Plenty of people were back on campus for Day 5 of the Festival of Learning – with programming and app development sessions, a media training workshop and cooking a three course meal just some of the free events on offer.
Those who wanted to try programming had the chance to get hands-on in the Build a SMART gadget with Arduino workshop, which talked them through the basics of coding.
Computing and English teacher Richard Dent, from the Bournemouth University International College, was one of those who went along to the session.
He said: “It’s something I’ve not come across before and thought might be quite interesting.
“It’s very, very good basically because it’s hands on in two areas - physically and in the programming side as well. I had no idea what to expect and was so pleasantly surprised.”
The Festival also welcomed external partners giving talks and running events; pupils from Avonbourne School ran an afternoon tea session and hosted stalls showcasing some of their social enterprise projects, while Bournemouth-based digital agency 3 Sided Cube led a workshop about the future of app development and wearable technology.
One attendee, who had come along with a colleague, said: “We both work in Poole making apps so we thought it was quite relevant. We want to get into the watch hype, makes some watch apps, so it was great to hear what kind of experience they’d had with it.”
Attendees at Sean Beer’s Let Your Tongues Do The Walking event made dinner with a difference, cooking three course meal along with Sean while learning about the sociological, economical and environmental implications of the ingredients used.
Harsha Gilpa, of Southbourne, had come along to the event with husband Marco and children Lea, 7, and Amy, 11.
She said: “We all enjoy eating food, a wide variety of food, so we thought let’s see what Bournemouth has to offer and to see if we learn anything new. The kids are thoroughly enjoying doing everything hands-on.”
She added: “We spent the whole day here Saturday and Sunday, and still they wanted more and we were quite surprised at that. I think [The Festival] is amazing – I’m amazed that they created so many activities for a wide range of audiences.”
The Festival of Learning runs until Friday 17 July, with over 150 free events and activities taking place over the course of a week.
