The spotlight is on Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu, Computer Science Instructor, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria.

With 225 million people, Nigeria is Africa’s largest nation. It has 250 ethnic groups who speak a multitude of languages. Almost three-fourths of the population is younger than age 30. Of the 36 states in the country, Bauchi State, in the Northeast, is the fifth largest in area and seventh most populous with an estimated population of over 6,530,000. Dubbed the ‘food basket' of Nigeria, the state is also a tourist destination, with attractions such as Yankari National Park and Wikki Warm Springs.

Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, in Bauchi State, is one of 17 federal polytechnics in Nigeria. Its mission is to contribute to technological development through training of young people in the application of science, engineering, and commerce. There are 33 departments within the polytechnic organized under six schools: agriculture, engineering technology, environmental technology, business studies, science and technology, and general studies.

The Department of Computer Science runs four-year national diploma and certificate programs designed to produce computer professionals. Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu teaches database and applications development using Oracle Academy course materials. She is currently preparing to sit the Oracle Certification exam 1Z0- 071, Oracle Database SQL.

Oracle Academy: How did you get started with Oracle Academy?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: I was selected with four other colleagues by the polytechnic to be trained in Database Foundations. One year later, I received training on Database Design and Programming with SQL. I passed the exams, and in turn, we shared our knowledge with many colleagues.

One result of the training was that we used our new skills to help design a new lecture and examination timetable system for the polytechnic administration. It was implemented, and they were really appreciative!

Oracle Academy: Which parts of the curriculum do you teach?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: I blend the polytechnic curriculum with the materials available from the Oracle Academy Member Hub. In particular, I use Database Foundations and Database Design and Programming with SQL. With these I then show students how to build applications, using Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler for conceptual and physical design and Oracle Application Express (APEX) for querying. They love it.

Oracle Academy: Do you have some examples?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: Lots! There’s one Oracle Academy project I used consistently to teach the basics, and that’s the Oracle Baseball League store. The project is about baseballs, cleats, gloves, shirts, uniforms, and other items. I get students to apply the Oracle naming conventions of a conceptual data model in the creation of a physical data model. We’re talking about tables typical for a small retail store such as customers, orders, prices, sales reps, addresses, inventory, loyalty cards, teams, items, price history.

It’s a long project for which I grouped them into five teams of three, each with a team leader, with the design split into various parts. Then together in class we reviewed each team’s work, highlighteded and resolved the mistakes.

First, we do the conceptual model, logical design, applying the rules of relationship mapping. Then we build a logical model in Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler. And finally, we engineered the completed logical data model to a relational model, which forms the basis for the physical database design. All of this is based on the resources at our disposal in the Oracle Academy Member Hub.

Oracle Academy: How do you find the Oracle Academy Member Hub?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: It’s just great. Everything’s there: teaching resources, the course curricula, and motivational items such as Oracle certificates, badges, logos. And there are many materials I have not yet applied to my classes which I’m planning to: Java programming and cloud computing, for example.

Oracle Academy: Terrific. And what other projects have you assigned?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: Over the past year we have had a rich crop of innovative projects using Oracle Academy’s database courses. One student created an online detective system; another developed a help desk. One amazing project covered the architecture for brain age prediction based on MRI images.

Let me give you a few more: Design of a web-based asset management system; and design of a blood donor repository in Nigeria using a global positioning system.

Oracle Academy: Impressive. And do you interact with other learning institutions interested in methods of teaching database technology?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: Yes, we quite often get visitors from higher learning establishments, to whom we explain the huge benefits of using Oracle Academy, of teaching end-to-end database to web application development.

We haven’t done any train-the-trainer events for these institutions, but that may happen. Currently I am preparing myself for the Oracle Database SQL examination, which will take me up a level.

Oracle Academy: That’s great! And lastly, what activities do you enjoy outside of teaching?

Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu: My family takes up a lot of my leisure time. But I’m also very involved in community development, which is most satisfying. Other than that, I love traveling, conducting research, as well as organizing and attending workshops and conferences.

Thank you, Amatullah Yahaya Aliyu, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.