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IBM 'Mightily Impressed' by SCC Students' Talent in App Development

Team 8 winning Best Project Award for outstanding performance in all phases Team 8 winning Best Project Award for outstanding performance in all phases

Every year, as part of the School of Computing and Communications' SCC.210 module, second-year students are expected to combine their self-directed learning skills with their teamwork skills and carry out a group project.

This year, students were divided into 11 teams and were tasked to design and develop a mobile application called the Lancaster University Friends, Events and Location Finder (LUFELF).

On 22nd May, all teams were given the opportunity to showcase their work, demonstrate their applications on Android smart phones and deliver poster presentations to guests from Lancaster Univeristy and IBM. Each guest was then invited to vote for the best project and poster presentation.

During the poster and demonstration event, Matthew Cronin from the IBM Software Group said,

"I was mightily impressed by the effort students went to and the professional nature in which the apps were presented and demonstrated. App design was not sacrificed given the short timescale, as students managed to achieve great looking and great performing apps. This is a great talent pool for IBM to see."

Jonathan Marshall, also from the IBM Software Group, stated that he was impressed with the quality of the projects and added, "Students brought together a strong technical implementation, a well-designed graphical interface and took the time to present and communicate it well."

Group Project Award Winners

At the end of the half-day event, the SCC.210 tutors counted the votes and announced the winning teams in the following categories:

  • The Best Project Award for outstanding performance in all phases of the software development cycle was presented to Team 8, which comprised Zhenhua Lu, Victoria Mambu, Irina Samarina and Kelly Widdicks (team leader). View Team 8's poster
  • The Best Poster and Demonstration Award for delivering an excellent software application and promoting it with an outstanding poster and demonstration, was presented to Team 7, which comprised James Devine (team leader), Alexander J. Driver, Denis Marinov, Adem Murselaj, Sam Nightingale and Stephen J. Robinson. View Team 7's poster
  • The Best Presentation Award for designing a well-structured presentation and delivering it in a confident and professional way, was presented to Team 2, which comprised Jamie Bird (team leader), Lucas Dos Santos, Nithin John, Max Pickup, Ivan Stanev and Michael David Thomas. View Team 2's poster

Geoff Coulson (Head of SCC) and Matthew Cronin (IBM Software Group) awarded the three prizes. IBM kindly contributed £300 toward the event, which were equally divided among the winning teams and were presented in the form of gift-vouchers.

Spot of the Day Award

In addition to the aforementioned prizes, IBM also announced a "Spot of the Day" award to Team 4 for delivering a confident pitch and developing an aesthetically pleasing application with good all-around features. Team 4 consisted of Joshua Griggs, Chris Lester, Patience Mwanyali, Anmol Sharma (team leader) and Ben Taylor. View Team 4's poster Both Team 4 and Team 8 received IBM T-shirts.

The SCC.210 tutors wish to thank all students for their dedication and perseverance throughout the year. We also wish to thank everyone who participated in the event and supported our students. Special thanks go to the Teaching Assistants, namely Mark Lochrie, Klen Copic Pucihar, Adrian Gradinar and Oliver Bates for their priceless technical support, swift responsiveness to student queries and unique resourcefulness. Last but not least, we wish to express our gratitude to IBM for sponsoring the 2014 awards and actively supporting the SCC.210 module.

The SCC.210 Teaching Team

I. Chatzigeorgiou, G. Kotonya, M. Lau and M. Rouncefield.

Tue 03 June 2014