Hey everyone! The TEN summer newsletter is now making its way into inboxes. If you aren’t on the mailing list yet, you can read it here. Don’t forget to subscribe! – I’m sure you will agree it is full of rich content and useful information.

And we have lift off….

Our Mission

The Tech Education Network (TEN) exists to connect the tech community with our wider society, equipping children and adults with information, practical resources and training through its networks, knowledge sharing and programme delivery.

A Note from our Directors

We would like to thank everyone who came out to our launch this month – and all of you who have been faithful friends over this year! We’re very excited to follow up with each of you over the summer. If you have completed a contact form, or wish to volunteer, we’ll be in touch soon!

At the launch we introduced our aims and called out across the Tech Community for renewed commitments to work together, without trampling on project toes, and with our wider community’s best interests at heart – you did not disappoint! Thank you all for that!

We are growing so we would love to expand our Committee. We’re looking for volunteers who know the tech community and are keen to help in education and outreach, irrespective of age range or preferred group. We know projects vary so what we really want are enthusiastic people who make things happen and can see projects through. Committee posts require a commitment of about 5 hours per month. Please get in touch for more details.

Thanks!

Lisa Donaldson & Julie McGrath

If you missed our launch event, we’d love to hear from you – you can click here to subscribe to this newsletter and also to let us know how we can help!

Call Outs from the Community

Get Help Starting A CoderDojo

Are you involved with a youth group, library, school or work in a company looking to inspire kids to get creative with code?

The CoderDojo Foundation are looking to provide support for organisations to start up and hit the ground running with their own dojos. They’ll provide workshops and starters packs too!

If interested get in touch with TEN and we’ll coordinate with CoderDojo to get details firmed up. We just need to fill a room and find a date!

Calling all volunteers! BITC need volunteers for #TimeToCode next term. Time to Code matches volunteers from the tech & digital industries with Primary schools for an hour weekly or fortnightly.

You don’t need experience in coding or mentoring as you will be trained before meeting the class, and facilitating with teachers and another mentor. Currently there are over 60 schools waiting for someone like you to help out! Contact Ciara Mulgrew or click on the link to find out more!

The Paid Work Experience Programme
Sentinus are looking for organisations that can help place students aged 16 – 18 in companies across a spectrum of industries – but these include Tech, Media and Creative industries too. Applications from students closes in spring each year and you can read more about the programme HERE.If you think you can offer a student a placement during August, please contact David here.

Share your digital skills and help someone get online.
With many Government and High Street transactions now moving online and technology developing at a rapid rate, it’s more important than ever that people possess the basic skills to make the most of the digital world. Digital Assist aims to deliver just that. You could be helping someone connect with family members via email, introducing them to social media, or even helping them save money through online shopping. This is particularly helpful for older people who have no experience or understanding of technology.For further information, email Angela McCartney or call (028) 9046 0606.

Belfast Design Week happens each November. They are now coordinating events and fringe events to make this years celebration bigger and better than ever! If you are part of a group that would like to know more and how to get involved, check out the BDW website to keep up to date with what’s happening!

Courses & Opportunities

Generation Innovation Programme Manager
We believe young people are central to unlocking Northern Ireland’s future as a globally renowned knowledge economy. That’s why we put them at the heart of an inspirational network of experienced entrepreneurs, universities and employers.This is an amazing opportunity to work alongside the next generation of innovators who are curious, creative problem solvers, collaborators and excellent communicators, enabling them to achieve their potential in an ever changing world. Your role will be to help open the eyes of young people to aim higher, push boundaries and prepare for careers as innovators. Job details via NI Jobfinder

Women’s Tec are based in North Belfast and run a range of courses that have been traditionally considered not for females. They are constantly working to add to this list of employability courses. This year they’re getting ready to set up PASS courses (Promote, Advance and Support for Success) which will begin in September and include digital classes. PASS is open to those 18-24 years old, childcare is provided at the campus and is free. To find out more follow this link.

Belfast City Council and the Urban Villages Initiative are supporting MakeMatic to enhance provision of digital and employability skills in schools and community organisations in Belfast and Derry-Londonderry.

Participating schools AND community groups will receive:

Access to over 12hrs of online professional development resources for staff. You can learn more about our courses here.
Free on-site and group professional development workshops and on-going support
A place at one of two gala showcase events in June 2018

Schools will receive

Industry engagement both at your school and through work placements
Opportunities for students to engage with employers in our key growth sectors, and undertake exciting digital media projects
Access to lesson plans and activities

There is no cost for eligible schools/groups to take part – simply check the eligibility requirements below and complete the expression of interest form here.

LearnTo iOS is an 8 week training course hosted by Charged, Secure Broadcast & NSBelfast that teaches the fundamentals to iOS app development. The aim of the course is to go from “0 to app” in 4 months.

This free Bootcamp is for students, postgrads or anyone with relevant experience who wishes to get into iOS development.The first course has just completed this month – huge congratulations to all involved! IF you’d like to know more and want to keep up to date with future courses follow this link!

Novosco has joined with Ulster University to offer IT engineers of the future the chance to develop their skills.

Free of charge and open to students between the ages of 16 and 17 (on 30th July 2018) at schools and colleges across Northern Ireland, it will provide hands-on IT infrastructure experience, as well as a fun learning environment.

Novosco Cloud Camp – an educational initiative by managed cloud provider Novosco – will run at Ulster University’s Jordanstown campus between 30th July and 3rd August 2018. Read more here!

Machine Intelligence Garage

Machine Intelligence Garage is designed to help startups with a well defined business idea and technical capability for whom access to computation power is a barrier to growth. Participating companies are getting access to computation power and relevant expertise, as well as a range of support activities.

Machine Intelligence Garage hosts workshops and experimentation-days to help companies of all sizes get to grips with systems for Machine Intelligence. Through our experimentation space companies and researchers can try out new hardware and supporting technology solutions. You can find out more about the program here.

Bring IT On are now advertising for various Tech courses across the Belfast Met campuses. These include Academies, Conversions, Apprenticeships, Higher National awards, Foundations and specialist courses. You can find out more here.

Go ON NI events are free and take place in libraries, community centres and various venues across NI. These are informal technology awareness sessions to help you go online for the first time, improve your digital skills and show you more about using smartphone and tablet devices. To find out when events take place near your or your family click here.

Belfast City Council offer a range of small and semi-formal IT courses throughout the year. These are particularly good for those with no background in IT and focus more on computer literacy and Microsoft use. You can keep up to date with them here. While we have only highlighted the Belfast Council, please check with your own regional Council too as most will hold similar beginner courses.

Code First Girls offer free community programmes across the UK. For the past few years they have run a free 6 week programme for female students in Queens University on how to build websites. To find out more about what they can offer you and up-coming courses you can visit their website here.

Find a Code Club near you
There are over 6,000 clubs across the UK and more than 300 in Northern Ireland. While most are during a school day, you can find, run or volunteer to help a club near you too. At Code Club, we think all children should have the opportunity to learn to code, no matter who they are or where they come from.This is why we support a nationwide network of volunteers and educators who run free coding clubs where young people aged 9-13 build and share their ideas, learning along the way.On a related note, Darren Bayliss, Code Club Coordinator for Ireland & NI is in Belfast for the next few days. Get in touch with him via twitter @CodeClubNI We caught up with him to hear about Code Clubs plans for NI and how they’ve recently begun expanding their presence in the RoI too. Partnered with Coderdojo under the Raspberry Pi Foundation. He encourages anyone to get in touch to find out more.

Coderdojo exist across Northern Ireland and are typically independent of a school, set up by trained volunteers. Parents are expected to stay with children under 13 during the session which means parents can pick up some nifty tricks of their own too! The sky is the limit with these clubs and there is a wealth of learning resources to help facilitate children learning for themselves. Mentors are on hand to help and encourage too so don’t be afraid if you are a beginner! You can find a Dojo near you by following this link.

For the adults (mainly)! There are so many Tech Meetups in Northern Ireland – at our last count we had over 70 spanning all areas of Digital, Tech & Design! Many of them run introduction evenings too. Follow the link to find out more about what’s on offer in your own area, both physical and interest! Our community is really friendly and collaborative. Plus, you will never lack for pizza! NI Tech meetups can be found here.

If you run an early-stage education venture that’s working to improve social mobility, apply for our Young Foundation accelerator programme. It’s free & you’ll get access to a wide range of support, so what have you got to lose? https://bit.ly/2vlKMLl Many of the 52 ventures supported in the Young Academy’s first four years have gone on to achieve impressive scale, addressing inequalities in the education system and improving the life chances of thousands of young people.

Upcoming Events

All Women in Tech Summer Party!

You are cordially invited to a relaxed evening of drinks, nibbles, networking and socialising on Friday 31st August (venue to be confirmed).

The event brings together members of Women in Tech Belfast Lean In, Women Who Code Belfast, Women Tech Space, and Django Girls; and is kindly sponsored by Bazaarvoice. The event will include a brief overview of what each of the groups have coming up over the next few months and how you can get involved.

Regardless of your role or level, you are welcome to swing by any time and spend the evening networking and socialising with other women and allies in the local tech industry. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ticket link to Get Invited

A family friendly tech social at Farset Labs!

Kids of all ages are welcome. There will be some food and toys to entertain the little ones, and adults can socialise and have fun.

Tickets to this are free, but a small donation to Farset Labs would be appreciated since it’s a charity hackerspace run by volunteers. For tickets to this Free event click HERE.

Microsoft OneNote – Built for teachers, by teachers! Various dates across NI

Course details:
This is a one day course which is available in the locations below:
Where and When?
Our Lady and St Patricks College, Knock 16th August 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
120 Gilnahirk Road, Belfast, BT5 7DL
Slemish College 17th August 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
Larne Road, Ballymena, BT42 3HA
St Joseph’s Grammar School, Donaghmore 20th August 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
58 Castlecaufield Road, Dungannon, BT70 3HE

Google Educator Level 2 Bootcamp by C2K
Fri 10 August 2018 09:00 – 15:30This course is open to teachers who have successfully completed Google Educator Level 1 Certification and are keen to continue to develop techniques for effective ed tech integration. Find details here.

LOCATION

Education Authority Antrim Board Centre

C2k North Eastern Centre

17 Lough Road

Antrim

BT41 4DH

W5 are celebrating Augmented Dinosaurs! Augmented Reality, or AR, is an amazing technology that superimposes computer-generated images onto our view of the real world. And this summer our AR exhibit is bringing dinosaurs roaring back into your world!

Prepare yourself for an encounter with some of the most realistic 3D animated dinosaurs you can get outside of a movie theatre. Read more about this, what’s on at W5 and STEM Clubs here.

Cinemagic is looking for young film enthusiasts to take on the role of ‘film consultants’ this July in Belfast, to help programme a series of films for the annual Cinemagic Festival that takes place from 5th-28th October 2018. Find out more about this ad other programmes here.

Skills Northern Ireland

07 Nov 18 – 08 Nov 18

Website: Click here
Tickets: Click here

Skills Northern Ireland is back at the Titanic Exhibition Centre from the 7th – 8th November 2018!

Interactive and inspiring, this free two day event is aimed at 14-19 year olds and the teachers, parents and influencers that help them decide how to achieve the career of their dreams.

A visit will ensure you get the best possible start to your career; you’ll be encouraged to make informed decisions based on impartial information and advice about your future, to enable you to visualise your career path.

News and Mentions

Congratulations ‘Poppin’ from Banbridge Academy, named Young Enterprise Company of the Year

‘Poppin’ Banbridge Academy took lead out of almost 100 companies involved in pitching, interview and facing a panel of some of Northern Ireland’s top business moguls. This group of enterprising students have immersed themselves in the programme, creating a product that sticks onto the back of a phone to prevent you from dropping it. They have secured orders already from Northern Ireland leading company Moy Park who are using their product as a branding tool.

News from the Wider Community

Seaview primary school in Belfast wins TES technology award

Seaview Primary in north Belfast received a prestigious TES award at a ceremony in London.
It was named the UK school with the most innovative use of technology in learning.
The judges said that attendance, behaviour and pupil outcomes had improved at the York Road school as a result.

Queen’s University Belfast has opened a new £7.5m advanced manufacturing facility, which aims to help Northern Ireland companies improve productivity.

It will allow manufacturers to experiment with high-end equipment and get access to the latest research.
It will also provide Northern Ireland with a regional link to other manufacturing research networks.
The centre has been supported by the UK Department for Business, Innovate UK and the Aerospace Technology Institute.
It will have a particular focus on aerospace technologies, but is open to other sectors.

Deloitte to bring in 70 apprentices during 2018

The five-year programme helps young people gain a BSc in Business Technology through Ulster University, as well as recognised professional qualifications and a job at Deloitte.
Now 70 apprentices are due to join in 2018, bringing the total who have completed the programme to 180.
Read more…

Ulster University Honour for Silicon Valley boss Sarah Friar

The Co Tyrone woman attended Strabane Grammar, where she developed a love of maths and science. Sara is an ambassador for females in tech and was involved in launching the Ormeau Baths tech campus for entrepreneurs. Since 2012 she has been chief financial officer for Square – a mobile payments company jointly run with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, which has become one of the world’s fastest growing financial technology companies.

Nearly 800 children enter Northern Ireland justice system for first time in one year

Nearly 800 children and youths entered Northern Ireland’s justice system for the first time in the 2016/17 period, new figures have shown. For 2016/17 a total of 29,031 offences were recorded across all categories, with 8,665 of these being first offences.

Data hack at South Eastern Regional College could affect staff’s information

The BBC reports staff at the further education college have been told their data may be at risk.
It follows the hacking of an employee’s email account.
A representative from the SERC said it was working with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the PSNI to resolve the issue. The SERC has a number of campuses across south-eastern Northern Ireland and has around 32,000 students.

New STEM Education Centre in Omagh

A shared education campus in Omagh has received a £140m Government funding boost.
Strule will be the largest of its kind in Northern Ireland and will bring together more than 4,000 pupils from six schools and all backgrounds.
It will offer collaborative education opportunities to students across the Steam (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) area of the curriculum.

Appointment of new members to the Education Authority Board

Mrs Sarah Kelly is from Derry and is the former Principal of St Joseph’s Boys School. Mr Nelson McCausland is from Newtownabbey and is a member of the committee of the Ulster Scots Community Network. He has declared that during the last five years he has undertaken political activity for the DUP, holding office both at local branch level and as a MLA (2003-2017). He is a member of the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund committee of NI Screen for which he receives no remuneration.

Voluntary Youth Capital Scheme to receive £5.9 million investment across NI

continue into following years.
Permanent Secretary, Derek Baker said: “Good quality youth work can significantly and positively impact on the lives of young people and make a real difference to their future. The Voluntary Youth Capital Scheme gives youth organisations across Northern Ireland the opportunity to improve the facilities and services they offer to young people.

Full Steam Ahead : Children Learn through Film Making

PRIMARY school pupils are being taught film analysis to help improve their literacy skills.
Full Steam Ahead is a two year project that uses filmmaking as an educational tool, enabling pupils to make their own films and learn skills such as stop motion animation, storyboarding and script writing.
The project, run by Into Film in partnership with the Nerve Centre in Derry and Nerve Belfast, instructed teachers how to use film in the classroom to develop and support learning.

Gender gap in university applications widens

New Ucas statistics reveal almost 98,000 more women than men had applied by the end of last month to start degree courses this autumn. Overall, 367,300 women, of all ages, had applied to university by June 30 – the last deadline for applications. In comparison, there were 269,660 male applicants – a gap of 97,640 students.

Calls for students’ backgrounds to be part of university entry alongside grades

Calls have been made to improve equality of opportunity for university entry by making it “about background, and not just exams”.
Chris Millward – the director of fair access and participation of the Office for Students watchdog – has stated that the current application system is flawed, arguing that A-level grades are only a “robust measure of potential if they are considered alongside the context in which they are achieved” and that in higher education “we are a long way from equality of opportunity”.

Local school children inspired towards STEAM Careers

Aimed at exposing primary school children to careers in STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Arts and Mathematics), Miniversity has engaged with two schools near the West Belfast Interface with assistance from the Housing Executive.
Black Mountain Shared Space Project received £10,000 in Housing Executive funding for a pilot project so that students from Harmony Primary in Glencairn and Bunscoil an tSleibhe Dhuibh in Ballymurphy could engage with the project.

More than 60 NI schools lose funding to run breakfast clubs

Patrick Allen, principal of Foyle College in Londonderry, said he was notified just days before the new financial year that his school would lose £22,000 from its budget.
“This is about so much more than just the breakfast club,” he said.
“We used our funding last year to operate an accelerated reading programme to support pupil literacy, provided direct support for Key Stage 3 literacy and numeracy and we were also looking at the transfer from primary to secondary school.”
Mr Allen said the money also supported STEM, technology and homework clubs, peer tutoring initiatives and helped to finance additional bus services.

Rea more…

Access NI Checks: NI first to go Digital

“AccessNI plays a vital role in protecting our communities by providing criminal record checks for those applying to work with children and vulnerable adults. Investing in this new technology will provide an end to end digital service which allows the fastest and most secure method of receiving certificates in the whole of the UK.”

Unspent Integrated Education funding now to be rolled out

Unspent money totalling £91m for shared and integrated education from the Fresh Start agreement will be made available in future years.
That is according to the Treasury and the Department of Finance.
The confirmation came after BBC News NI revealed the Department of Education (DE) had only been able to spend £8m of the £100m allocated since 2016.

A digital mental health hub for young people has launched in Northern Ireland

The Northern Area Mental Health Initiative is a project led by Cookstown and Western Shores Area Network, in partnership with Action Mental Health and Nexus NI.
The Initiative offers free mental health awareness and resilience training, internet safety, sexual abuse and exploitation education to children and young people aged from 8 to 25 in schools, youth clubs and through key contacts such as teachers, youth group leaders and parents groups.
Read more and access link to the Hub here..

About T.E.N

First and foremost, we want to connect the Tech community to our wider NI Community – so that any person out there can find out how they can be involved, or how they pursue their ambition to learn tech. Secondly, we also believe if you can help someone learn about tech, you also deserve support in your pursuit of that too!

Sounds great..So how do we make this happen?

There are two ways we will grow this network: stay in touch and share your news with us. Or if you’d like to get involved, volunteer or want to learn something digital, contact us so we can help you individually. For more information about our aims and how you can get involved in TEN contact us at: info@techednet.org

belfast

And we have lift off….

A Note from our Directors

Call Outs from the Community

Get Help Starting A CoderDojo

Courses & Opportunities

Machine Intelligence Garage

Upcoming Events

All Women in Tech Summer Party!

Microsoft OneNote – Built for teachers, by teachers! Various dates across NI

LOCATION

News and Mentions

Congratulations ‘Poppin’ from Banbridge Academy, named Young Enterprise Company of the Year

News from the Wider Community

Seaview primary school in Belfast wins TES technology award

Queen’s University Belfast has opened a new £7.5m advanced manufacturing facility, which aims to help Northern Ireland companies improve productivity.

Deloitte to bring in 70 apprentices during 2018

Ulster University Honour for Silicon Valley boss Sarah Friar

Nearly 800 children enter Northern Ireland justice system for first time in one year

Data hack at South Eastern Regional College could affect staff’s information

New STEM Education Centre in Omagh

Appointment of new members to the Education Authority Board

Voluntary Youth Capital Scheme to receive £5.9 million investment across NI

Full Steam Ahead : Children Learn through Film Making

Gender gap in university applications widens

Calls for students’ backgrounds to be part of university entry alongside grades

Local school children inspired towards STEAM Careers

More than 60 NI schools lose funding to run breakfast clubs

Access NI Checks: NI first to go Digital

Unspent Integrated Education funding now to be rolled out

A digital mental health hub for young people has launched in Northern Ireland

About T.E.N

Sounds great..So how do we make this happen?

The Tech Education Network (TEN) exists to connect the tech community with our wider society, equipping children and adults with information, practical resources and training through its networks, knowledge sharing and programme delivery.

Please RSVP via the Eventbrite link as this will help us as a non-profit to judge refreshments.

WHAT IS THE BIG DATA CONFERENCE?

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

We are exhibiting at the event, and looking forward to meeting so many great leaders in our industry. So please pop over and say hi and sample some of our tasty ‘Rasberry Pi’s’ 🙂

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