IT Sligo lecturers Colm Davey and Stephen Reid and web development student TJ Wallace with the equipment that hosts the Adobe software and facilitates its remote accessibility to the institute's students
Institute of Technology (IT) Sligo has just signed a licence agreement with computer software giant Adobe to give students at the institute 24/7 access to its design software.
According to IT Sligo, it is the first third-level institution in Ireland and the UK to sign such a licence agreement with Adobe. The deal will mean students at the institute will be able to access Adobe software, such as PhotoShop, from any computer, anywhere with internet access.
Colm Davey, a lecturer in web and digital media at IT Sligo, said the agreement would benefit IT Sligo students, especially those who have to work part-time to put themselves through college and who can’t always spend an evening in the college lab or library.
From now, IT Sligo will give online tutorials to students, on a pilot basis, to help them exploit the potential of this new 24/7 access.
Stephen Reid, co-ordinator of the KITE Project at IT Sligo, said the licence agreement would not only facilitate students who need out-of-hours access to the software, but will also open up opportunities to deliver new online courses in the digital area.
KITE itself aims to enhance IT Sligo’s online programmes by providing ‘live’, interactive, instructor-led training on specialist software and hardware over the internet. Distance-learning students can remotely access and control this equipment.
The KITE Project is part-funded by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund. Other colleges involved in the project are Northern Regional College in Ballymena and Ayr College in Prestwick, Scotland.
