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Business Schools pilot coding App to tackle Big Data

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Who said an MBA degree must be all work and no fun?

Tangible Africa, an engagement project of the Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences Department and the Leva Foundation, has partnered with Henley Business School to present an interactive workshop aimed at introducing postgraduate executive students to programming concepts and Big Data.
 
Tangible Africa’s coding App, RANGERS, and other fun, tangible coding techniques are being used in a tailor-made workshop for executive postgraduate students, which was recently presented to MBA students at the Nelson Mandela University Business School.
  
Nelson Mandela University Head of Computing Sciences, Prof Jean Greyling, said this is a wonderful example of collaboration – not only interdisciplinary between his Department and the Henley Business School – but also between institutions with the Leva Foundation as NPO providing valuable insights into the continued success of the App at school level.

“The entire concept was the idea of Marti Janse van Rensburg, (Programme Director: Henley Business School Africa) after she saw RANGERS. I was responsible for the additional Big Data content development of the workshop, following consultation with the academic staff at Henley,” said Greyling.

Janse van Rensburg said she thought RANGERS, a coding game which up to recently was typically played by primary school learners, would be a great way to introduce Big Data and the associated programming skills to postgraduate executive students.

After she met with the team from Tangible Africa, content for a draft workshop was developed. “We ran a pilot at Henley in January for some of my colleagues and invited delegates. Thereafter Jean, myself and a colleague re-designed the workshop. The revised workshop will be presented at Henley in May on one of my programmes, possibly also others,” said Janse van Rensburg.

Henley Business School Africa Dean, Jon Foster Pedley, said: “We have had a very successful partnership with the Leva Foundation and Ryan le Roux (Leva Foundation CEO) through our social enterprise MBAid. It is great to see ideas like these result in real education.”

The Big Data and Coding Workshop was also successfully presented earlier in March at Nelson Mandela University’s Business School – to the university’s MBA students.

Prof Margaret Cullen, a professor to MBA and DBA students at the Nelson Mandela University Business School, said the school had over the years embarked on several collaborations with the Computing Sciences Department.

“Jean has always had a passion and purpose for making a difference and has definitely found his niche in Tangible Africa. His discussions with Henley Business School brought about the realisation that the work he does with Tangible Africa could be very relevant, not only at school level, but at management level as well, as managers also need to understand data and its relevance in business decision-making,” said Cullen.

Cullen said the workshop fits in with the MBA programme in that more than just content needs to be learnt, but also skills development required for management decision-making. “In this case, the learning was critical thinking skills, problem solving, innovation and cognitive learning, amongst others. The future world of work will require people who can make ethical innovative decisions based on good thinking. In addition, the students were given a better understanding of Big Data, the role of Computing Science in Big Data and how they can manage it,” said Cullen.

And while the RANGERS App may have been initially developed with primary school learners in mind, it has now proven itself to be a tool for life-long learning – no matter the level of education. “Business professionals need to be challenged constantly; life-long learning brings new skills, different ways of doing things, different ways of framing and solving problems,” said Cullen.

An MBA student who participated in the workshop, Dr Sasha Boucher, said she found the workshop highly interactive and practical.

“We used games to introduce basic coding without a computer and had to work in a team, where communication skills were very important. What the workshop taught us was what 21 st century recruiters are looking for and that is problems solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and communication skills. I believe it is vital that all learners have these competencies given that the future of work is changing, and I would like to see this introduced from primary school all the way to graduate level,” said Boucher.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.