About 75 business students from the Near North District School Board’s three high schools are at Canadore College this Wednesday learning about digital literacy.
The students are part of the board’s Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program at West Ferris Intermediate and Secondary School, and their counterparts at Widdifield and Chippewa.
The event is spearheaded by West Ferris and is billed as Cyber Day.
Business leader of the SHSM program at West Ferris, Karen Bond, says this is the second year for the event.
When it was first held last year it only involved the West Ferris students.
Bond says it was decided to hold Cyber Day in conjunction with the other two high schools so that the community partners who talk to the students about digital literacy address them all at once instead of repeating themselves a couple of times when the next school holds a similar event.
Bond says this year the students will learn about computer coding and hear about ICE which stands for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship.
Bond says the community partners who talk to the students will explain the type of digital skills that are needed in today’s workforce.
They will get that message from the keynote speaker, Nathan Snider of the Information and Communication Council.
Snider won’t only talk about the digital skills students need, he’ll also address labour market demands and trends.
“More times than not, there’s an increasing demand for digital literacy skills and it seems to be across all sectors of the economy,” Bond said.
“Digital literacy and coding specifically are no longer skills that really are restricted to a career in technology. Pretty much every type of industry is looking for that skill set. So instead of having to hire someone to come in and do those things for you, it’s great when young people come into the workplace and they already have that skill set.”
In addition to learning about what digital skills are needed in today’s workplace, the students get to put together a mock funding application as if they’re going to launch a new website or app for a business.
“They will have to conceptualize the actual e-commerce site and then pitch it with unique and innovative ideas to industry professionals,” Bond said.
The e-commerce challenge is from the Blue Sky Economic Growth Corporation.
Bond says when West Ferris hosted the first Cyber Day last year it was very well received and the community partners asked if it was planning to do it again for 2019.
With this year’s version adding the Chippewa and Widdifield SHSM business students, Bond is already looking ahead to 2020.
She says the hope next year is to expand Cyber Day to include SHSM students in the arts and culture, mining manufacturing and construction sectors.
