Sixth form students visit University of Reading after taking a course on FutureLearn
Following the free online course, ‘Begin programming: build your first mobile game’ last month, a group of sixth form students from Ousedale School were invited to the University of Reading to meet the team behind the MOOC.
A group of sixth form students and their teachers from Ousedale School near Milton Keynes took the University of Reading’s first MOOC on programming. After reading more on the FutureLearn blog about their experience on the course last month, the team behind this MOOC invited the participants on a trip to meet the team and have a taste of the university life.
Meeting in the common room at the University of Reading, the students were greeted by the lead educator, Karsten Øster Lundqvist, who, prior to that, they had only seen on screen among the thousands of other engaged learners in discussions throughout the course.
Shirley Williams, Professor of Learning Technologies at the university, who has been central to the creation of the University of Reading’s free online courses on FutureLearn said: “The highlight of my day was when one of the students showed us his game that he had adapted from the version we supplied as part of the course. He had even personalised it with FutureLearn and University of Reading balls!”
The team at Reading were excited to discover that teacher at Ousedale School, Doug Abrams, who joined the students both on the course and on the trip, is a Reading alumnus. “I really enjoyed going back to Reading. I graduated there in 1985 having studied a joint degree of Fine Art & the History of Art. We all had a superb day out, and for me it brought back so many great memories.” – mentioned Doug.
The day finished off with a visit to ‘The Cave’, the university’s fully interactive, virtual reality space where, with the help of a pair of active stereo glasses equipped with a location sensor, the sixth form students were able to have a fully immersive experience. “At one point one of the students appeared to be walking through walls!” – added the Professor at the University of Reading, Shirley Williams.
This course will run again on Feb 24 for 7 weeks, so if you’re interested sign up now.
