Fife College Embraces Digital Skills During National Digital Learning Week and Beyond!

From a Spanish exchange trip to Virtual Reality (VR) and a Mission to Mars – Fife College is embracing a wide range of digital projects to educate and inspire its students, staff and college community.

Computing students from Spain have swapped sunny Madrid for sunny Scotland to benefit Fife College students and staff while learning some great new skills of their own!

The exchange programme is part of a wide range of digital programmes and initiatives which Fife College is involved in to support its staff and students while at work and study and which are being celebrated during National Digital Learning Week.

Alejandro Casado and Miguel Perez are in college for 11 weeks working with the Computing Team on a number of projects including overhauling 3D printers and laptops, writing manuals and supporting lecturing staff. They have been enjoying shadowing computer technicians across the campuses while brushing up on their English language skills and Scottish culture.

The exchange programme is part of Erasmus, a European funded exchange project which will enable Fife College students to pay a return visit in the near future.

Both students are currently studying Informatics and Network Systems at college in Madrid and are looking to move on to degree level study in the near future.

Said Miguel: “For me I’m learning a lot about this country and this campus and how we live - I’m learning new things about how different things work and about a different culture.”

Sharon Burns, Curriculum Manager for Computing said: “We are really enjoying having Alejandro and Miguel in College. This visit is a fantastic way to share learning and improve all our skills and knowledge and fits in with our wider digital strategy to enhance skills for our staff, students and the college community.”

Part of the College’s digital strategy also includes Virtual Reality (VR) which is being used in areas throughout the College to help improve the student experience in Engineering, Supported Learning and Architectural Technology. It has also been taken out to schools to show school pupils how technology can transport them into different learning worlds.

Fife College is keen to share this knowledge and enable wider learning with its partners. An example of this is an exciting Mission to Mars event planned for June where the College will host an event for school teachers, in partnership with Fife Council and XMA, to look at the latest exciting practical digital learning technologies.

The College is also delighted to be been chosen as one of 37 colleges across the UK to take part in a pilot project for JISC to pilot a new digital capability tool which is currently being rolled out to staff with a future version available for students.

Dougi said: “I’m delighted that a strategy, set up initially for our creative area, is now being fed into by colleagues across the College.

“Within learning and teaching areas, and our professional services, we aim to change the culture to make our College environment more digital savvy in all areas of our work. A Digital Strategy team has been set up which meets once a month and collates a range of work across the College. Its challenge is to come up with new strategies to grow digital skills for staff and students.

“This, along with projects such as the Student Exchange, VR Technology, JISC and Mission to Mars, will help to ensure we are in line with the wider Scottish agenda to encourage innovation, lead change, and reap economic rewards.”