The Digital Skills Academy offers a learning experience in which issues key to companies in the digital space are covered

ON EXPLORING the environs of the Digital Skills Academy in Dublin’s Digital Hub you would be forgiven for thinking you had stepped into the office space of a trendy Silicon Valley start-up.

The modular furniture, exposed brickwork and shiny new iMacs are more tech entrepreneur than back-to-education – and this is the desired effect.

Scattered throughout the various classrooms and computer labs are the class of 2012. They are about to embark upon the brand new WebElevate course, designed to reskill students in various digital media technologies and an entrepreneurial attitude.

One hundred and eighty recently out-of-work professionals, most with undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications, will spend the next 12 months completing one of several streams specialising in video production, digital marketing and mobile app development, amongst others.

The level 8 course is fully funded through the Higher Education Authority as part of the Springboard initiative, with Dublin Institute of Technology as the awarding body.

With so many places available, the academy had to sort through an initial 450 applicants. Those on the course may not seem like the traditional fit for a high tech career – musicians, barristers, architects, engineers and journalists – but they were chosen for their problem-solving abilities and teamwork skills, as well as previous qualifications.

“The average age of students is 32. They’re young, but have other life responsibilities, so the course is on a part-time provision and allows them to continue should they get a job,” says Paul Dunne, chief executive of the academy.

Aside from flexibility, the unique learning environment is key: “People in the course get a chance to mingle with the tech start-ups based in the Digital Hub.

“Some of these companies have side projects they want to work on but don’t have the time or money to commit. Our students team up with them to develop these projects as part of their assessment.”

This approach focuses on teamwork, and exams have been tossed out the window: “The proviso is, no exams. It’s project-based, and creative problem solving is key. Half of what they learn will be from each other.”

Dunne explains that the approach aims to simulate a real work environment, while encouraging entrepreneurship.

New student and ex-engineering consultant Sinead O’Neill is already planning on becoming a developer and setting up her own educational apps company.

“It’s very different to other typical college courses; it’s more like a working environment.”

Part of the reason for this is because the academy consulted with industry to make sure they were teaching the right skills. Issues of critical importance to companies in the digital space are covered, including intellectual property protection and copyright infringement.

“From the outset we encourage collaborative working and teamwork because these are things employers say they need,” says Dunne, adding that pretty radical changes need to be made when designing educational programmes in order to make this work.

This is why the specially designed desks used in the Academy would look more at home in an open office than a classroom.

“It needs to feel like an enterprising environment. This is often lacking in other programmes,” says Dunne, referring to the culture shock out-of-work professionals can encounter when their back-to-education environment feels more like a “seomra ranga” than a lecture hall.

So far, the results seem to speak for themselves.

Three months after the WebActivate course ended, 50 per cent of the graduates were back working and earning.

“We expect the same success rate for the WebElevate course and expect a number of graduates to start their own businesses,” he says.

This isn’t a business incubation programme and neither is it education as we know it. Dunne says it operates as “a space in-between”.

“Graduates may be going on from this to fourth level education but they are equally likely to go on to an incubation programme with their own start-up.”

ELECTRICIANS, BRICKLAYERS, ARCHITECTURAL TECHNICIANS: THE DIGITAL SKILLS ACADEMY STUDENTS

WHEN THE Irish property bubble burst in 2009, the immediate fallout was the loss of thousands of jobs directly linked to the construction sector. One of the many affected was David Rafferty, an electrician by trade and now a budding film-maker.

Out of work for almost three years, he applied for the DigiFilm course at Digital Skills Academy. He graduates this week and already has two short films under his belt and his own film company – Lightstone Films – which was founded with fellow classmate and former bricklayer James Dunne.

Rafferty is blunt about his prospects had he not enrolled in the course: “I’d have emigrated by now; I would have headed to Australia or Canada.”

Although making the move from electrician to film-maker seems like a leap, Rafferty says working in film was something he wanted to do since he was 18. The lure of good money and a steady job in a boom economy was far more sensible than pursuing a dream career, he thought.

However, sensibility and practicality have been the core tenets of the academy course on digital film-making, he says. “I’ve heard that some media courses don’t allow you to touch a camera until your second year. We were learning how to use camera equipment in the second week, setting up lighting, writing our own material. It was so hands-on.”

Rafferty is currently working on his next film project on the late Dublin politician Tony Gregory after completing a documentary on Asperger’s syndrome in association with Trinity College Dublin’s AS Support Service.

Former architectural technician Emmet O’Connell emerged from the same economic ruins. After he was made redundant he enrolled in the academy’s WebActivate course, an intensive programme that involves web design, internet marketing and social media skills.

O’Connell had dabbled in web design before he embarked on the course, and said this gave him the skills and support network he needed to go on to set up his own business, IndexD.

“The course encouraged entrepreneurship, and many of the graduates still collaborate with each other. If I can’t provide a certain aspect of a project myself I know that I can contact someone from the course and bring them on board.

“The majority of the people I’ve been in touch with have gone on to set up their own businesses too, and business is good; I’m happy to say that I’m extremely busy!”