We are delighted to announce that Mr John Yap (Senior Manager) and Mr Gan Ju-We (Systems Analyst) from NUS IT have been awarded the NUS Annual Digital Education Award (ADEA) 2021 alongside team members Dr Fung Fun Man and Dr Lam Yulin from the Department of Chemistry, as well as Ms Maria Goh from the Centre for Instructional Technology (CIT) for their work on the Nucleophile’s Point of View (NuPOV) application.

NUS IT is the co-investigator for the development of NuPOV and Mr John Yap and Mr Gan Ju-We serve as the project manager and developer of NuPOV respectively.

The ADEA recognises achievements in developing innovative technology-enhanced teaching, including instruction, educational design, assessment and feedback, as well as wider adoption of good practices in these areas through leadership and support of other colleagues. The award seeks to recognise NUS colleagues, whether individuals or teams, whose teaching has positively contributed to students’ learning and a broader culture that values teaching, and who have used technology in innovative ways to do so.

NuPOV is a tech-enhanced mobile application that aims to address limitations in 2D/3D molecular translations in teaching and learning organic chemistry by allowing students to not only view chemical structures in 3D using Augmented Reality (AR) technology, but to also empower them to interact with the structures by hand using controls to change the molecular structure formation. Students will be also able to learn and understand at a deeper level through the individualised and self-directed experience NuPOV provides (watch the introductory YouTube video here).

The application was developed by a like-minded team of people in NUS who were passionate about the digitisation of education and improving the quality of teaching. The team worked on and supported the development of NuPOV, holding to their faith and belief that the application would transform the way Chemistry could be taught in NUS.

In the early stages of the project, without a grant, the team was essentially developing in-house with Ju-We as NuPOV’s developer in collaboration with NUS CIT for user interface and user experience design. Chemistry research assistants and students were involved in aggressive testing and provided content without any remuneration for their time and efforts.

The Department of Chemistry in Université de Paris, France then caught wind of NuPOV’s development and the team was invited for a collaboration with the department. Subsequently, a small grant was awarded to NuPOV under the USPC-NUS grant.

Crucially, the research behind NuPOV, from its learning concept as an AR application to its final launch, generated an impactful journal publication (tier 1, impact factor > 4). NuPOV has thus put NUS on the map for the development of the first AR learning and visualisation application proven to empower learners to use interactive controls to effect 3D molecular structures in learning organic chemistry.

The team ensured that the development of NuPOV was based purely on visual feedback without audio and that minimal semantics were used, so that NuPOV can be used by anyone without a language barrier. The completion of NuPOV’s development also saw the free release on the Apple Apps Store and Google Playstore for all Chemistry students to be able to access NuPOV and download it for their use anytime and anywhere.

Below are quotes from John and Ju-We on their experience working on NuPOV:

“Thinking out of the box, we’ve not just created a way to visualise chemical molecular structures but empowered students to use interactive controls to form their own. Like how one would teach a man to fish (for a lifetime) instead of giving them a fish (to feed for a day).” – John Yap, NuPOV Project Manager (Senior Manager, NUS IT)

“The essence of gamification is to engage users and create interaction. By introducing this to the complexity of molecular translations, we can turn a difficult subject into a unique and fun experience for students to learn from.” – Gan Ju-We, NuPOV Developer (Systems Analyst, NUS IT)

Once again, congratulations to John and Ju-We and the NuPOV team for their well-deserved ADEA win!

Learn more about NuPOV here and download it on Google Play or the Apps Store.