ComputeTY Week4 Group

The School of Computing in conjunction with CNGL have been running a hugely successful computing programme ‘ComputeTY’ for Transition Year Students in DCU. The programme is now in it’s seventh year and since it’s launch in 2005 has taken in almost 3,000 students to date. The course was redesigned two years ago to incorporate a stream in Java Computer Programming as well as the main stream of Website Design. In the web design stream, students have the opportunity to plan a theme, layout and design for a website. They learn the basics of HTML to build their web pages and advanced to more complicated technologies such as CSS and Javascript to add extra style. Once the students have the structure of their website in place they take on the task of designing web banners and animated GIFs using graphic design tools like GIMP. One of the reported highlights of the week for the students was shooting, processing and embedding their very own videos for their sites, some of which turned out very professional indeed.

Seán Sherlock T.D., Minister for Research and Innovation last week launched a guide which urges secondary students to consider language and technology at third level for a potential career in the localisation sector.

The Guide, produced by the DCU-led Centre for Next Generation Localisation (CNGL), says that Ireland needs to significantly increase its supply of language and technology graduates if the country is to maintain its leadership position in the multi-million euro localisation and global services sector. The CNGL academia-industry consortium is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.