FLOW’s Internet Summer School 2016 in full swing

By the end of the 2016 summer vacation, over 270 children and a number of retirees would have learnt more about computers and the Internet, thanks to communications giant FLOW.

The students’ and seniors’ knowledge would have come from their participation in FLOW’s 2016 Internet Summer School, which began last Tuesday, and is expected to run for four weeks at the company’s conference room, located at Arnos Vale.{{more}}

Addressing the students on opening day of the programme, country manager Wayne Hull encouraged students to pay attention to the tutor.

“You are going to learn a lot of new stuff and I hope that your time here is exciting and you get to ask questions,” said Hull.

The Internet Summer School started in 2003 and goes back to when FLOW was still known as Cable and Wireless and the Internet was being introduced here.

The programme, which has 270 children signed up, will see one batch of students being tutored in the morning and a different batch receiving lessons in the evening. Each batch will be tutored for one week by Information Communication Technology teacher Sheddie Conliffe of the Thomas Saunders Secondary School.

Conliffe explained that the youngsters have been placed in two age groups, 7 to 11 and 11 to 18.

He said that the younger age group will cover the basics: what is a computer system, how to properly use a computer, how to give instructions, cyber-bullying, Internet safety and computer safety. They will finish off by taking part in a worldwide programme which is aimed at teaching children about coding and at getting children to perform basic coding and basic problem solving tasks that involve critical thinking that could be applied in all aspects of life.

Conliffe said that the children will also take part in a humanitarian project sponsored by the World Food Programme (WFP) called ‘Free Rice’, where the children will go to a website and answer questions and for every correct answer, the WFP will donate 10 grains of rice to needy persons.

In relation to the age group 11 to 18, these students will look at video production, photo editing, cyber security, Internet searching, netiquette and ways to protect yourself online.

“They will look at digital footprint, because they will be going off to the job market soon and in this digital age where employers will be checking online history, we want to look at protecting online history and how to paint a good picture of yourself,” explained Conliffe.

Nikala Williams, Marketing and Corporate Communications manager at FLOW, described the programme as worthwhile investment.

“This is money that is well spent, because there are lots of kids that got their very first experience with computers through this programme”, said Williams, who mentioned local app creator Cenus Hinds as coming out of this programme.

Williams added, “we want to keep it going and we invest in this programme because we believe in educating SVG one child at a time. This is our little bit we are doing and we are going to continue doing it because it is worth it”.

Williams noted that while the classes were supposed to be around 25 students a class, more parents took up the opportunity than last year.

“Some parents just dropped off children and we couldn’t turn them away, so we have an excess, so we might have to run another week”, said Williams, who added that they are hoping to expand the programme next year.

“We will want to expand next year once we get more computers and we encourage students to bring their own laptops, as the tutor will download special programs that they take with them. Our biggest challenge is making sure we have enough computers”, stressed Williams.(LC)