A university of Namibia student has won the best poster award at the 18th Commonwealth International Conference on e-Business for an app she developed.
The Android app is designed to help children to complement their knowledge in mathematics and Oshindonga. This is a Bantu dialect spoken in Namibia and parts of Angola.
Coroline Mulundu (24) developed an educational mobile app that will provide early learning development tools for young children from the age of two to seven.
“The app is divided into two age categories – two to four years and five to seven – this will determine the complexity in the activities available,” she said.
The paper that was presented to the conference was titled ‘An effective tool for Oshindonga early Development Education: Lilonga Nenyanyu Learning Mobile Application’.
“With the help of my lecturers Victoria Hasheela-Mufeti (senior lecturer) and Maria Ntinda (lecturer) from the Department of Computing, Mathematical and Statistical Science at the University of Namibia, I managed to submit the paper,” said Mulundu.
“I have seen that most of the apps we use are in English and other Western languages, I wanted to have something in my own language” she said.
The paper will be indexed by Scopus in the world of acadamics. She said the award means a lot to her and the institution.
“I am not just putting my name out there but for the institution to be recognised by the world. I have been working on the app for a year and although I had few challenges here and there, we managed,” Mulundu said.
Ntinda said some of the challenges were the Covid-19 protocols and getting actual participants since the app is made for small children.
“As part of the award we won, we will be having 50% off from the next conference that falls under the Commonwealth. This will give us an opportunity to push out more work on the app and hopefully get collaborators to attract funds,” she said.
Mufeti added that the app is user-friendly and will be available nationwide.
“We are in the process of finalising the app and getting it tested. We are going to market it through Unam radio, share it on social media and also in newspapers around the country,” she said.
According to The Namibian, Mufeti also said they are working on making the app available in all Namibian languages.
“If we get the concept running in Oshindonga, we will just replicate that with other local languages. What we need is to find people to translate to languages such as Rukwangali, Otjiherero, Afrikaans and other local languages,” she said.
“I am excited for the app to be out and I’m sure it will help Namibian children. I am just looking forward to incorporating some features, getting collaborators and funds,” said Mulundu.
The app is currently available for Android users only. It will be advertised and put on Playstore and parents should motivate their children to use the app and we will get more participants to see how and where the app can be improved, said Ntinda.
