39. «Stress Out TvT»

Many students are stressful these days.

Below are some sources of stress among students:

1. Academic work load and topics
2. Family
3. Relationship problem for some
4. Peers
5. Poor self time-management
6. Extracurricular activities

Definitely, stress is among the students and, if not properly managed, may lead to serious consequences to the students and the people around them. Consequences like frustration that may lead to poor self-image, quarrels among people and ultimately depression. Thus, to help students achieve a better quality of life, more initiative needs to be carried out to help students manage their own stress.

Our idea aims to impart some stress management skills to students and to motivate them to apply some of these techniques into their life.

We would like to propose organizing mega event would span over a month.

Firstly there would be an exhibition. In this exhibition, there would be informative posters which would educate the students on stress- what is it, its sources and its management. In order to better illustrate our points, we would have basketball and the dance game machine from the arcade for students to try out and experience the benefits of doing sports to relieve and manage stress. Also, we would create some games which students can play and learn some time-management techniques. We are considering to also giving out chocolates during the exhibition and to set up photo machines for students to interact with.

Secondly, we would organize events which are related to some stress management activity, for the following weeks. Students can sign up during the exhibition to participate in the possible events that we may be organizing:

1. Weekly Friday Movie Nights (comedies)
2. Outings for family and friends (eg. East Coast Park, Marina Barrage for kite flying etc.)
3. Talks on work management etc.
4. Collaborate with Our space@72 for board games.

Lastly, to further encourage students, we would be giving out cca points and many small gifts for students like weekly planners etc.

38. « TREE OF THOUGHT »

Problem Statement
In this vibrant and hectic Ngee Ann Polytechnic, students face challenges in both their academics and relationship such as friendship. Under such a challenging and competitive environment, students may face tremendous stress and pressure without having a channel to let out their feelings. They might be even too busy to be able to spare time to realize some of their little wishes. Sometimes, they even realize that they have very little chance to connect with the polytechnic committee to suggest and discuss ideas about improving the place that they spent almost every day at to a better and more comfortable place.

Solution
InnovBlast has come up with The Trees of Thoughts to improve and solve these problems.
First we introduce you to The Tree of Problems. It is an artificial tree which serves as a channel for students to express their feelings by jotting down their worries and problems they are facing on a piece of post-it and hang it up on the tree. By doing so, students can let out the stress and worries piled up in them and at the same time, realize that they are not the only ones facing those problems by reading other students’ posts.
Secondly, we have The Tree of Wishes. It is also an artificial tree which has the “magical power” to make wishes come true. There will also be a fund box place at this tree to collect funds through donation. This is how it works, students write down their little wishes on a post-it and hang on the tree then, we will start a selection process every end of a semester and select the most practical and achievable wish and realize it with the funds collected. ( wish selected will also depend on the amount of fund we get) By the start of the next semester, we will give a surprise to the student by realizing his/her wish selected by us.
Last but not least, we have come up with The Tree of Ideas. This is also an artificial tree which serves to connect innovative students who are very enthusiastic about improving the polytechnic to the Committee of Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Ideawerks) better. Students can write down their ideas on how to improve Ngee Ann Polytechnic or identify the existing problems on a post-it and hang up on the tree. We will then start the selection process and select the best ideas among all every end of semester and then submit it to Ideawerks as a proposal to consider about.

Results
The Tree of Problems will be able to achieve the goal of allowing students to let out their stressful feelings and feel a lot better.
The Tree of Wishes ensures that students will have a livelier schooling life in Ngee Ann Polytechnic with surprises of their wishes being realized at the start of every semester.
The Trees of Ideas connects and help student deliver their ideas to improve the Polytechnic more effectively to Ideawerks to have the chance of being implemented.

Conclusion
InnovBlast ‘s project on The Tree of Thoughts will be able to help students lead a livelier and fulfilling schooling life in Ngee Ann Polytechnic which will definitely become the most beautiful memories of every Ngee Ann Polytechnic students.

37. « TACSK »

There are students who often have little free time on their hands but wish to find jobs to earn a little extra pocket money. However, they might sometimes find it hard to squeeze in work schedules into their sometimes hectic time table. There are also students who have specific skill sets like Photoshop or web design but are not able to find jobs that showcase their abilities. Hence, with our website, we hope to be able to reach out to such students. Our website will be a platform that links students to these hard-to-find jobs. With the internet becoming an increasingly popular means of job searching among youths, we believe that this platform will allow them to find suitable jobs with much ease. We offer a platform that sources for short term jobs that students will find easy to squeeze into their schedules. We also source out specific jobs like web design that would allow students to showcase their skills.  Unlike other recruiting sites, we allow these students to set the price they are willing to receive to get the assignment done through a bidding system. With such a system, students will also get to better know the kind of job industry they are working in and their work competency can be improved. They would also be able improve on their skills and creativity through such job exposures.  Students will also be able to better find specific jobs with ease through the filtering system. The kind of results we can expect from this platform is that more students would be able to find jobs that they are actually interested in and get the kind of pay that they think they deserve. In conclusion, this website would become the platform that would offer students quality short term jobs that are relevant to their area of interest and thus help them earn a little extra income.

36. « MINI FOOT SPA »

Our selected topic is initiatives to deal with stress. When it comes to stress, we thought of relaxing and have fun. And the idea of spa was inspired by the course offered in Republic Poly. They have a spa where students use to learn but not open for students to use. The mini foot spa thus came into our mind and we came up with ideas of using doctor fish, essential oils, and flowers and then decided to use the kind of essential oil that can be mixed with water.

This spa water will be mixed with that essential oil that can be added into water and when the skin comes into contact with this spa, they can then feel the effects after the soak. Our video is trying to show that our mini foot spa can help students to relax, and have fun. There is a large variety of essential oils that can be used for this spa. (For example, Lavender essential oil, Cedrus atlantica essential oil and a lot others. )

35. « IMPROVED STRESS BALL »

34. « PROJECT51 »

Problem Statement:

According to a survey that was conducted before the submission of the proposal, when asked if the study area below Makan Place at Block 51 is a dull and lifeless place, 59 of the 66 respondents agreed, while the remaining 7 disagreed. This led us to conclude that while most of the Ngee Ann Polytechnic students found the campus in general to be a lively and cozy place but it does not include the study area at Block 51.

Our team felt that to create a livelier and cozier campus, there is a need to do a makeover to the less appealing places in the campus. The targeted area for this makeover is the study area under Block 51.

Being an alternative venue for students to have their meals when Makan place is crowded, the study area is dirtied – often with traces of food and spillage of beverages. In addition, the study area consisted of only study benches and an old and uninteresting coat of paint. We concluded that these could be the factors contributing to the dullness and lifelessness of the study area.

Solutions

We have come up with a concept-based project – Project51, aiming to change the study area under Block 51 so that students of Ngee Ann Polytechnic would see it as a place that is worth hanging out at, and taking care of.

By transforming the walls in the study area into photo booths whereby students can take photos with their friends, not only are the study area given a new image, it would also serve as a place whereby students interact with their friends when they take photos together. Benches would also be placed at every wall so that there would be ample space for students to sit around with their friends.

The existing study benches would also be given a new coat of paint in various colours to bring out the element of “liveliness”.

Results

As our project is only a concept-based project, we did not carry out any implementation of our concept. However, we thought as critically as we could and came up with the following possible results:

1.       The study area will look brighter with its new coat of paint.

2.       After the makeover to the walls at the study area, there would be an increase in students going there not just to have their meals, but also to take photo with their friends at the photo booths.

3.       Students would be more careful when enjoying their meal at the study area, because they would, to the best of their ability, want to keep the newly-revamped study area clean and in its new state for as long as it could be.

4.       Following the revamp, there might be deliberate vandalisms in the area.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think that it would be beneficial for the school to accept our concept as it would be a good opportunity for Block 51 to evolve into a cozy and lively place like Ourspace@72 and The Attic. Project51 provides a platform that enables students to interact, eat and capture the moments spent with their friends together. On top of these, we have decoration on the walls to set the mood and the cozy atmosphere, and at the same time serve as a backdrop for the students to take photos. Students would want to drop by Block 51 more often as they see it in a different light.

Block 51 would not just serve as a substitution venue for eating when Makan Place is packed but also a place to connect with people.

32. « SUPPORT FOR THE FUTURE »

Introduction of concept

Base on the idea of fusing a book stand and a laptop cooler we come out with our product the “Lap-Book Cooler stand”. 

Since the iPad and other tablet(s) are getting more and more popular these days, this laptop stand is also made to support these newly introduced gadgets. The foldable base at the bottom of the stand acts as a support for any extended speakers/keyboard/accessories so that the tablet/laptop can sit comfortably on the stand.

A ‘weight-activated’ switch is placed so that the cooling fans will only activate when a laptop is placed upon it. The LEDs at the side of the stand will indicate that the laptop is overheating when the LEDs turn off.

Current Situation (Problem)

We understand that the book stand and laptop cooler products are hardly portable and are difficult to move….henceforth

Our Improvement (Solution):

We are introducing folding legs in which we will then be able to move the “Lap-Book Cooler stand” and when keeping to save space or to move around just fold it and you will get a space saving stand!!!

30. « PROXIMITY SENSOR »

Problem:

1.      It is always very hard to find seats during lunch break, when every canteen and food court is so crowded.

2.      It is awkward to stand beside a table to wait for that table to finish the food (kind of ‘chop’ the table first)

3.      It is so irritating and frustrating to have somebody standing beside you and watch you eating, when he/she wants to take over your seat/table when it is crowded

 
Solution: Creating a product that enables an iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) user to see which seats are available/occupied from the device itself, from anywhere.
 

Applications:

1.      Users can avoid crowded places
2.      Students can queue up for seats outside the food court (restaurant style), using the information on seat availability from the app as reference
3.      Students will no longer experience the pain of looking for a seat, or being stared at when eating. This makes life in Ngee Ann cosier.
 

Procedure:

1.      Purchasing the Infrared sensors, Microprocessor and wires
2.      Wiring the Infrared sensor to the Microprocessor
3.      Programming a software for the Microprocessor to communicate with the sensors
4.      Programming a software for the PC to communicate with the Microprocessor, and decode the information coming from the processor
5.      Creating a database to key in information received from the microprocessor
6.      Creating a software for the PC to automatically key in information to the database
7.      Hosting the database on the Internet server
8.      Programming an iPhone app that could retrieve the information from the database, which is hosted on the Internet server
9.      Display the retrieved information using a user interface to the end user
10.  Ensure the results are refreshed every second
 

End result: A proof-of-concept has successfully been done, using 2 tables as a mock up for this round of competition. It will be implemented for NP students to try out/test from 22 November 2011. A full-scale implementation will be done on the future Canteen 2 (using cables to power the sensors), and later on also Makan Place and Munch (using batteries, as not all tables have power point sockets)

27. « GRAFFITI CORNER »

26. « CHALLENGED TO HELP. HAVE FUN AND LIVE WELL. »

Problem: 

Students are getting stressed over presentations, exams, common tests and studies. What can we do to help them distress? Have a fund-raising carnival! A carnival has been created on 16 November 2011, which many had attended. The 3 games at the carnival were “Raining Pigs and Birds”, ”Fire In the Hole” and “Speed Panda” and all of the games were D.I.Y. by us.

Location:

Ideawerkz @ Block 25

Targeted Audience:

Ngee Ann students, staff, and visitors.

Objectives: 

Helps student to distress and have fun at the same time during their break or after school.

Background Information of Developing of Ideas:

We thought of having a permanent mini event to help students relieve stress and came up with a carnival

We thought of buying or renting the games but in the end came up with creative ideas to make the games ourselves.

Raining Pigs and Birds involve a carnival shooting game where students get to use Nerf Guns to shoot a target board and the Angry Bird’s Pigs off a block. We bought Angry Birds toy to be used as targets.

Fire In The Hole refers to an air hockey game that’s created by us, we created the Hockey Puck using Coasters and the Stick with caps from Skippy Peanut Butter and Nutella.

Speed Panda refers to a punching bag game where the one playing would punch t:he bag until the stand falls. 

Solution To The Problem

Students will get to have fun with their friends

Students will get to relieve stress

Students will get to play games that they’ve never played before at carnivals

Conclusion: 

We hope that after attending the carnival, the people who attend our carnival will get to relieve stress. We also hope that in the future, we’ll be able to host such an event again.

25. « PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY »

Students from Ngee Ann are feeling really stressed up when term starts, especially when examination are drawing near. There are some students who are naturally slower at learning and unable to catch up with what the lecturer is talking about during lecture. There are also students who are having long term medical leave who could no attend lessons and hence, they missed out a big portion of their lectures. This have causes them to fall behind the rest of the students, demoralizing them in the process. The killing of student’s morale will hinder the academic achievements of the school as it has a big influence on the rest of the students. 

Therefore, we would like to suggest the installation of video camera at the back of lecture theatres to record the whole lecturing process. This allow all students to look through the whole lecture process again as the video will be posted on Ngee Ann MEL by the module lecturer.

This will allow students to view the videos of the lectures at home and students who are having long term medical leave will not have to repeat the module again due to the lack of understanding for the module. This will also serve as a way for students to revise for their subject module as well as keeping the students occupied by looking through the video through their phone as they are on their way back home.

This would also serve as a way to help students to manage their stress by helping them in term of their academic aspect. The improvement of students’ academic would help to reduce their stress and manage their school life better. This will definitely help to boost the students’ morale and help them more upwards to a higher ground as this has helped take care of their welfare. Our students, whether are they slower in their learning, would all strive to excel  and earn good names for the school’s academic excellence reputation.