Dubai: It is said that necessity is the mother of all invention. Any successful invention has to start with a purpose.
Today, there is an estimated one billion people around the world who are considered to be illiterate. Although there have been many efforts by world organisations to reduce this number, most attempts have yet to be considered successful.
In education the individual needs of each student are essentially what sustain a successful learning process and cannot be ignored. Schools around the world are in need of access to computers that facilitate students’ individualised interactivity, thereby increasing retention as well as providing a gateway to a large spectrum of opportunities.
A major barrier to solving such a problem is the increased cost of purchasing and maintaining a large number of PCs; outdated PCs; limited IT staff; crowded and hot computer labs; growing student populations and most importantly, the desire to integrate e-learning into the classroom.
Asking the right questions
One day I decided to pass by one of the computer lab on campus to see what students were actually using the computers. More importantly how much computer power, on average, is actually being utilised by university students.
Much to my surprise, only about five to 10 per cent of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) power was being utilised, which begged the question, “Why do we rush into buying the fastest and most powerful computers out there, when we hardly ever less than half of that power? How can we use one computer to provide computing access to the maximum number of students in a classroom environment?”
The answer to this question is what ultimately led to my invention idea.
Finding the answers
My invention will enable us to provide computer resources to more students at a lower cost at every level of education. My invention uses only one PC and one projector to transform normal wooden desks in a classroom setting, into interactive computer systems.
Each student can work on their projected virtual computer independently of other students. They can use the internet, write documents or even take lecture notes on the virtual wooden desks projected on the table top in front of them.
An added benefit to my invention is that student progress can be monitored by the teacher in real time using the main PC either physically in the classroom or remotely from anywhere with an internet connection.
Reaching the world
Stars of Science, a regional reality TV show that airs o MBC4, for Arab inventors was a perfect gateway for me to showcase my invention and hopefully take my first step towards achieving my dream.
Out of about 7,000 applicants from across the Arab world, I was successfully selected from the UAE and qualified as one of the top 16 inventors in the contest.
Our first challenge was to prove the idea of our invention actually works in the “Proof of Concept” phase, in which 16 inventors were reduced to the top 10.
I was able to prove that my invention deserves recognition and holds great potential for the future of education and was therefore ranked first in this phase.
In the next phase, “The Engineering Phase”, the top 10 inventors had to provide a working prototype of the invention and test it in real life scenarios; a task that would be challenging for many inventors given the very short time period.
In the next couple of weeks I will take you along on my journey as a Lebanese inventor trying to benefit students across the world through Stars of Science.
For more information and to monitor my progress in Stars of Science, watch MBC4 at 8pm on Thursday. Also please show support and join my Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/SupportMwatfa
-The author is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Wollongong in Dubai.
