By Juliet Umeh
No fewer than 200 IT teachers in Nigeria recently received comprehensive coding training as Oracle Academy partnered with WiFiCombat Academy to organize a two-week virtual IT training with the theme: “Oracle Codeweek (Nigeria) Summer Boot Camp” .
The training focused on developing Android applications using the Java language and was a follow-up to previous years’ training that focused on using Greenfoot, Alice or Oracle SQL software to create animations, databases and presentations.
The virtual training event that was previously scheduled for April, but had to be rescheduled to a later date as a result of the pandemic, saw that 60 percent of the participants came from Lagos.
Lagos was followed by Abuja 23.3 percent. Other participants joined from Akwa-Ibom, Makurdi, Port-Harcourt, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Anambra, Enugu, Calabar, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun states.
Oracle said that each week of the training, it started with a preparatory webinar to assist participants in downloading and installing the required components (Java Development Kit, SDK, and Android Studio ID) and over the course of each week, Participants were guided through detailed detailed training by facilitators who proved to be more than resourceful.
WifiCombat Academy founder Dele Tejuoso said the training was an investment against the odds and an indication of his commitment to the progressive education of computer educators in Nigeria.
Tejuoso, who also represented the Oracle Academy Program Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ms. Sefunmi Durojaye, said: “We will make the necessary adjustments to accommodate increased teacher participation, as we are not insensitive to the potential challenges of inconsistent power supply, poor internet connection and unavailability due to other commitments. “
He encouraged participants to communicate with their colleagues so that they, too, could take advantage of the opportunity.
The team of facilitators led by Mr. Kolade Balogun led the participants to familiarize themselves with the working environments, solve problems and solve all the imminent challenges of the installation that could hinder full participation, explaining that the functionality of the Android studio has many dependencies as the app is updated frequently for optimization
Balogun delved into what he called “Introducing Android Application Development Using Java” through a series of shared PowerPoint slides at Zoom (while other facilitators answered questions from participants in the chat section).
He urged participants to be patient throughout the process, especially paying close attention to mastering the basics; He said, “As intentional programmers, your journey to becoming a professional only begins with this training, but it will evolve as you begin to practice and gain experience taking on projects.”
