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Here come the IT girls!

04 January 2010

 

Girls will be discovering there is more to computing than games and gigabytes at a Teesside University conference.

The Girls and Gadgets computing conference will see around 200 teenage girls, aged from 14 to 16, take part in an event designed to offer girls hands-on computing experience.

The girls will hear from guest speakers and take part in a range of activities designed to help them understand both the creative and technical skills involved in computing on 7 January.

Now in its third year at the University, the annual event also offers the girls an opportunity to discover more the vast array of careers in computing.

Although teenage girls are now using computers and the internet at rates similar to their male peers, they are still five times less likely to consider a technology related career.

The conference, organised by the University’s School of Computing and supported by regional regeneration agency One North East and the British Computing Society, aims to promote computer science as an interesting and challenging career path.

Studying the wide range of computing-related subjects It also provides the girls taking part with an opportunity to sample life at Teesside University and learn more about studying the wide range of computing-related subjects.

The girls take part in a wide range of sessions including focus on robots, computer games, digital music, multimedia and animation. The girls also take part in an e-journalism session, which sees them interview guests at the event and then use those stories to create website content.

The girls come to the University from schools across the Tees Valley, Durham and Tyne and Wear areas.

Alison Brown, Senior Lecturer in Computing at the University, said: 'We aim to offer the girls an understanding of the vast range of opportunities available to them in the field of computing. The annual conference helps to encourage them to consider computer science as a serious career choice.'


 
 
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