The Al Ain Women's College IT day was a great learning experience for students and all those involved.
Al Ain Women’s College (AAWC) hosted its third IT Open Day – “Join IT”, on Wednesday, May 11. The event was organized by the Information Technology (IT) students and members of the IT program. This year’s theme of Join IT: Join the fun! not only showcased current student projects but also promoted various education and career choices in IT.
After a welcome by College director Tim Smith and watching videos created in “Adobe after Effects” by Lieutenant Mariam Al Dhaheri, a Master of Information Technology student, the Al Ain Colleges community listened to speeches by three IT professionals, who also participated in a panel discussion moderated by AAWC IT faculty member Dr. Zoheir Ezziane.
Mr. Imad Choucair, Chief Information Officer at TECOM Investments and IT Program Advisory Committee Chair at HCT; 1st Lieutenant Jasim Al Dhaheri, AAMC e‑commerce graduate, Abu Dhabi Police member and contract manager for TETRA service users, and Shereena Yousef Al Baloushi, AAWC graduate and manager of corporate IT activities in Al Ain Distribution Company, discussed about IT trends, challenges and career opportunities.
Two alumnae, who are furthering their studies at AAWC, gave software workshops to a number of students and faculty. Rauda Al Dhaheri, a Master of Information Technology student, demonstrated the use of Prezi, a web-based presentation software that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides like those in PowerPoint. Meanwhile, Shereena Al Hamiri, a Bachelor of Information Management student, showed the basics of Microsoft OneNote, a program typically employed for information-gathering and team collaboration.
IT students from both the Men’s and Women’s Colleges also exhibited their recent projects, and visitors were able to interact with the displays and try their own IT skills. Some students assembled PCs, while others explained networking models and demonstrated the use of networking channels, hardware, and software such as Cisco Packet Tracer. Another group of students used Adobe Flash to create games for the PC and the iPhone. Other teams designed multimedia-rich Web pages in Adobe Dreamweaver or programmed Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 robots.
As part of the entertainment and excitement, three iPods were raffled off to lucky students, and there was a booth where visitors could play Nintendo Wii and Play Station 3. Abu Dhabi Police, Cisco, DU, Intel, and Tbreak each had separate displays on Information and Communications Technology. Mercedes-Benz, through Emirates Motor Company and Eastern Motors, was the major sponsor of the event.
Al Ain Colleges director Tim Smith said: “The IT Open Day clearly highlighted to our students, at both our colleges, what studying in IT entails and what doors it opens. The student presentations were first class, with many of our students leading the way in describing what they do in this field; they are great ambassadors for both IT and the college.”
For more information, visit website http://itsociety.aawc.hct.ac.ae/ or follow www.facebook.com/AAWC.ITSociety
