Students Fix IT for Peers During Lockdown

Enterprising IT students at South Eastern Regional College (@S_ERC) have been picking up practical experience by helping prepare IT equipment on loan from the College as part of their project-based learning (PBL) enterprise FixIT.

Gary Ritchie, Lecturer in IT, said,

“At SERC, PBL is an integral part of every course and for our students on the HND in Computing and Ulster University Foundation Degree in Computing, having practical experience is extremely valuable. Our enterprise, FixIT, was set-up to allow students to offer practical IT solutions for students, staff and select community partners, but this year has proved difficult for the team what with the challenges presented by Covid-19. Rather than abandon the opportunity to gain experience, the team decided that the students could volunteer to support their peers by helping prepare IT equipment which was being loaned to SERC students during lockdown.

Gary added, “The students have been gaining practical work experience in installing operation systems, configuring encryption and security systems. These are the kind of tasks that they may well be performing in the workplace and shows any employer that they are ready to hit the ground running.

He concluded, “We are hoping when things ease up, the students will be able to reach the full potential of their enterprise by working with community partners, giving them variety and the opportunity to hone their skills for the benefit of the local community.”