Gulu University students at O&P Tech Lab
Lack of, or inadequate science materials, in addition to ill-equipped laboratories in most Universities in Uganda have always led to the passing-out of poorly trained science graduates who are unable to innovate, or solve simple problems in the community. Oysters & Pearls – Uganda is filling that vacuum, by giving hands-on training to Gulu University students in Computer Science topics at their makerspace.
In the last week of October, Oysters & Pearls – Uganda trained Gulu University students in robotics and programming, among other technology related topics. More than fifty students benefited from the program, and some of them confessed to have gotten their first hands-on experience.
Now, the students gather at the Oysters & Pearls – Uganda Lab every Wednesday and Thursday, to get more practical skills in various fields in technology.
Fernando Opifeera, a first year student Bachelor of Science in ICT says the makerspace is giving him an opportunity to learn more in his course because; “At the Makerspace, I am able to match the theory I learned at the university with its practical application .”
This initiative is also simplifying the learning process of a number of the science students at the university, as Fernando professes.
“Web design is taught in second year, but I am learning it at the Makerspace. So next year, it will be a walk-over for me”, Fernando said.
Gulu University flock to the Makerspace at Oysters & Pearls – Uganda for more tips on progamming and robotics
Fernando is delighted that he will have some practical work to keep him busy throughout the holidays. The first year of University education in Uganda is mostly filled with theories, and very little, if any, of practical work. This, Fernando says, makes him feel fortunate! “With this, I will be a step ahead of other first year students”.
And the initiative gets even better, because robotics and embedded systems, according to Fernando, are not taught by Gulu University.
“It is a great opportunity for me, because I will be able to integrate hardware and software knowledge. The university concentrates only in software.”
Fernando is just one of the two dozen students coming to the tech-lab to learn more.
Phyllis Nassuna is the Women & Girls in Technology Program Coordinator at Oysters & Pearls – Uganda. She says, after the October 2017 training of Gulu University Science students by Oysters & Pearls – Uganda, a number of them showed interest in learning different programing languages and technology programs.
“We have two groups, one focusing on web development, for those interested in software development, and another group is in hardware,” Phyllis said.
Within two weeks, the students had been introduced to Web Technologies and Development. Basically, the themes include HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which is used to create websites and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS); applied in styling the website and designing the user interface.
“The students are now building a personal portfolio website which they update and improve during each training session.”
Oysters & Pearls – Uganda has announced a similar training in HTML and will be introduced to the Blind Annex students starting in January 2018.
The work and learning in this program is remarkable. Well done.