An-Najah National University represent Palestine in the final qualifying competition for the Microsoft (Imagine CUP 2015)
An-Najah University Team (SpicyCode) won the first place at the 2015 Microsoft Imagine Cup Semi-Finals competition which was held in the Polytechnic University (Khadouri) on Saturday, the 28th of March.
A total of 23 teams from different local universities took part in the yearly competition, where they compete in two stages. The first stage resulted in the qualification of6 teams and the 2nd stage further reduced the number to 3 (including An-Najah National University team).The 3 qualifying teams will be representing Palestine in the Pan-Arab final competition that will be held in Bahrain. The Winning teams in that stage will compete on the final global stage.
The winning team, SpicyCode, has two student members: Yazan Arafat, and Alaa Awartani from the Computer Engineering Department. Their project (Kuties) is an educational platform manifested as a game designed in an innovative way which aims to teach children logical and critical thinking, programming, and computer algorithms in a non-traditional way that allows children to build complete systems using simple tools designed based on scientific standards. The game allows children to control and interact with 3D constructs that simulates real life systems set in an attractive virtual environment, which helps develop children’s practical, scientific, and innovative abilities.
Commenting on their achievement, Alaa Awartani expressed his happiness and assured that the team will prevail in both the regional and global competition stages and represent Palestine in the best manner. When asked about the team motive behind developing such a project, Awartani clarified that the world is currently moving towards this approach that utilizes innovative and novel technologies in education. He further noted that if such systems have been incorporated in the Palestinian educational system, Palestine will be among the leading countries in terms of education technology.
Awartani's partner, Yazan Arafat, added that the team ambition is not limited by winning the regional competition but also they target the global one as well. He also added that passing this stage or any stage does not mean that the team will stop working towards a better platform but its a motive to overcome the upcoming challenges which will require double the effort. When asked about their future plans, Arafat mentioned that the team is currently looking for investors or donors to help incorporating this system into the local or regional educational systems to fulfill the goals that prompted developing it in the first place.
Finally, the winning team members acknowledged the important role of the Computer Engineering Department with all its faculty, represented by the head of department Dr. Ashraf Armoush, and the project supervisor Ms. Haya Samanah, in supporting them in the past period and during the competition, attributing their winning to the efforts of their instructors teachings and guidance during their studying years.