Congratulations to MSc Students on their Team Project Research Paper
Congratulations to 2023 MSc in Computer Science graduates Caolan Power, Daragh Kneeshaw, Rebecca Kelly, Warren Kavanagh, Joseph Corcoran, and Bearach Byrne, who presented a research paper based on their MSc Team project at (INTED 2024) the18th Annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain on 4th March, 2024.
The goal of the MSc Team Project is to allow students to undertake the development of a significant software system from initial concept stage right through to delivery and evaluation stage in a team environment that closely represents the project environment in industry. It is typically undertaken in teams of approximately 5 to 6 students, from both streams of the MSc in Computer Science (Advanced Software Development, and Data Science).
These students presented a paper on their project, “FinOptimise: A Comprehensive User Experience Methodology for Assessing a Stock Trading Simulation”, which outlines the design, implementation and evaluation of a mobile-first web application called “FinOptimise”, that allows players to take part in a virtual stock trading game, and to help them build a healthy approach to stock investing. The FinOptimise system is designed to be a group-based game in which players compete against each other in a league, and each player has a virtual portfolio with an initial sum of virtual money, that they can invest in different stocks until the goals of that league are completed.
The system was hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as it provides sufficient storage to record a wide volume of data on each organisation, including stock prices, as well as news and Twitter data. The basic technical architecture uses a MongoDB, Express JS, React and NodeJS (MERN) stack, for flexibility and ease-of-use (pictured).
The User Experience methodology developed for this project can be catgorised into five discreet stages:
- Phase 0: Market Research and Analysis
- Phase 1: Feature Prototyping and Design of Application
- Phase 2: Prototype End-to-End Usability Testing
- Phase 3: Autobiographical Testing
- Phase 4: System End-to-End Usability Testing
This methodology proved to be very valuable in helping to guide the design of the application towards a user-friendly and accessible system. It also demonstrated the importance of user feedback throughout the development process to ensure that the resultant system is both fun and functional.
Their project was supervised by Andrea Curley, Damian Gordon, and Paul Kelly.
