Attendease

Whether you're simply forgetful or a sub in a new classroom, attendance can be a pain. Through a c# api and swift frontend, we automate the arduous attendance process putting the ease in attendease.

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Inspiration

We took the time to interview several teachers, attempting to identify what pains we could fix in their day-to-day lives. One key pain point that consistently came up was attendance. Attendance is a process that is begging to be automated. It is boring, repetitive, and easy to mess up. Through shifting that work onto our software, teachers can allocate more of their time to the students, increasing productivity in the classroom.

What it does

Our product optimizes the attendance process. Each student is given a tag for their backpack. When the student enters the classroom, our application scans them in. When all students have entered the classroom, the teacher can end the session and receive a report. They instantly know who is in the classroom and who is not.

How we built it

Our project has three primary deliverables. First, we have the C# api. The API handles the majority of the logic. Through the use of Entity Framework, the API was able to manage a remote database as well as elegantly perform the business logic necessary to make the application function. The API was also deployed to Heroku to ensure ease of use on the front end. The second deliverable is the backpack tags. These are scanned when a student enters a classroom. Each one contains a unique QR code corresponding to their unique student ID. This allows for seamless communication between the student, the frontend, and the backend. The final deliverable is the front end with a full user experience. The UI provides a full login experience, interactive classrooms, and seamless integration with the backend. Additionally, the front end elegantly uses "CodeScanner" to parse student tags and provide that information to the backend.

Challenges we ran into

Swift was a new technology for our frontend team. While this was an excellent opportunity to learn and grow as software engineers, it did bottleneck progress at times. However, we know when we use this technology in the future, the process will be smoother and more effective.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The C# API came together well, and the deployment went exceptionally smoothly. The front end was also a massive accomplishment.

What we learned

We had the opportunity to learn a lot about Swift, including its setup and syntax. Beyond code, we also had the opportunity to connect with and learn from different teachers about what problems affect them and how technology can improve their lives.

What's next for Attendease

The software architecture that we built has the opportunity to be used elsewhere. Many of the pains teachers identified involved administration communication and data entry. Our easy-to-understand and use software could replace much of the uninteresting tedious work that burdens teachers today.

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