Team MomentUM wins AppChallenge@UM 2023!
Daniëlle Zijlstra, Nils Keesmekers, and Sid Penders emerged as the winners of the AppChallenge@UM 2023 with their app proposal, MomentUM!
MomentUM is a smartphone app designed to support students in their professional and academic development. It assists them in working with SMART goals and provides tailored suggestions for resources at Maastricht University.
MomentUM secured both the public and jury votes, earning them an App Development Voucher to take their idea to the next level.
The jury members, consisting of staff from different departments and backgrounds, said they were impressed with the quality of the presentations of the three finalists, FlashUM, MomentUM and ApareciUM. The jury considered the strength of the proposals, particularly their emphasis on improving the teaching and learning experience at Maastricht University, and other criteria such as originality, functionality, user experience, technical aspects, visibility, trustworthiness, and the effort required to develop a prototype.
The AppChallenge@UM 2023 competition, organised by EDLAB and the Corporate Information Office, invited the UM community to devise an app to enhance the teaching or learning experience at Maastricht University.
Ellen Bastiaens (EDLAB) and Marita Keurentjes (CI Office) thanked all the finalists and the audience for their commitment and support to UM education: "The three final proposals were well thought-through, including research, collecting user experiences, and organising focus group conversations with students. We were very impressed by the teams' creativity and innovative power in thinking of the next steps in improving Maastricht University education and the passion and energy we saw tonight."
"Nils, Sid and I worked hard during evenings and weekends over the past two months," said Danielle Zijlstra. "Getting to the finals made us even more excited about our idea! We really liked the positive vibe and the variety of ideas that everyone shared tonight. It was great to be around like-minded people from all faculties who care about teaching and education and enjoy reflecting on ways to improve education. Ellen and Marita mentioned many opportunities for the teams to work together and combine our great ideas. It's important to remember that because even though it was a competition, we all share the goal of making education better."
In the near future, the CI Office, in collaboration with EDLAB and the winners, will work on developing the prototype of the app.
Photo impression of the finals
Gaby Lutgens (EDLAB) and Perry Heymann (CI Office) welcomed three finalists - FlashUM, MomentUM and ApareciUM, and invited them to present their ideas to the audience and the jury.
Rena Gatzounis: "FlashUM aims to enhance study methods and memory retention for UM students through the creation and use of digital fash cards."
The jury considered the strength of the proposals, particularly their emphasis on improving the teaching and learning experience at Maastricht University, and other criteria such as originality, functionality, user experience, technical aspects, visibility, trustworthiness, and the effort required to develop a prototype.
Daniëlle Zijlstra: "MomentUM is all about creating meaningful moments for students. It helps them set SMART goals and make progress in their learning process."
An engaged audience!
Pamela Habibovich, Rector Maastricht University: "I am very happy to see that you really looked into what students need and that you asked them for feedback on your ideas."
Thomas Frissen: "AparceciUM is an AI-powered chatbot designed to help students retrieve crucial but often "hidden" information about their curriculum, the university or their courses."
Ellen Bastiaens, director EDLAB, and Mariata Keurentjes, CI Office, said they were impressed to see "how much effort the teams put in and how much they achieved in developing their prototypes in just two weeks between the mid-presentations and the finals".
The jury members consisted of staff from different departments and backgrounds.
MomentUM won both the public and jury votes. Congratulations!
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