Guest Author: Susanne Holmstedt
Visit to Cisco Dublin by students from SDE Denmark
The group of 22 students and three teachers visited Cisco on 7 May 2015 as a part of an excursion to Dublin to experience both work-related and cultural subjects. This visit was very interesting with a content that everybody, both students and teachers, experienced as educational and informative.
We were welcomed by Tom Long, who gave us a thorough description of the many, varied activities that Cisco is involved in. Tom told us about the development of IT, both with a historical perspective and about IT at the present and in the future. Tom involved the students in an active and constructive discussion where they were encouraged to offer their own views on the various elements. He asked the students about the type of education they were doing, and he elaborated on the qualifications that Cisco would expect from them if they applied for a job.
We had an exciting demonstration of the advanced online conference system that is employed by Cisco where dedicated employees in both Oslo, London and Galway managed to include our students in the demonstration and at the same time, answered their questions. In the first part of the demonstration we learned about some of the many possibilities that are found in such a system. We saw how such a system could detect who was talking, and how it was able to change focus through speech and facial recognition. We also had a demonstration of 3D graphics. A very informative and educational demonstration!
Tom also talked about The Internet of Things as an important element in the future of IT. At this moment it is not only computers and smartphones that can access the internet. The Intelligent City is expected to be integral to The Internet of Things. We were included in a video conference with Cisco in Galway where the development of the Intelligent City is an important task. We had a comprehensive idea of the possibilities and the technology that could be a part of IT in the future. The conference showed examples of both the hardware and the software that are necessary to collect, adapt and present data in connection with the Intelligent City. Also in this case, our students were invited to participate in a discussion with the Cisco employee in Galway and were able to present their points of view and ideas on the subjects for discussion.
We would like to express our thanks to all the staff members at Cisco that gave us their time and made this a unique experience for us as guests. We are very grateful for their kindness, and all of us will definitely remember this visit as inspirational.
We would especially like to thank Tom Long for his courtesy and ability to engage the students in an active discussion on IT-related subjects.
Thank you from all of us from SDE in Denmark
Syddansk Erhvervsskole Odense-Vejle
www.sde.dk
LINKS
Two computer science classes from Sweden visiting Cisco HQ in San Jose
