CSC Teachers across Nigeria acquire Oracle APEX Skills at Oracle Codeweek 2021

Technology trends continue to evolve daily and in view of this, most tech-driven organizations have found innovative ways to build and encourage the growth of technology in Nigerian schools.

Two of such organizations that have taken it upon themselves to groom computer science teachers and lecturers all over Nigeria in order to stay true to their vision of improving computer education globally are Oracle Academy and WiFiCombat Academy.

Oracle Academy in partnership with WiFiCombat Academy held a 10 days Easter Bootcamp training for computer science teachers in Nigeria in their just-concluded Oracle CodeWeek Nigeria 2021.

The virtual training which was held for two batches; A and B on the zoom platform lasted for 5 days respectively. Batch A was held on the 29th-30th of May, 5th, 6th and 12th of June 2021 while Batch B was slated for 19th, 20th, 26th, and 27th of June, and 3rd July 2021.

Each year, Oracle Academy helps Computer science teachers acquire new knowledge in the tech world. Hence this year’s training focused on the use of Oracle APEX.

Oracle APEX is a low-code development platform that enables you to build scalable, secure enterprise applications with world-class features that can be deployed anywhere.

Prior to the commencement of the training, over 100 computer science teachers from schools across different states in Nigeria registered successfully. However, on the first day of the training for Batch A about a hundred teachers came aboard while a few others waited to join Batch B which started at a later date.

Oracle Academy Programs Manager; Bekere Amassoma made the opening statement where she encouraged teachers to utilize the various resources available in the Oracle Academy platform for members. 

Mrs Dele Tejuoso, founder of the WiFiCombat Academy, on the other hand, welcomed facilitators and participants to the 1st day of the training.

She stated how encouraging the turnout of teachers was which in turn showed the zeal the teachers had in being part of their campaign on improving computer education in Nigeria.

She stated thus, “The curriculum of Oracle Academy is updated every 3 years to accommodate all the relevant changes globally because it is known that technology is fast evolving and we don’t want to be left behind so as to churn out career-ready students who are competitive.”

Mrs Tejuoso also announced that the most recent offer Oracle Academy has for computer science teachers is the Member Hub – an integrated management system that houses all Oracle academy resources that teachers need to aid them in their work as computer science teachers.

She went ahead to encourage the participants to spread the word about Oracle Academy and their periodic training to other teachers.

The training which commenced immediately with an introduction into the Oracle APEX was handled by Mr Kolade Balogun, a trainer and partner of Oracle Academy and subsequently, his assistant Mr Samuel Adeniji helped to tackle most questions asked by the trainees.

The first day of training saw the teachers being taught on creating a workspace on the Oracle APEX which gave them free access for 30 days. Mr Kolade went ahead to share detailed slides introducing them to the various tools in Oracle APEX which includes; App builder, SQL workshop, Team development, and App gallery.

Mr Kolade took his time to explain that although the Oracle APEX is a low code app which means you don’t have to write so much code to be able to use the app for what you need it for, however, one must be conversant with SQL to use it better.

Mr Gege raised a question on whether or not the Oracle SQL was the same with the one they were familiar with on other database management systems.

Mr Samuel replied saying, “Yes, the Oracle SQL is the same as the SQL you are familiar with in other database management systems. However, there might be slight differences in procedures. Just like you have MySQL, its procedures are different from that of Oracle Apex.”

Subsequently, the teachers were guided on how to use the various components of the Oracle APEX to build apps, create, store, manage and update data. Every level of difficulty encountered by the participants was resolved by the facilitators by ensuring the participants shared their screens so they could be guided on how to overcome the challenges they faced.

At the end of the 5 days training, all the teachers were elated as they had learned a new way of handling data without having to write so much code as most of the other database management systems required. They thanked Oracle Academy and WiFiCombat for creating such golden opportunities such as the annual Oracle Code Week training for computer science teachers to improve in their field. Certificates were awarded to participants who were active for at least 3 out of the 5 days of the training.
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