On December 1st
and 2nd a delegation from the Department of Computer &
Information Sciences of Northern Caribbean University (NCU) attended the bi-annual
EduVision conference, held at the Jamaica Conference Center in Kingston. EduVision
is Jamaica's premier conference highlighting the use of technology for
advancing educational objectives.
This conference is organized by
the Ministry of Education in partnership with the Institute of
Education at the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Jamaica Teachers'
Association, e-Learning Jamaica, ICT4D Jamaica and the Department of
Information and Communication in the Office of the Prime Minister. The theme
for this year was “Sustainable Innovations: New Opportunities for Education and
Business Collaboration.” Emphasis was placed on the role of technology in human
resource development and entrepreneurship.
This year’s conference saw the addition of an exciting component, aptly
called, “Mission Impossible: Possible”,
where students were given a challenge to solve in approximately 1 ½ days or 27
hours. The details of the challenge were presented at approximately 8:40am,
where all students were simultaneously charged to develop a Library Management
System (LMS) to address the needs of colleges in Jamaica. A team comprising
Terrence Sterling, Rhodrey Shaw, Ricardo Thompson, Romario Hall, and supervised
by Damion Mitchell, entered and competed against other teams from tertiary
institutions across Jamaica. These teams included Knox Community College, and
two others from the University of Technology.
All competitors were placed in a
“boiler room”, where they worked tirelessly and passionately on the given
challenge. The team proved the concept of TEAM-Together Everyone Achieves Much,
as each person used their skillsets to realize a working prototype of the given
challenge. On the final day, team NCU presented to a panel of four judges, and
was drilled extensively on the practicality of the system, and also the
prospect for future growth. The team expertly handled the questions, and gave a
good account of themselves, which once again demonstrated the virtues of the
holistic educational approach adopted by NCU. At the end of the presentation,
it was announced that team NCU outdid their competitors, and was crowned
champions. This challenge certainly exposed the competitors’ technical skills
as well as their team work and ability to work under pressure – all valuable
competencies for successful techpreneurship. The team showed that what is impossible, with hard work and
determination can be made possible.
Once again, this is another great achievement that highlights the Department of
Computer & Information Sciences’ standing in the Information Technology sphere
in the region. Congratulations again to team NCU.
by Damion Mitchell
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Information Sciences
by Damion Mitchell
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Information Sciences
