App-making competition to engage TY students in IT and STEM

Photos from the 2018 CEIA SySTEM Final Presentations…click here

2018 App-making competition – competition blog space…click here

Aim is to make IT, STEM and Engineering career options exciting and interesting for the next generation

CEIA (Cork’s Technology Network) is a not-for-profit organisation made up of industry representatives whose aim is to support and grow technical employment opportunities in Cork.
The association has two main working subgroups an Innovation group and a Skills and Education Group.
The Skills and Education Group promotes STEM education to students from the ages of 10-18 through programmes such as the ROBOT competition, CANSAT competition, Maths Tutorials linked to the HL Leaving Cert. curriculum, Discover Science workshops and other events. sySTEM is a programme aimed at engaging TY students in technology.

Video filmed in Cork Institute of Technology by DELL-EMC

sySTEM Project – What is it?

App development competition based on MIT App Inventor 2 – students devise an App for a game.
Aimed at Transition Year Students.
Team based approach – Set up a mini-technology company
Company Goal – Development of a Gaming App
Team Based – 6-8 students per team : Project manager role, App development roles (2 minimum), Design role, Finance role, Sales and Marketing role.

Teams will make a short (2 min. max) video to document their progress, and will also pitch their “Product” to a judging panel in a TechnoDen type event: teams make a short presentation (5-10mins) about their App and what they have learned.
Training workshop teachers and mentors to be ready for mid-September.

Competition Structure

Over 10-12 week period teams develop their idea for a gaming App and ‘pitch’ for business plan.
You will need to submitt a plan for your final product – ‘the game’ by 29th September.
Clear idea and structure of what you want it to do,
Demonstrate what you want it to look like,
Market research – who is the potential customer? How will you get people ‘hooked’?
Revenue – how will you make money? How will you finance the business to succeed?
Any additional functionality?
CEIA will provide mentors to support schools and teachers participating in this project.
You will present on the above and demonstrate your prototype to a judging panel on the final week of November
NOTE: The key activity is having a clear idea and structure as to what you want; not necessarily having a fully functioning end product within the timeframe.