Achievements

During the First Academic Semester

iT Administration Carries out a Number of Electronic Community Initiatives

Source :  King Khalid University - Media Center

The General Directorate of Information Technology (IT) carried out a number of electronic community initiatives during the first semester of the 1439-40 academic year. As part of its community service program, initiatives included 'Asir Codes', 'Coding Hour', and the iT Internship Program. The Asir Codes Initiative is part of the Saudi Codes National Initiative, which is a cooperative program with the Misk Foundation for Saudi youth development. The program aims to educate and teach the fundamentals of coding through virtual and practical classes to prepare trainees to become coding ambassadors in the Asir region. The initiative spanned 14 meetings and was divided between practical sessions held in the university and virtual classes online. Of note, the initiative included 317 trainees and 64 instructors while the number of attendees online represented 75% of the participants.

Held contemporaneously with the initiatives was the 'Asir Codes Instructor Certificate' program. Participants in this program engaged two or more people on the fundamentals of coding through an interactive website. Even more, they documented the process through an article or a picture, which resulted in the participation of 23 members.

Of noteworthy mention, the initiative also completed several requirements as benchmarked in the Saudi Codes Initiative. They include 27% Javascript, 21% generating code, 25% Python, and 27% Saudi Coding Ambassadors. Furthermore, the Coding Hour Initiative was delivered in a number of schools as part of the non-profit initiative offered by Code.org. Code.org aims to teach the fundamentals of coding through a fun and easy to grasp method.

During the 'Coding Hour Initiative', the iT team visited a number of elementary and middle schools as follows:

• 276 Students trained @ The 9^th Elementary School and the 26^th Elementary School in Abha;
• 252 Students trained @ Abha Fist Middle School, the 25^th Middle School, and the 9^th High School in Khamis Mushait.

Central to raising electronic awareness in the community is the first edition of the iT Internship Program. The program was developed to simulate real-life work environments that require creativity and a strong work ethic. It will allow interns to bring their solutions and ideas to life while working on cutting-edge technology. Through mentorship, guidance, and challenging projects, interns will be able to evaluate and understand their performance capabilities in the field. The one-year program includes a variety of areas, including: Application Development, Cybersecurity, Design, Digital Content, Digital Transformation, E-Commerce, Information Protection, Network Design, Project Management, Programming/Program Development, Quality and Documentation, Systems Analysis, Systems Architecture, Systems Integration, and Technical Support.

Personal interviews were conducted to elect the candidates for the internship program.  A total of 17 qualified trainees were invited to join the program. The candidates were from various backgrounds such as computer science, information technology, and computer engineering backgrounds, as well as business and mathematics.

King Khalid University CIO, Dr. Salem Alelyani, said that the administration is working in accord with the vision of the university rector on many initiatives. Those initiatives, he noted, have and will continue to educate our communities and contribute to raising the level of electronic awareness in our society.