Hutt City Libraries and Victoria University Wellington (VUW) have teamed up to pilot a new programme, named Tek Ctrl/, which teaches teens animation, coding, and robotics.
The after-school programme is aimed at Year 10-13 students - those making choices about NCEA subjects as well as those doing NCEA - and gives young people a chance to play and learn about various technologies in an informal setting.
According to the organisations, the first two sessions in May attracted a group of nearly ten teens, comprising both boys and girls, to the pilot, which is being led by Elf Eldridge, Senior Tutor at VUW’s School of Engineering and Computer Science
The pilot is a response to efforts by local tertiaries VUW and WelTec to attract more young people into careers in science, engineering and technology. Long term, the organisations hope that the programme could contribute to producing more digitally literate and technically skilled employees.
Tek Ctrl/ is on Thursdays from 3.30-5pm at War Memorial Library, Lower Hutt. The pilot will run for another four weeks before Hutt City Libraries and VUW decide next steps.