School Innovation

Proposed Idea: ATM Machine-like Printing Booth on University of Mindanao

Objective: It aims to help the students their papers conveniently

Problem

            The University of Mindanao or also known as UM is one of the well-known universities here in Davao City. It is probably the largest university here in Davao City in terms of land area (Matina branch). It has a lot of courses offered, and also a lot of students populating the university.

            Now, when I went there to observe, I can’t figure out of something to promote innovation. Thus, I asked those students around me, and out of all the students I asked, there is a problem which most of them shared in common. And that is the problem of having papers to be printed.

            It is due to the fact that the University of Mindanao is a very huge university with several college buildings being apart to each other. And that makes it hard for the students to print their papers cause according to them, there are no printing stations in the campus. They have to go outside the campus and look for a café just to print their papers. And the real victim here are the students residing at the DPT/CASE Building.

            The DPT/CASE Building the farthest building from the entrance, thus making it a hell of a struggle. They would have the longest walk just to get outside and print their papers.

Solution

            After hearing their “concern”, I have spent my day thinking how can I solve this problem. Then it came to me an idea that might solve this.

The concept of this idea is to have a printing station on every college buildings, but it’s not just an ordinary printing station. It is a printing machine that looks like an ATM Machine. It will have the same height as an ordinary ATM Machine. It will have (of course) a monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, and last but not the least, a USB port located on the same spot where the card slot on ATM Machines are placed.            

The student will no longer have to walk a long distance just to go outside and print their papers. They can now simply go in the nearest printing station on their building.

It is very to operate this machine. Since this is just a computer with a printer inside of a case, or it may be embedded on a wall. If the student wants to print a paper, he/she will just plug the flashdrive on the USB port. Then, he/she will just open her files and edit it if they wanted to, then they can hit print. The printed papers will be ejected out from a slot that is just below where the keyboard is placed.

            With this, it could reduce the number if the students who are going to struggle just have their papers printed. Since it will involve the university’s financial matter, it will be determined by the budget if how many stations will be placed on every building. The access of the printing station is free. There will be no cost to use it. But, it will be another factor on their tuition. 

Design

Proposed Idea: Mobile Enrollment Application for Holy Cross of Davao College

Objective: It aims to reduce the number of students falling in line during the enrollment.

Problem

            The Holy Cross of Davao College is one of the well-known colleges here in Davao City and one of the notable schools along with University of Southeastern Philippines, Ateneo de Davao University, etc.. It also offers a lot of courses, such as Criminology, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and many more.

            When I went there to perform my observation with my friend to accompany me who’s also student there, I was stopped at the entrance by the guards at the entrance of the new building. We were not able to enter on the old entrance cause it was closed, and the students are now required to enter at the new building. Despite of our explanation, and begging, the guards showed no mercy.

            So, what I did is I roam around the streets near the entrance and conducted a survey to those students of Holy Cross. I asked them if there is anything they want to change or flaws about the services of the institution. I asked about thirteen students passing by, but all of them claims that there is nothing wrong with their school’s services, but for one.

            Majority of the student’s I asked stated that the thing they want to change is the process of enrollment. Just like any other school. They are frustrated of the enrollment system. They are frustrated when they are about to enroll, and they have to fall in line. It could take them hours and hours to reach the cashier. They claim that the service is slow due to lot of students are flowing in just to be enrolled.

Solution       

            Now, the moment they told me about that, I knew that I could make a solution out of it. I knew that they don’t want to experience that hassle anymore. I knew that the solution of that problem can please them so much. Why? Because I also experienced that problem here, in USEP. Not only me, but any other students from different schools. With this idea, they can enroll themselves anywhere, anytime as long as there is an internet connection.

            The solution to reduce the number of the students falling in line and to reduce the hassle of enrolling themselves is to have an application on their mobile phone. Having this application could save them a huge amount of time. They don’t have to go to their school and fall in line anymore.

            The application is an account and info database of all students. When the application is installed on the mobile phone, the student must register using his or her ID Number and set up their own password to protect it.

            Once they are done registering, they can log in and view their account. And in their account, they can view their Information, Enrollment History, Grades and etc.

            Then there will be an “Enroll Now” button whenever it is the time for enrollment. After tapping that button, a list of subjects along with the subject codes and the schedules will be shown. There will be also an “Evaluate” button so that student will be evaluated. Then after the student has been evaluated, it give a list of subjects he can get. Those subjects are the available subject depending on the student’s year and units. The student will simply have to check the subjects he or she wants to choose, then after that, he can proceed to the payment method.

            The payment method will have two options. Pay via online or in any money transfer method such as SMART Kwarta Padala, Western Union, etc., or the student can simply pay to the cashier. When the student choose to pay via cashier, he/she will only have 2 weeks to pay the tuition or downpayment. When the student choose to pay via card or money transferring method, the application will send a copy of the receipt via text message. Then the student can get the actual receipt on the cashier during the school period.

Design