The University of the Western Cape (UWC) main campus in Bellville was almost empty on Saturday afternoon, but there was no mistaking the buzz of excitement coming from Lab K1 in the Computational and Mathematical Sciences building.
Inside, learners, teachers, and UWC staff were crowded around rows of computer monitors, pointing and chatting excitedly as they learned how to programme a set of 16 new robots that had just been purchased from a supplier in Philadelphia, USA.
The sleek new gadgets are equipped with an array of “Internet of Things” devices, strip sensors, motors and Wi-Fi controllers so they can follow the sets of commands that are being issued by Grade 9s from the Centre of Science and Technology) COSAT in Khayelitsha.
“We teach students the programming, explain how to perform novel tasks with the robots, and let them experiment,” explains Ruchen Wyngaard, the UWC lecturer who runs the workshops.
Wyngaard teaches software engineering and e-commerce to UWC's final-year students.
“We’ve been doing these workshops since 2017 and the new robots are allowing us to do this more and more. If we work with 30 students per term, that translates into approximately 120 high-school students into the tech pipeline for Cape Town,” he said.
Wyngaard believes that “the emerging digital economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution has arrived at a point of convergence where there is a huge demand for practical tech skills as well as theory. Our students must go into the workforce as well-rounded graduates with the necessary technical acumen to deal with digital innovation”.
The coding and robotics workshops with high school learners are vital for the Department of Information Systems at UWC. Local businesses are developing in the digital economy and require more and more tech savvy skills and acumen from the labour force.
At school, the group of about 30 Grade 9 high school students who attended the workshop may not have access to the best labs and human resources. But their enthusiasm and skills are infectious.
“I've been pleasantly surprised by this cohort,” said Wyngaard. “They’re digital natives with a strong Science Technology and Mathematics background, so they can move through the learning a lot quicker.”
Linamandala Mqhutywa, an IT teacher from COSAT, was pleased with his students’ progress.
“We are a focus school - that makes us different,” he said. “We only do maths, science and IT programming. We are a top school as we have been performing well.”
He said the school’s mission was to provide challenging educational opportunities of a high quality for students who are drawn in from and around Khayelitsha to become extraordinary leaders who are competent and confident in their communities and the broader society.
This is the second year the learners have had a UWC bootcamp and the rewards are emerging.
“When they come here, they light up at the sight of the buildings, the trees and the campus and it gives them a sense of what a university is like. We’re opening the doors for those who want to have a future on the digital landscape,” said Wyngaard.
Wyngaard added that the role of artificial intelligence (AI) was talked about all weekend.
“People who understand AI and use it are going to be better equipped for modern work than those who don't. It's still very early days and there is a lot of fear-mongering, which I think is unnecessary, as there are so many things it still cannot do,” he said.
Wyngaard wants to teach young people to use AI responsibly.
”Deep fakes are going to be a massive thing. Verification is going to play a big role in AI – the ability to discern between human and AI generated content, and it comes back to kids - this is what is happening in the world. We need you as digital natives. You can make something happen.” he says.
“As a university, it's important for us to take responsibility in this space. This is where the market is going. We really have to educate people in that direction if they are going to become the next tech-responsive graduate cohort for the digital economy.”
