26 April 2022

Hundreds of school pupils from across the region visited Fife College this month to take part in the Big Ideas Roadshow.

Students from St Andrew’s RC High School, Kirkcaldy High School and Woodmill High School were all in attendance to take part in a series of workshops designed to give them insights into working in digital industries.

The event was organised in partnership with the First Chances Fife Programme, and saw 100 pupils attend five workshops covering 2D Animation, 3D Modelling, Games Design, Programming and Cyber and Networking were on offer for pupils to try out

Each workshop was delivered by Fife College students and lecturers, and aimed to engage those taking part with highly skilled and employable areas, and link them to the courses they can study if they want to pursue a career in them.

Several more Big Ideas Roadshows are planned for later on in the year, with pupils from S1 to S7 encouraged to attend.

Francesca Antoine, a CDT Teacher at St Andrew's RC High School, was at the Roadshow and said her pupils gained a better understanding of the digital careers available to them from the event. She said:

“The pupils gained a new insight into digital technologies and just how many different opportunities they can pursue in this industry.

“The enthusiasm and excitement the pupils had when talking about what they had learned showed how valuable the hands on experience was and for some sparked a new interest in these digital industries.”

Rebecca Blyth, Academic and Quality Manager of Computing and Technologies at Fife College, said:

“It was great to welcome so many school pupils to the college for our latest Big Ideas Roadshow.

“The whole point of these events is to let pupils know about some of the great careers that are available across digital industries, and what they need to do to access them.

“There is such a great variety of work, from games design, to animation and programming, and it's clear that those who attended really enjoyed learning more about each area.

"We can't wait to introduce more students to these subjects over the coming months."

Denis Dimitrov, one of the Fife College students who ran one of the sessions said afterwards:

"The day was fantastic. The best part was seeing what kind of ideas the school pupils came up with and how they developed them.

"I was absolutely amazed by their creativity and enthusiasm to learn more about each of the subject areas, and I can't wait to do it again and hear more of their brilliant concepts."