P1 event in Eindhoven and Tilburg

During the first 9 weeks of their study HBO-ICT, 1st year students set up a "company" (a 'proftaakgroep') of 6 people, that is going to develop an innovative product. The themes herein are ICT & Game Design or ICT & Security. The group is working on this product on a weekly basis and will put their accumulated ICT-knowledge to use. Every week, each group receives a briefing from teachers and experts of Business, Media Design, Software Engineering and Technology. In this way knowledge from these routes is also used in these products. The final result will be proudly presented during the P1 event.

Final assessment by specialist teachers

In the afternoon, the students will receive a final grade from one of their specialist teachers. This grade will be taken along in the study results for the first period. The grading involved both a process assessment and a product assessment.

Proud parents and teachers

In the evening parents were welcome to admire the final results from their daughter or son. There were also a great many teachers present. In Eindhoven, the keyboard-playing robot of project group Elise stole the show. "It's a robot that might, in the future, for instance substitute the musician in a restaurant," project leader Jonathan says enthusiastically. "That's much cheaper, because you don't have to pay any personnel. We have worked hard on this product and we also put a lot of our free time into it. It would be fun to win, but what's most important is that we surpassed ourselves. We have learned a lot." The robot is playing on. The hands of the robot were made with LEGO mindstorms, which was one of the requirements for the product. "We were given just the technology, subsequently we were allowed to determine ourselves what we were going to do with it." And the plans for the future? "We would like to build a complete body, so that it resembles a human," says Giel, one of the other project members. They are also interested in taking part in the ICTalent Awards, to put their product in the spotlights. There were also a lot of proud parents in Tilburg. Teachers and student supervisors Mijke van der Zee, Lieke Buiks and Pascal Dauphin came to support the students. It was a convivial, small club of people.

Present at the P1 event for the 20th time

Wil van Erp attended the P1 event for the 20th time yesterday. "We have been organising the P1 event ever since we got a start semester. That was in the academic year of 2007-2008. There are two intake moments each year, meaning there are also two P1 events every year. Naturally, over all those years you see certain ideas returning, such as a course that the robot has to follow. In those cases you don't get to see a whole lot of new things. But every year there are also groups that surprise me with a fantastically executed idea!" says a very enthusiastic Wil. "The nicest sound you'll hear during your visits of the presentations are the aaaahs and ooohs. You'll hear parents exclaim: "How is it possible that my kid can do this after only 9 weeks!". The friends and relatives are always extremely enthusiastic. Of course that's what it's all about. To introduce these people to what their sons and daughters are doing at school and how fast they're learning."

Voting

Visitors could cast a vote for their three favourite products. They could even cast their vote using their smartphone in combination with a unique code (that was being assigned upon entering). If visitors didn't have a smartphone, they could use one of the several laptops present. "This system was completely new," says Wil. "Earlier voting systems certainly were not exemplary of an Applied University that is focused on ICT." A large step forward so to say.

Public prize: the winners

At the end of the evening the two groups that had won the public prize were announced: a group in the field of ICT & Game Design and a group in ICT & Security. In Eindhoven, the keyboard playing robot made by project group Elise won the award in the field of ICT & Game Design. In the field of ICT & Security, project group A3B won the award. This group had developed an application in which a coloured card could be scanned with a scanner. Based on the colours, a route to a location was disclosed. Subsequently the cardholder was asked whether he/she was sure he/she wanted to take this route. If not, the system would suggest an alternative route.

In Tilburg the public prize for ICT & Game Design went to Robot Madness. This project group had developed a game in which you can make robots play soccer against each other. The public prize for ICT & Security was won by Check-In. Check-in made a system called Archer, which allows you to have better overview on where students, employees etc. are and for instance where to go in case of a building evacuation.

Both P1 events in Tilburg and Eindhoven were large successes. "Also made possible by the highly motivated student assistants. Without them it would have been impossible to realise this event," says Wil.