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September 2011
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Students get a kick out of boot camp
Organized by lecturers and postgraduate students from DCIT, this first camp covered a wide variety of areas, including Programming, Web Development, Mobile Development, Wireless Networking, Database Systems, Hardware and Software, Mental Mathematics and Computer Forensics. From 9am to 4pm, each day was filled with a mixture of seminars, hands-on labs and demonstrations. This year’s participants were also exposed to information technology (IT) companies, namely Microsoft Trinidad and Tobago and Fujitsu Caribbean, whose representatives offered insight into their business functions as well as IT job opportunities. The Trinidad and Tobago Computing Society also gave a presentation on the organization of the society and explained its major functions. Apart from the classroom and lab activities, a field trip was organized to the Fujitsu Data Centre and Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission, so participants could observe their daily operations: how data was stored and secured for some major IT applications and how the electricity bill is generated periodically. There was also a social evening where participants were able to see technology at play through various Local Area Network (LAN) games and the popular Kinect Xbox station. At the end, all the participants said they would recommend this camp to their friends and family. What did they like most? One said, “The friendly nature of the camp, and the insights into the applications of what was learnt in school to the real world of computer science and IT.” Another student was most excited by “robots, web page designs, the mental mathematics and parts of the field trip” and yet another was impressed by its interactive nature. “I liked how everyone in the UWI was involved,” said this student, and the practical aspect as well as the way it related information to people “not accustomed to dealing with computers on a more advanced level.” For the next camp, DCIT seeks more involvement and collaboration with other academic institutions and partners in the industry. The Department is also exploring the possibility of a stay-on-campus option to get more participation from students throughout Trinidad and Tobago. For news on the 2012 DCIT Boot Camp, please visit the DCIT website at http://sta.uwi.edu/fsa/dcit/. |
In the last week of July 2011, The UWI hosted its first annual Computer Science and IT Boot Camp for secondary school students. Dr. Permanand Mohan, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing and Information Technology (DCIT), had envisioned a month-long camp in computing for high school students. It was meant to expose students to the Department’s degree options and to provide hands-on experience with some leading technology trends.