Young People’s Reports
On Wednesday 25th November, a group of Harris Post-16 students selected as gifted and talented in ICT were chosen to attend a ‘Robots and Avatars Forum’ hosted at NESTA. We travelled to London and to NESTA’s impressive offices, where we were greeted and introduced to the various people who had attended. The forum was attended by around eighty professionals from various fields: robotic engineering to architecture, and then nine Harris students; three of which from Merton.
Throughout the day various speakers took the podium and as a group we discussed the current and future possibilities of using robots, avatars and virtual reality. As well as this, small sessions were set up to experiment with some current-generation technology, including path-sensing robots, avatars whose eyes followed you around and various virtual reality platforms. The day involved a lot of discussions and debates that revolved around this virtual world and raised points relevant to both older and younger generations.
Being the only students in a room of professionals began as being fairly daunting, however as the day moved on we were encouraged to join in discussions and I regularly began to contribute. I could feel my confidence in working with adults and professionals growing through the day.
What was particularly interesting to me was that as the day progressed, it became clear that the knowledge and opinions of the students was of equal value to the experts and professionals: we were encouraged to give our thoughts and views, and barriers of age and educational qualifications dissolved. It felt at various points that the experts were learning from the students just as much as the other way round.
The day helped my personal development as a Post-16 student beyond building my confidence. Much of the subject matter was tied into my ICT course, where I am studying alternative technologies. They day gave me real-world examples which I can use in my studies. We considered what working life will be like in 2020, which was fascinating and made me consider my future. I have kept in touch with some of the professionals at the forum, including the Creative Director of body>data>space who has offered me an internship position.
Other participants on the day felt equally positive. My fellow Harris Merton student Dwayne Jackson said “It was an invaluable experience. The wealth of knowledge the experts had was unbelievable. It gave me a real insight into what I want to study at University.”
Ricky Compton, Year 13, Harris Academy Merton.
