Smallpeice virtual engineering courses?

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My DS has done a couple of in-person Smallpeice Trust courses and enjoyed them, but is unsure about doing a virtual one, even though it's on a topic of interest to his degree choice. The blurb says there will be practical tasks, but he's sceptical. Does anyone have experience of the virtual courses? How interactive were they?

DS has done them. His experience was a bit mixed. On one they sent a component pack for the practical task the week before. When it came to the actual task however, they discovered some of them had been sent the wrong components, so they missed out on the task completely. I think if the Course had been 'in-person' it would have got sorted out really quickly on the spot. That said, the content was good and it has been useful to have on his CV! Overall, would recommend, but it is a very different experience to the in person courses.

Thanks @awesomeaardvark . Good to know they send materials. One of the reasons my son is sceptical is that he's imagining having to build things out of household materials like cereal boxes. 😁

Did your son have any direct contact with the other participants? My son's previous experience of online learning has always been "cameras off" for safeguarding reasons. He's been able to chat online via text, but that's all.

Oh no, the build was good. I can't remember what it was, but it was something electronic? During the sessions I think one boy was very chatty and had his camera on, but the rest were mostly camera off? They had the chance to go into break out rooms and discuss various tasks, but DS is not much of a talker, so I think he stayed under the radar as far as he could.

Do you pay for the online ones ? Ds likes the sound of their courses but doesn't qualify for any of them.

Yes, the online courses are cheaper than the in-person ones, but still have a fee.

However, there are some freebie activities you can do at home here: https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/engineering-at-home.