Boosting learning with hands-on experience

 Boosting learning with hands-on experience

SINGAPORE - School is not just classroom learning.

The collaborative projects Ahmad Adham and Nico Siew took part in while studying at ITE College Central, in Ang Mo Kio, have helped them understand their subjects better and given them a deeper understanding of the working world.

Ahmad, 18, is a final-year student pursuing his National Institute of Technical Education Certificate (Nitec) in Visual Effects.

Nico, 22, is in the final year of his Nitec in Mechanical Engineering course.

Both of them, despite taking different courses, have all the tools and resources to help them excel in their studies.

The computer labs at ITE College Central are Ahmad's learning haven as they have all the latest software and digital tools.

Nico hones his skills in the college's engineering workshops, which have the latest equipment sponsored by ball-bearing manufacturer SKF.

But on top of the ITE College Central's learning environment, both students also got to experience what it was like to work in their respective industries.

In June, Ahmad did a week-long attachment with Vividtree, a local visual effects studio that did the footage and editing work for both of Jack Neo's Ah Boys to Men movies.

He said: "Before I left for my attachment, my lecturers gave me a lot of guidance and made me practise on editing some footage so that I would be prepared for what to expect at Vividtree. Their guidance was a great help."

Nico, as the president of the Lionhearters Club in ITE College Central, also got to work on several projects during the course of his studies.

Lionhearters Club members work with SCDF in their community engagement programmes and provide first aid training.

He said: "I collaborated with SCDF to build a walking frame for people who have had their lower limbs amputated. Since January this year, I have been working with SCDF to design a cervical brace to stabilise the heads and necks of accident victims."

Such attachments enable ITE students to benefit from authentic learning, best practices and state-of-the-art hardware and software.

TIME MANAGEMENT

One of the most important lessons both men learnt from their attachments and projects was the value of time.

Ahmad said: "In school, I used to take about five days to do my projects. But at Vividtree, five days was too slow! I had to often edit the footage within only two days, so I had to work faster.

"The workload was very heavy and to finish the work, I just had to forget who I was and focus on what I wanted to become - a good visual effects engineer."

Nico said: "There were many deadlines to meet for my projects. The projects were all team efforts and it was hard to get my team-mates to come together to meet as we all had our individual commitments.

"My team-mates and I also had to do many sketches, find our materials, and give many presentations to clients. Thankfully, the training by my lecturers helped me handle these issues calmly."

After obtaining his Nitec and doing his national service, Ahmad intends to work at Vividtree to hone his skills. He also plans to join a classmate in a video production firm, and work locally or overseas to do TV movies or documentaries.

After graduating from ITE, Nico plans to work in an engineering-related career.

He said: "I may be a vendor of engineering services as I see that there are many projects that can be done. I would also like to continue doing projects that help others, like the lower limb amputee frame and the cervical brace."


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