraries are crammed and notes that you once thought would make perfect sense come revision time are failing your attempts at passing the course.
With a tagline of ‘Let’s Collaborate to Graduate’,
UniWink.com is an e-learning platform that allows third level students to access and share lecture notes and course material ahead of exam time. The content is also star-rated and approved by the site before going live, meaning students are accessing quality notes and accurate material when revising.
The initiative was designed by students, for students and is the first peer-led site of its kind in Ireland and the UK.
The quirky site allows third-level students to create customised content that enables students to access lecture notes, textbook notes, essays, sample exam answers, exam tips and video tutorials. The ‘wink’ credit system also means students can assess the standard of material before spending precious hours of their study time reading through content.
The student portal was the brainchild of Sarah Dineen, who was frustrated by the lack of resources available when she was studying:
“I found it difficult to source relevant course material and assistance in the lead up to exam time or assignment deadlines when time pressures are generally at their greatest.
“UniWink.com meets this gap in the market by providing a genuine solution to the time pressures facing students, while also ensuring that the content available is top-class course material that will support them in achieving strong grades at exam time or for project work.”
Ms Dineen is currently on the UCC Ignite Business Start-up Programme 2014 and comes from a family of entrepreneurs. She co-founded UniWink.com with her brother Mark Dineen who is the company’s CMO.
UniWink.com also won a €40,000 investment from entrepreneur Barry O’Sullivan as part of
RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den, and being 22 years old at the time of filming, Sarah is one of the youngest female entrepreneurs to have ever received investment on the show.
Sarah was a finalist for UCC Entrepreneur of the Year 2013, and with plans for expansion of her business into the UK market, the businesswoman hopes to see her platform grow with the development of a UniWink Smart App to allow users to access their notes ‘on-the-go’, and mobilised flash cards to enhance the learning experience.
“Our ambition is to build a third-level virtual learning community in Ireland and the UK and, ultimately, become the number one peer-to-peer learning platform in Europe.”
