Diploma students take their new skills to Ghana
Posted on Monday 24 May 2010
The IT Advanced Diploma students are funded to undertake a real-life project in our partner school i
Five students from Farnborough Sixth Form College, who are among the first in the country to complete the new Advanced Diploma in Information Technology, have been putting their skills into practice in Ghana. They have just returned from a visit to the College’s partner school, the Presbyterian Secondary Technical School in the mountain village of Aburi, where they have been servicing computers and teaching IT to the pupils. Last year, the College donated 50 of its retired computers to the school.
The students were accompanied by teachers Matt Thorne, Curriculum Manager for the Diploma, and Terri-lee Palmer. Mr Thorne said, “The Ghana trip was the culmination of two years intensive study of advanced level IT, involving a combination of practical and theoretical study with the emphasis upon problem-solving and project management skills.”
The students were welcomed to the school by the headmaster and they attended the start of term assembly where they sang hymns and danced with the Ghanaian students. Their work began the following day with a major overhaul of the computers which the College had donated to the school last year.
IT student Rebecca McCallan, 18, of Camberley said, “We were saddened to find that only four of the fifty computers we had donated were working when we arrived and we had to undertake extensive tests to discover the problems.”
Rebecca added, “We found that many of the power units had blown because of the unstable electricity supply but we were able to rebuild twelve machines into a working state at the end of the day – it was a really useful way to gain some valuable skills while experiencing life in Ghana.”
17 year old Ross Brett-Holt of Frimley said, “The Ghana trip was an amazing experience because it showed us that the technology we take for granted is just not available in a developing country – there are so many things that can and do go wrong. “
The students went on to load software onto the machines in Aburi which they had written in Farnborough as part of their studies, and then to teach the Ghanaian students how to use it.
Harry Scott, 18, of Camberley said, “The Ghana trip enabled us to put all that we have learnt over the last two years into a real life situation in a country with a totally different culture and way of life.”
Harry added, “There’s no way that we could have learnt everything we have seen and done by being taught it in the normal classroom.”
Organisation for the trip was supported by e-skills UK, the Employers’ Sector Skills Council for information technology, and was funded by a grant from the Department for Education in London. It was also supported by British Airways who gave the students first class complimentary tickets and contributed to the costs of the staff who travelled in economy.
College Principal, Dr John Guy, who accompanied the trip said, “We have pioneered a new approach to advanced level teaching and we are very grateful for the financial support from government and industry. Matthew Thorne and Terri-lee Palmer have been asked to contribute our findings and experiences in Ghana to national conferences on teaching and learning.”
Terri-lee Palmer said, “It was a life changing and unforgettable experience for the IT Diploma students to have the opportunity to work on a real life project; the impact of the trip to Ghana was a combination of education, culture and emotion.”
The College developed its partnership with the school in Aburi six years ago and students and staff have made exchange visits to understand more about their different cultures and to undertake joint curriculum projects.
