Recharge (Launceston, Summer, 2017)
This summer, join us at the Launceston College Steam NGN for a week of electronics, 3D printing, game design, virtual reality, tours, guest speakers and basically diving deep into a whole manner of cool technology-based projects.
The Recharge program is aimed at high school and college students who are interested in technology. The program is project-based, with students working in small teams throughout the week to build projects of their own design using materials made available by Bitlink and Launceston College. The theme for this year is "Art vs. Science", essentially, we're going to be working on projects that would feel right at home in a museum or art gallery, with the team from QVMAG helping us to refine our ideas along the way.
This summer, Recharge is taking place from Monday January 16th to Friday January 20th, 10am to 4pm each day. We charge $200 for this course, which covers all 5 days, and is inclusive of GST and processing fees. Class size is capped at 12 for this program, so if you'd like to participate, please jump in quickly to grab a ticket and secure your place!
If this sounds like your sort of thing, come along and join us!
Tickets
Additional Information
Key Information
What?
Recharge Art vs. Science @ The Launceston College Steam NGN
Who?
Teens aged 14-18 (Boys & Girls Welcome!)
When?
Daily, 10am - 4pm, from Monday January 16th to Friday January 20th
Where?
The STEAM NGN, Launceston College, 107-119 Paterson St, Launceston, TAS, 7250
How much?
$200 for all five days. (This price is inclusive of GST and all processing fees.)
What do I bring?
All necessary equipment will be provided at the venue, however, this price for this program doesn't include catering, so please bring a packed lunch or money to buy lunch each day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pay day by day, or can I pay with cash?
Unfortunately, we don't have a good mechanism for accepting day by day payments or accepting cash. As such, it is our strong preference that all payments are made in advance and through Tito.
What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?
The STEAM NGN is on the Paterson St side of Launceston College, opposite TasTafe. There's usually plenty of parking in the street around there, so that will work well as a drop off point.
Does my child need to bring a computer, iPad or other technology to the event?
Nope! All technology will be provided! We'll have laptops and software licenses ready to go. However, if your son or daughter would prefer to use their own laptop, they're welcome to bring it along.
You've specified ages 14-18. How firm is that age range?
We like to treat age ranges like the age ranges on board games; they're designed as a guide, but you'll know better than us whether your child will be a good fit for this program or not. As a general rule, please feel free to treat our age ranges as being a bit fuzzy. We'll almost always have a couple of kids in our programs who are a little older or a little younger than our specified range. If you'd like to discuss whether this particular program would be a good fit for your child, send us an email using our contact email address (you can find it at the end of this FAQ).
What is Bitlink?
Bitlink is a Tasmanian company that is focused on developing workshops and teaching materials that help primary and high school students learn about topics like computer programming, electronics, game design and 3D printing in a fun and accessible way. Bitlink is helping out with this workshop by providing some administrative support (accepting payments and managing payroll) as well as providing all of the necessary equipment (laptops, etc.) for the workshops.
What is the STEAM NGN?
The STEAM NGN is a brand new hackerspace facility that has been established at Launceston College in late 2016. The venue gives us access to a class kit of 3D printers, electronics kits, a VR room, robots, drones and a whole bunch of other gear that will mean that our projects will only be limited by our imaginations!
One or more of my children won't be able to participate this time around. Will there be more events like this in the future?
Recharge is quite a resource intensive course for us to run, so we're not always able to guarantee that we'll be running it again soon (or even that we'll be able to run it in the summer of 2018). However, chances are we'll be doing more programs for teens in the not so distant future. If you'd like to keep up to speed with what programs we have on offer in your area, you can join our mailing list using the link below.
This all sounds pretty cool, but it's a bit light on detail. Where can I learn more about the program itself?
If you'd like to learn more about the program and how it runs, we created a pretty comprehensive overview of our Recharge program in 2015, which you can view using the link below. The format will be a bit different this time around (the 2017 program is shorter, the theme is a little different, and the guest speakers will be a bit different too), but if you want to get a sense for the feel of the program and the sorts of things we get up to, this journal from 2015 should be really helpful.
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
Get in touch with us via contact@bitlink.com.au. We'll get back to you as soon as we can!