With the aim of breaking down barriers to access to the world of technology, Plan Ceibal began offering free programming courses this year for young people between 17 and 26 years of age from all over the country, with the support of the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI) and the main companies in the technological field.
«El plan surge a raíz de un análisis de la demanda de recursos», contó a Cromo Carinna Bálsamo, ingeniera en computación y responsable del proyecto Jóvenes a Programar.
This year, the pilot scheme was carried out, in which 1,000 young people from 11 departments were trained. The goal is to train a total of 5,000 in three years, with the number of trainees doubling in 2018.
During the course, young people learn to master one of the three most widely used programming languages in the technological field and in demand by the industry (.Net, GeneXus or WebUI), as well as testing.
The trainers are technicians from technology companies and organisations such as Genexus, Bantotal, Tata Consultancy, Infocorp, Global and Centro de Ensayos de Software (CES).
«No son docentes sino empleados de empresas quienes están enseñando desde su propio oficio», explicó Bálsamo.
At the end of the course, students receive a basic programmer or software tester certificate endorsed by Plan Ceibal, which opens up job opportunities in the sector.
«El objetivo es que los jóvenes descubran una puerta al mundo de la programación y la tecnología. Buscamos desmitificar el que haya que ser ingeniero para programar», aseguró.
Distance learning
In this first year, 50 groups were formed; 28 of them are located in Montevideo; 10 in Canelones and the remaining 12 are distributed in nine other inland departments (from Salto and Rivera to San José).
For this reason, the courses are held in different centres around the country via videoconferencing. In this way, teachers have the opportunity to train students from 11 departments live and simultaneously.
«Los cursos son presenciales. Los alumnos van a un aula a tomar la clase», aclaró la responsable del proyecto. «La única diferencia es que en este caso se utiliza la infraestructura de videoconferencia de Ceibal», explicó a Cromo.
Incluso, en determinadas circunstancias, los docentes pueden realizar videoconferencias móviles. «A veces, algunos capacitadores se conectan desde su propia empresa, o desde la de un cliente», contó la ingeniera.
The most difficult part of implementing this model was adapting it to practical classes, where the teacher needs to see each student's screen individually to advise, identify and correct errors.
«Eso lo solucionamos con un software de control remoto. El profesor puede ver y corregir en la pantalla de sus alumnos desde su propia PC», relató Bálsamo.
Requirements
The only requirement to participate in the project was, in addition to age (between 17 and 26 years old), to have passed the basic cycle of secondary education.
In addition, you must pass a general knowledge assessment ranging from logic, mathematics and spelling to resistance to monotony.
Prior to the test, a one-month preparation course was offered, providing basic programming skills.
Once on the course, students are also offered English classes, not as a subject but as a supplement, as needed.
«Al comienzo se realiza un test de autodiagnóstico, en función del cual se identifica el nivel y se asigna un grupo para capacitarse», explicó Bálsamo.
The engineer clarified that, although the level of English is not a requirement at the starting point, it is a fundamental tool that they are expected to master at the end of the course.
«El objetivo es que, al egreso, los alumnos puedan responder un email o un chat en inglés», explicó la responsable.
Job placement
Jóvenes a Programar arises, among other things, from the growing demand but diminishing supply of programmers. In this sense, one of the priorities of the project is to aim at job placement in the field.
To assist graduates in this process, the plan includes workshops, activities with companies and help in preparing for job interviews.
Generation 2017, which will complete its courses in November, will receive this follow-up from next year onwards.
«La idea es ayudarlos en la inserción laboral o a reinsertarse en el sistema educativo formal», señaló Bálsamo.
Call for applications
Registration will be open from November for those young people interested in applying to participate in the 2018 courses.
The requirements will be the same as this year (the call is for young people between 17 and 26 years of age with an approved basic cycle). Even those who have applied this year and have not passed the general knowledge assessment will be able to try again.
Para el próximo año la apuesta de Plan Ceibal es capacitar a 2.000 jóvenes de todo el país. «Estamos tratando de colaborar en la transformación digital que está viviendo el país», concluyó Bálsamo.
Registrations will be made through the Jóvenes a Programar website. The registration period will run from November this year to February next year.
Diego Basterrech (24 years old, Montevideo)
When he came out of the general knowledge assessment he was convinced that he would not be selected. However, he was eventually told that he was entering the pilot scheme of Jóvenes a Programar and that he had to choose a course and a timetable.
«Entre las opciones estaba GeneXus, que es un software uruguayo para hacer programas, y tenía entendido que había bastante trabajo en el tema. Elegí eso y, la verdad, no me arrepiento», aseguró Diego Basterrech en entrevista con Cromo.
En el curso les plantearon a los estudiantes desarrollar un proyecto personal. «La idea es que cada uno elija lo que le guste, le emocione», explicó.
Un día, uno de sus compañeros llevó a clase una cabeza de Yoda (personaje de Star Wars) y contó que la había imprimido con su propia impresora 3D. «Ahí dije ‘si él pudo armar una, vamos a probar. Capaz que en una de esas puedo'», contó.
So he decided that his personal project was to build his own 3D printer, and of course, part of the project was to do it on the smallest possible budget. So the first thing he did was to spend several weeks researching what to buy and what not to buy, and where to buy it.
«Toda la parte de electrónica me la mandé traer de China. Acá en Uruguay fui comprando varillas, rulemanes, correas de goma, poleas, tornillos, tuercas y el marco de madera MDF», relató.Hoy en día, Diego tiene en su cuarto su propia impresora 3D con la que, por supuesto, ya se imprimió su propia cabeza de Yoda, además de una de Darth Vader (otro personaje de Star Wars) y una snitch dorada (pelota para jugar quidditch, deporte del universo de Harry Potter).
But the most interesting thing is that Diego is improving his printer with parts that he prints on his own equipment.
«Es una impresora de RepRap (un proyecto de código abierto) y tiene una característica que es que varias de sus piezas pueden ser impresas por la propia impresora», explicó.
An improved ventilation duct has already been printed and now plans are underway to print a screen housing and supports for the material coil.
Of course, once the printer was assembled, he also had to take the time to research, test and, above all, train his patience to start printing. He varied different printing parameters, such as temperature, speed and ventilation, and achieved better and better results.
In addition to studying Jóvenes a Programar, Diego is an architecture student, an animator of educational camps and, as a hobby, he fixes mobile phones.
He does not aim to go into 3D printing, but admits that it is something he enjoys working on.
He continues to research areas of improvement for his prints and has a project to make a drone out of the parts printed on his 3D printer.
Boris Pessano (21, Florida)
He belongs to group No. 30, located in Pando. He developed his project together with three other classmates: Matías Cabrera (Barros Blancos), Fernando de Armas (Tala) and Mauricio Álvarez (Pando). The project of these four young people arose from their own experience in the course. "We had the idea of helping the Jóvenes a Programar system itself", Boris Pessano told Cromo.
Specifically, they decided to develop a tool to monitor student attendance.
"The idea is for students to mark attendance with a card. This would bring several benefits. On the one hand, it would make it easier to know how many students are attending. But also, to detect if they have lost motivation, to identify the preference of the pupils," he said.
To do this, they developed coded cards that send data that is fully protected. Neither the student nor the person scanning the card is able to recognise the data.
"This is to protect the data and privacy of the individual," Boris said.
Each card is unique. Each student would carry his or her own card and it would be read by the group leaders with a mobile phone.
"You can read it with any camera phone that has the app," he explained.
The reading mode is similar to QR codes, except that it is encrypted and cannot be read.
The group has already submitted the project to Plan Ceibal and is currently developing a demo version, with the intention that it can be implemented for next year's courses.
In addition to studying Jóvenes a Programar, Boris teaches computer science at the Municipality of Florida, gives lessons to retirees with Plan Ibirapitá tablets and in August of this year received a degree as a network technician.
Source: Cromo - The Observer
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