Exploring a Cyber First World at BCU
On Tuesday 17th September, 30 Year 8 Computer Science students visited the Steam House at Birmingham City University to complete many different Computing challenges as part of a government initiative called Cyber First Day. Our class was based in the Create Lab, which is a very modern and specialist technology centre, packed with equipment to drive digital innovation. The aim of the day was to inspire us to join a cyber workforce in the future and equip young people with the digital awareness and skills required to pursue a cyber career path. We were all surprised to be informed that a starting salary for a typical cyber security job can be over £45000!
We were given a very informative tour of all the technology Labs and focused on many exciting Computing workshops and innovations, such as 3D Printing, Robotics and Automation, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Escape Rooms. Our Cyber First hosts engaged us in our main team task for the day, which was to consider and debate the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence, given that many machines are now programmed to think and act like humans. We also got to complete an escape room game using some very innovative Virtual Reality Headsets.
The day enabled us to explore, build and test our cyber skills in digital Labs and helped accelerate our learning of future technologies.
Eesaa Plummer, 8 Galahad.
