Australian International School students come 4th in Australian Young ICT Explorers Challenge

• Team developed ReShare app to help the underprivileged
• App allows donations to be made as well as received

THREE Year 6 students, from the Australian International School Malaysia (AISM) recently competed in the New South Wales (NSW) Finals of the Young ICT Explorers Challenge at the University of NSW, Australia, where they showcased the development of their app called ReShare, which would help the underprivileged.

With more than 50 teams competing in the Years 5 to 6 Division, AISM students Megan Yap, Emily Tan and Mia Tan successfully came in fourth place in the competition.

The ReShare app allows people or organisations who have things to donate, to list what they have available, and for organisations and charities who rely on donations, to look through the list and select the things they want to receive. Once they have made their selections, the donor and receiver can communicate through the app and arrange drop off or collection.

Over the past few months, the AISM students under the name ‘MY Tech Mooks’ have continued to develop their ‘ReShare’ mobile app. The team entered an international competition for girls called Technovation in May this year in which teams developed an app to solve a problem in their community. They also developed a promotional video, business plan and ‘pitched’ their idea to the judges. The AISM team emerged as regional finalists for the Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand region.

The young ‘scientists’ then decided to compete in the Young ICT  Explorers Challenge in UNSW, Australia. The team set up a display booth, then explained their app to students, parents and judges at the competition. Visitors were able to use a beta version of the app to donate and receive goods. This was an opportunity for the team to present their app to new audiences, receive feedback, meet like-minded students, and see what students are creating in Australia. The next stage for the team is to do develop the code for the Chat tool, conduct usability testing and adjust the user interface. The team is then hoping to release the app by the end of the year.

Mia Tan, the youngest of the three says the competition gave them amazing feedback which they would now use to try and develop their app.
 
“The ICT competition was very enjoyable. It really helped develop our skills in speaking and the feedback was amazing, so now we can try to develop our app even more. Going to Australia for this competition was a pleasure and I'm sure that we would all love to do it again,” she said.
 
Teacher Susan Skinner agreed that participating in Sydney was invaluable. “The team has worked very hard, and has developed so many new skills through this experience. The project has been their own idea from the start, so they have been able to follow their interests and passion, to extend themselves in so many areas, and then get feedback from industry experts. Real world experiences that help shape who they become and what they are capable of achieving,” she said.
 
Follow the team’s progress with their app development by following their Instagram page sharewithreshare and visiting the ReShare web site reshare.weebly.com.
 

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