A day out at Deakin for home-schooling students

Faculty of Science and Technology

Home-schooled students were introduced to the exciting possibilities of tertiary education at Deakin through an outreach event in the Faculty of Science and Technology in December.

About 65 students visited the Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds for workshop activities in physics, electronics and computer game design over three days. The students were impressed by the facilities in the games lab and were interested in opportunities provided to build a career in the games industry.

Participants’ ages ranged from 10 to over 16 years. Some of the older students who took part in the electronics workshop had the opportunity to learn to program a simple microprocessor from School of Engineering and IT technical officer Lee deVries.

In its second year, the annual initiative is a one-of-a-kind for students in the home-education movement among universities in Victoria.

School of Engineering and Information Technology Senior Lecturer, John Long, said the aim was twofold – to extend Deakin’s outreach to disadvantaged groups and to regional Victoria, and to introduce a diverse new group of students to courses in science at Deakin University.

‘These students showed a lot of interest in the areas of IT, science and engineering, and they also appreciated the chance to come to the Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds,’ he said.

‘It gave them the opportunity to look around Deakin and see what career paths are available to them in areas they might not otherwise have considered. It was a very rewarding initiative, especially given that no other university is doing much to cater to the needs of the home-schooling community. I’m looking forward to holding similar events for home-education students in the future. There are thousands of home-educated children across Australia and this is a unique opportunity for Deakin to take a lead in a growing movement.’

Parents and some younger siblings also attended the program. Tours of the Campus, including the Geelong Technology Precinct, were also held.

Homeschooling students at the outreach event.