Day 2 - 'Encouraging Innovation' - Wednesday 26th June 2013

Leia Fee

Swansea ITeC delivers Work Based Learning (WBL) programmes to Foundation/Modern Apprentices, the "Steps to Employment" to adults, and the Traineeship programme to 16-17 year olds. The Steps and Traineeship programme is designed to equip learners with a range of skills to enable them to find work and, as well as IT training, includes support for individuals with particular learning needs, such as low confidence and poor Basic Skills. We are a small company which allows close working relationships and a flexible approach with all staff being given opportunity to develop and try new approaches to teaching and learning. All of our trainers have an enthusiasm for IT and the confidence to try out new technology and evaluate its use in the learning environment.

At Swansea ITeC an increasing number of learners on the Traineeship programme who want to progress into an IT Professional apprenticeship have expressed concerns that they do not have the ‘know how’ or ‘hands-on skills’ to work effectively with hardware. To address this Swansea ITeC sought funding for the purchase of six Raspberry Pi’s, which are credit card sized, single board computers, developed in the UK with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science. Learners have been involved from the start in planning what they want to achieve with them.

Click on the image below to view the presentation.