A new age in volunteering
Tuesday, 06 February 2007 12:28
INVOLVEMENT in volunteering is having a dramatic impact on young people, the voluntary sector and the unemployed, according to ProjectScotland. In just over 18 months the national volunteering scheme, which launched in 2005 and is based on the successful AmeriCorps programme, claims to have changed the perception of volunteering among the young.
It also claims significant benefits to businesses, participating charities and agencies, and the volunteers themselves.
According to figures revealed to Herald Society, involvement in ProjectScotland halves a young person's chance of being unemployed, increases fundamental communication skills and enhances the ability of voluntary groups to make a difference.
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Fair shares in funding?
Tuesday, 02 January 2007 10:57
"Captain, the engines cannae take much more" - the catchphrase of "Scottie" of Star Trek was based on the stereotypical, highly trained Scots mechanic. Albeit in a futuristic guise, this was the kind of chap that in days of yore Dundee Technical College prided itself on turning out. The college, founded in 1888 for the training of mechanics, as shown in the stone carvings on the front of its original home, moved on to navigation, which explains the ship's bridge that stands on its roof. Now, reincarnated as the University of Abertay Dundee, it specialises in biotechnology and computer games. It was Abertay that trained the creator of Grand Theft Auto.
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Why video games could be good for school pupils
Thursday, 14 December 2006 12:12
IN THE pre-dawn darkness of a winter's morning, I often hear bumps as my nineyear-old, having jack-knifed out of bed, gallops downstairs to enter Runescape, an internet game that mimics an alien world, complete with three religions, its own monsters, myths and quests.
For him, tapping on the keyboard is obviously the equivalent of the wardrobe route to Narnia as utilised by the Pevensie children.
In an effort to understand what I am dealing with here, I have tried playing it myself, but it doesn't work as well for me; I fumble and stumble, unable to control my "avatar" (the screen image representing my character online), unable to complete the simplest quest.
I, you see, am a digital immigrant, and like a non English-speaking mother who gets her children to do the shopping, I have to ask for my son's help with apparently simple tasks.
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Confidence trick
Tuesday, 28 November 2006 10:45
Morag Henderson found her time at university very hard. A single parent of two, with no supportive ex-partner on the scene, no money and mild dyslexia, who left school with few formal qualifications, she says: "I thought about dropping out all the time."
At times, the problems seemed to pile up endlessly, but despite debts mounting, a child being bullied at school, a dispute with the university about transcribing her exam papers to make them legible and struggles with aspects of the work, Henderson graduated with a 2.1 in archaeology from Edinburgh University this year.
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