Inversity spoke to Laura Phillips, Curriculum Lead for Computing (Priestley College Warrington) about her student’s experiences with the service.

What was your experience of Inversity?
On the whole, my students had an extremely positive experience of Inversity – they enjoyed the high profile and real life challenges. The high quality feedback was extremely useful to them, particularly when applying for their individual progression routes. Those that took a more active part in the monthly challenges have found that they had more to discuss during interviews or meetings with employers.

What does Inversity give students over and above the specification?
The chatbot for the challenges really allows students to investigate the problem presented, which can be difficult to recreate in a classroom. When we use guest speakers, students find it difficult to find the answers to their questions when the company representative leaves the classroom which, whilst realistic, has a huge impact on momentum which we can’t afford in a classroom environment during lessons.
The high quality feedback from James and Mark at Inversity is hugely appreciated by the students and really gives them direction for the next challenge. We can’t thank Inversity enough!

Tell us a bit about how Inversity has fit with the Digital T-Level?
The challenge model fits in extremely well with the Occupational Specialism task of second year Digital T-Level; it encourages learners to investigate user requirements and present completed solutions to a range of stakeholders. The challenges make excellent live briefs which is fantastic experience for both OccSpec and ESP.
In addition, the hackathon was an exceptional way of boosting students’ confidence in communicating technical aspects of their solutions, as well as working in teams.