Heartfelt congratulations to KDU School of Computing and Creative Media (SCCM) students!

From left : Glen Jonathan Muga, Dr Law Foong Li and Jovi Lee Jun Tatt.

Dr Law Foong Li together with the students at the booth during the competition.

By Faresa Azmi

Agriculture plays a vital role in the Malaysia economy with over 46.6 per cent of rural households depending on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood. Along with fisheries and forestry, it is one of the largest contributors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Malaysia.

Aquaponics’ farming is the combination of the latest aquaculture (raising fish in contained tank) and hydroponics (growing in soil with recirculating water system). The theory of aquaponics is to maximize the use of the energy and nutrients produced in the system in order to harvest the maximum amount of healthy vegetables and fish protein from it.  Aquaponics farmers face a substantial risk to obtain a balance in the ecosystem of aquatic animals in tanks, plants and microbes; this has prompted several students to question the idea of development to aid aquaponics farmers.

School of Computing and Creative Media (SCCM), developed a mobile app for farmers to access information on water PH levels, water temperature and dissolve oxygen all at their fingertips. The omnibus mobile app called EzSense, comes with a IOT monitoring kit for commercial aquaponics farming. Ezsense is based on a computer model that predicts the evolution of aquaponics systems and aims to prevent the loss of fish and plants in the aquaculture ecosystem.

The basic aquaponics set-up consists of water from a fish tank channelled upward to nurture the plants in a planter’s box whilst being filtered back down to the fish tank. This method combines aquaculture with hydroponics — whereby it uses the cultivation of fish and aquatic animals; the water with excretion is used to provide nutrients for the plants and the clean water is then recirculated back to the fish tank.  Responding to real world issues and problems, UOW Malaysia KDU students rose up to the challenge and developed a solution that could be commercialised in the near future.

UOW Malaysia KDU’s School of Computing and Creative Media (SCCM) offers undergraduate programmes in technology to develop students’ understanding beyond their classroom. The syllabus ensures the students are provided with a strong grasp in the fundamentals in computing; learning the basics of programming to using complex algorithms in designing, building and testing applications and systems. The success of student projects is a testament of the 3 core values practiced in the programme. With the Malaysian Government focus on industry relevance in education; real world experiences where the students are thrust into real world scenarios faced by consumers, clients and the industry. The students get a taste of proper working scenarios to develop functional solutions for the working environment. With the ever-changing technology, the syllabus is constantly evolving to suit the needs of the industry; this evolution is important to a student’s development for the foreseeable future. In producing highly competitive talent, the synergy between the updated technology used and skilled personnel is of utmost importance whereby it acts as and anchor and rudder to steer a student’s academic progress to the proper direction.

With the focus on industry 4.0, the world is changing from resource to knowledge intensive that requires the focus on collaboration to be intensified. UOW Malaysia KDU builds upon that focus by embracing the high impact research culture and practice to prepare graduates to be globally competitive. At UOW Malaysia KDU, we believe students need to be active participants in how their education develops. A nation’s future depends on the next generation workforce educational institutes produces; the graduates need to be well-equipped with knowledge and skills and ready to take on the challenges and future proof their careers.