iAcademy ICT summer workshop: Fun not just under the sun

Summer doesn’t only mean having fun under the heat of the sun – it could also mean quenching your information and communications technology (ICT) thirst in the confines of an air-conditioned room with fully networked, Pentium 4 personal computers.

iAcademy, the Philippine partner of Carnegie Technology Education (CTR), a subsidiary of the world-renowned Carnegie Mellon University, recently offered a five-day workshop called the Summer Surfin’ iCT Workshop. It was particularly targeted at fresh high school graduates who wanted to improve their knack for and knowledge of ICT.

Specifically, the workshop tackled two exciting topics, one of which was "A Cool Cup of Java," which taught how to write programs in Java, a high level, object-oriented programming language. Students also got to study Java’s basis syntax and learned how to do object-oriented programming as well as explore graphics manipulation through Java and its future versions.

"The Truth About A.i.," on the other hand, was an in-depth starter on Artificial Intelligence, a branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. Students learned about the different techniques of "teaching" computers to play games, make decisions in real-life situations, understand the human language, and grasp the basic concepts behind robotics.

Catherine Limsoc, a high school grad from Makati Hope Christian School and an incoming college freshman taking up a Business Management degree, was one of the 14 students who took part in the workshop. "Taking A Cool Cup of Java" as her workshop topic, Limsoc said the classes were worth missing a couple of days doing the usual summer activities.

"The class gave me the chance to refresh some of the programs that I already know like C+ and Visual Basic," she said. "I also find this an asset, especially since I will be an incoming freshman this year."

Roland Jay Miguel, a graduate of Quezon City Science High School, on the other hand, has always been interested in computers and he took iAcademy’s workshop on "The Truth About A.i." as a chance to improve his know-how.

"When they sent us a letter inviting us to take part in the workshop for only P2,500, I readily signed up," he said. "Other schools offering the same package was almost worth P10,000, and that’s not practical for a student like me."

Miguel said the five days were more than enough to satisfy his craving for more ICT information. "The workshop was able to package so much information even only in five days. It also improved my analytical and critical thinking."

Another Java workshop participant, Miguel Martinez, said that apart from the technological know-how, the classes he took also improved his social skills. "This is helpful, especially since most of us are incoming freshman – we will have less problems in dealing with new people once school starts," he said. Martinez is an incoming Computer Science freshman and scholar at iAcademy.

The three admitted though that most of the exercises were challenging and quite mind-draining. But they agreed that the iAcademy instructors were very patient in making them learn the theories and applications.

"The instructors made sure that no one was left behind. They also made sure that before we got on to the next problem or topics, all was clear and understood," said Limsoc. "Their being cool and not nerdy also made the classes all worth it."

For more information and schedules of future workshops, visit www.iacademy.ph.