My Research Journey as a final year undergraduate 🔎
It’s a little bit late for me to write about our research project journey, but as I was writing it, I was really going through a lot of memories from the past couple of years.
One of the key modules offered in the final year at SLIIT is the research project (CDAP). You must complete the module with a top grade in order to graduate from the SLIIT degree program with a higher GPA. That is why I’m outlining the steps we took to successfully complete the module, earn an exceptional grade, and earn many other achievements along the way.
Creating the team
For a research project, SLIIT requires a group of four people. We are not allowed to go above or past the limit without any special reason. Therefore, having people who are focused on their tasks in a group is crucial if you want to pass the module. I worked for more than three years in the same group with Kalindu and Dumindu, so we were all extremely familiar with each other.
Actually, we were looking for a girl to join the team who could assist with documentation when we met Pathumi, who is excellent at both documenting and coming up with innovative ideas. She came right up and requested to be a part of the team, she joined us. We four completed every single project and assignment throughout the final year as a team, and we also received the highest grades in all other academic subjects as well.
Find a Topic & Research Supervisors
When it comes to the initial stage of the research, I believe this is the most challenging task to undertake. We came up with various topics and divided up the components among ourselves. These topics and components were sent via email to supervisors who could be interested in our topic. Our initial idea was for an E-mental app. The train tracking app, next, however, there were numerous projects and implementations of these topics, making it difficult to find the originality in those topics.
Following that, we created a brand-new topic on removing inconsistency in a software product by following the best practices of the Software Development Life Cycle. After getting suggestions from the lecturers, we asked Dr. Shyam about this topic and he showed keen interest in the topic. We were quite tired of emailing supervisors. However, we’ve finally found someone who appreciates our idea !!
Dr. Shyam and the team met and updated the components. I must say that he was really polite and added the elements and the necessary alterations to the research topic. He recommended Ms. Samanthi as the ideal co-supervisor for the research, and she accepted. Together, they were incredibly helpful in dividing the components and changing the topic. We eventually connected with one of SLIIT’s top supervisors. So we finalize our topic as “An Investigation into UI generation compliant with HCI standards ensuring artifact consistency across SDLC”.
We strive to come up with a team name once we have found the supervisors. We received a lot of recommendations before deciding on “Alter,” which allows for the completion of all tasks on a single platform.
Topic Assessment Form, Proposal & Charter Submission
First, we documented all the information that was previously discussed. We identified the components that are relevant to our topic and log them in an excel sheet. So, referring was quite simple for us. Pathumi came up with all the concepts when creating this excel spreadsheet. This sheet included the papers, points, and other materials for all four components.
The proposal and charter were then constructed, together with a lot of fantastic visuals and photos, and we were prepared to present them to our research panel. The topic was given “Accept with Minor Corrections” by the panel, and each component was approved.
Next, the proposal reports and proposal presentations were created. So we include research problems, objectives, each research question & research methodology in the proposal.
Now is the right time to begin the project!
Progress Presentation 1
We held our weekly calls every Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. during this time, which was about 2–3 months after submitting the charter. Therefore, we all found that session to be really engaging. We discussed a wide range of topics, including professions in addition to research. Following all of these discussions, PP1 is now our focus.
After all those months, we almost finished the backend processes necessary to make each component work with the front end. Although the front end was almost finished, the back end was not yet integrated. Therefore, we faced PP1 full of confidence, and we obtained excellent results in that stage to advance to the following phases. However, we were not chosen to compete in the NBQSA. I believe our users’ limitations were caused. For our research area, the user base is limited. Therefore, it wasn’t chosen for the competition. However, we made every effort to get chosen for the competition.
YouTube Channel:
Research Paper Publication
So, finding a reputable conference to publish the work was the next most difficult task. Therefore, we made the decision to find conferences within the time frame. We enter every detail into an excel spreadsheet and hand it to the supervisors. Unfortunately, the SLIIT-organized ICAC conference did not approve our paper. However, we faced the University of Colombo’s ICTER conference and made the necessary changes to the paper in order to be accepted to publish it there. We published the paper on Human-Computer Interaction Category.
At the time, the H-Index was 18, but I believe it has since been raised.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9774787
Progress Presentation 2
Therefore, after the paper was published, we were in great shape to carry on with the task. As a result, we didn’t spend a lot of time on PP2 because we completed most of the work in PP1. The system was integrated, and the flow was excellent. To prepare for PP2, we put in a lot of preparation and rehearsal. Due to the pandemic, the PP2 was performed online and set at 1 p.m. I was in charge of introducing the topic and sharing the screen. There was an unexpected power outage, which prevented me from sharing my screen and also prevented others from hearing me. Several times, the panel asked me to keep talking so that we can hear you, and after approximately 5 minutes, I was back.
Since we had had enough practice with this, the situation was incredibly tense. We had 40 minutes to do it, so if my mistake extends that period of time, we will not be able to complete it in that time frame. However we did it, we received excellent feedback from the panel, we addressed every point that was specified in the marking scheme, and we had the ability to maintain a high mark on PP2.
The individual final reports are then submitted with the group final report. The summary of each component is included on the designed poster as well.
Final Presentation
Since we received great feedback on PP2, our final presentation was really successful. Each panelist had the opportunity to assess the group members individually after the presentations. The logics, code, backend, and design ideas were the sources of the queries. As a result, all of the members gave excellent answers to the questions. So for all of us, the end results were excellent.
After completing the project, we were given the chance to compete in the 2022 Microsoft Imagine Cup.
We had a great chance to learn from and compete with industry experts by going to showcase our solution. We were able to be selected as the Southeast Asian (SEA) Champions of Microsoft Imagine Cup 2022 (In the Education Category) as a result of hard work and countless sleepless nights spent preparing for the Imagine Cup. Following this victory over 5,000 teams worldwide, our university and our nation as a whole were made to feel proud. We were chosen to compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2022 World Finals, which will only include 48 teams worldwide!
Following the South East Asia Regional competition, we commenced our World Finals challenge. We especially want to thank Dr. Shyam, our supervisor, for his amazing work in getting this finished and giving us hope that we can win. We made a number of suggestions on how to improve the demo and presentation so that even someone with limited experience would understand it. This is the mind map that we constructed.
We came up with several ideas and created a outfit for the competition.
Senal and Tharuka provided us with excellent assistance in creating these designs and videos. Thank you very much for your support, guys.
So, the Microsoft headquarters in Sri Lanka hosted the final round of competition. Sri Lanka had three teams that qualified for the world finals. After some excellent competition, we had to choose the final three. Although we weren’t chosen for it, the competition was incredible and we learned a ton from it.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to our supervisors, Dr. Shyam Reyal and Ms. Samanthi Siriwardana, for their invaluable guidance and assistance throughout the research endeavor.
I appreciate your reading, and I hope you found it interesting.
