There is a perception that Apprenticeships are only relevant in practical fields – but this is far from the truth. City & Guilds has over 300 Apprenticeships, covering roles in management, retail, creative and engineering. So wherever your business has a skills gap – whether in catering or administration – there is an apprentice to fill it.

Chris Jones, CEO and Director-General of City & Guilds, introduces Million Extra and explains the importance of apprentices to businesses and the economy.

Until you turned up on the morning of the event and the demographic of the attendees blew all such assumptions out of the water. I struggle to think of any of the technology conference I've been to recently which had such an even gender balance and range of ages. A far cry from the apps development event where the two ITeC attendees were the only females in a group of 40! The push to get more young women into IT careers could do worse than look at Hacio'r Iaith for its model.

The format of the day was an 'unconference'. Only the opening, closing and one definite presentation were scheduled in advance. Everything else was worked out collaboratively on the blog and wiki beforehand and with sticky notes on a day plan on the day.

Welsh Language e-Books

 

Kindle still leading the way for reading devices (at 14%, just ahead of iPhone at 11%) so it was good to hear Amazon have (finally) accepted Welsh language e-books. Lot's of discussion about the merits or otherwise of DRM with an interesting point made that for smaller languages, the risk of people simply not reading it is a far greater threat than copyright infringement of published works.

Cuppa and Cakes - Food Blogging

Something a bit more informal next, (with actual cake) and brought home the value to the language of simply doing 'normal things' but through the medium of Welsh and how it raises the profile of the language online.

One of the best sessions - looking at how new media has become an integral part of many TV programmes these days - an example from S4C which had a particularly high level of Twitter interaction was Cariad@Iaith - which, interestingly have maintained their Twitter presence while the show has been off-air. Even more interesting so have many of the celebs who were tweeting as part of the programme - some genuinely valuable connections there and I've no doubt it's encouraged them to persevere with their Welsh learning.

 

Likewise the ambitious historical drama Pentalar generated such interest it wound up very quickly indeed with its own wiki full of production information and links to more information about the actual historical events. (And everyone is still fingers crossed for a DVD release, S4C!)

 

Haclediad is a regular Welsh language podcast on technology and media which I enjoy a lot so the live recording was not to be missed.

Sesiwn Gloi Hacio’r Iaith 2012 from Rhodri ap Dyfrig on Vimeo.

Topics, as usual ranged all over the place from current interesting apps, to the recent SOPA blackout protests.

Sianel 62 - Sianel Fideo Newydd Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Lleucu Meinir)

Ffilmiau Byr Cymraeg i’r We Wedi Saethu Gyda DSLR (Rhys Llwyd)
Y We a Newyddiaduraeth Fideo (Sara Penrhyn Jones)

A set of three sessions about the use of video online - Sianel 62 a project by Cymdeithas Yr Iaith to encourage more variety of coverage and programme types than S4C alone.

A short film and discussion of its creation using simply a DSLR camera a 4 track recorder which really highlighted how much could be done at relatively low cost.

And a piece about how amateur video and reporting on the web has made an impact, particularly with reference to the climate change coverage.

Ties in well with the Digital Storytelling idea which has become popular recently in schools and community learning.

I contributed to this one as a recent-ish Welsh learner, talking about the online course and community of Say Something in Welsh.  It's an MP3 based course - no reading and writing at all and is startlingly effective.  The support forum is particulalrly active and resources have grown around the course developed by the learners themselves.  The include lesson guides, ITeC's own adaptation of the lessons to use in group sessions (available to guests on our Moodle), a wiki, the 'Do Something in Welsh' map along with numerous 'real life' meetups and events.

 

 

Maldwyn, a Welsh tutor spoke about the use the Glamorgan Welsh for Adults Centre is making of video flashcards on iTunesU and the shared Moodle they're creating in partnership with the other Welsh for Adults Centres.

 

 

Another learner, Pete also spoke about the app he's creating for vocab and the challenges of finding suitable source data - it's easy to get language files as a dictionary, but harder to get lists of "common words" "more challenging words" etc.

 

The vast majority of the information from the day is online, and many of the sessions were recorded.  Overall a very interesting day -- looking forward to the next event!

Last week I attended the e-skills "Delivering Digital Wales" conference. Aside from the coffee and croissants (which were excellent!) some interesting ideas and information came out of it.

 

The recurring themes through the day were very clear:

• ICT is still a growing sector, with many employers reporting skills shortages, especially higher level skills (at Level 3 and above) in the 'harder' skills areas such as coding and telecoms.  (Incidentally, if you are one of those employers, we've got a number of apprenticship places still to fill this year!)

• Very few enter the professional directly from education. There is a gap in the 'pipeline' of new talent. GCSE Computer courses are down.

• The ICT professional workforce is aging and not being replaced figures given were that on 19% of the professional ICT workforce are under 30, with 42% over 40.

• There is still a gender gap in the practitioner/technical strand, something being addressed by projects such as Computer Clubs for Girls (CCfG).

• Realistic work placements make a huge difference in getting and keeping long term work after qualifying.

• The importance of collaboration between education providers (of all sorts) and employers in ensuring people come out of education with the skills that industry needs.

The video shown summarised some of these issues.

 

 

Employers are also noticing the issues, with 70% saying they found new recruits often arrived with employability skills shortages and 65% commenting on the need for better literacy and numeracy skills.