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TY Students get a hands-on taste of computing at DkIT

21 January 2020

80 Transition Year (TY) students from across the North East recently put their IT skills to the test through their participation in the annual January Computing TY week held at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).



The week-long computing skills camp included participation from 27 secondary schools from across the region and was organised by the Computing Departments at DkIT. The camp aimed to provide students with an opportunity to experience what it is like to study computing at third level and to encourage an early stage interest in the area.

Speaking today, Dr Fiona Lawless, Head of Department of Computing Science and Mathematics said,

“In today’s hyper-connected world, there is an ever-growing demand for skilled IT professionals and there really is no better time to be graduating with an computing-related degree. However in spite of the significant career opportunities, there remains a significant skills-shortage in this area. We as educators need to work harder to ensure that students are receiving this message and continue see computing is seen an exciting subject area at Higher Level.

Dr Phillip Scanlon, IT Recruitment and Retention Officer at DkIT added,

“The TY computing camps aim to demystify the area of IT for students and to encourage them to explore their interest in the broad area of computing through a variety of fun and practical activities.

Throughout the course of the week, students experience different aspects of computing including hardware, digital systems, web, programming, animation, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI). Our aim is to show students that a degree in a computing-related discipline can unlock career opportunities in a multitude of areas, industries and geographies.”

DkIT currently offers a range of computing undergraduate programme at Level 7 and Level 8 in areas such as software development, cloud computing, data centres and games development. This year, the institute became the first higher education provider in the country to introduce a new degree pathway in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality which is currently available to CAO applicants. To find out more about undergraduate computing opportunities at DkIT, please visit www.dkit.ie/courses/computing

DkIT will organise its next TY Computing Camps in May 2020. To enquire about booking a place on this camp, please contact itlc@dkit.ie or keep an eye on the website http://outreach.comp.dkit.ie/ty-week/

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