Wasim, who studied information systems and e-commerce at Victoria Business School, was approached by his former high school teacher Jeff King, currently Deputy Principal at Rangitikei College, to help him with a problem.
“He told me his students couldn’t keep track of their studies,” says Wasim. “Students seemed to know where their phones were at all times but didn’t know how many NCEA credits they had.”
The app, known as NCEA Pal, enables students to enter and monitor their credits themselves, rather than waiting for results to go up on the NZQA website, which can take several weeks. An updated version also links to career advice, showing students potential vocational pathways for the subjects they are studying. The app is free and can be used offline once installed. It has already had about 30,000 downloads and is currently receiving around 1000 downloads a day.
“My studies definitely helped me with this project—the skills I learnt in class about project management, prototyping and outsourcing, as well as how to communicate with different time zones were invaluable,” says Wasim.
Wasim hopes this project will lead to a full-time job in developing educational apps. “I’m really passionate about it, so it doesn’t feel like a job. I’ve read about it, done all the study and theory and now I’m actually doing it—it’s awesome!”
Professor Benoit Aubert, Head of Victoria’s School of Information Management says the app enables high school students to take responsibility for their own learning and their own decision-making processes. “We’re very proud that a student from our School has developed this app, which can help thousands of students who are wondering what to do when they finish high school.”
Wasim’s ultimate dream is that NCEA Pal will become iconic over time. “It would be fantastic if every single student at some point in their education uses something I’ve created.”