Chalk Board
Chalk Board (stylized "Chalk Board.") is a web application designed to be a social media platform for educators to connect with one another. The platform is simple, with a login page, a signup page, and five main pages from the user's account. The app is designed to have a verification process where teachers are asked for their credentials or emails and are matched with a database of schools, from preschool to doctorate programs. There is an option when registering to fill in an "other" which would be reviewed by staff before verifying that educator's account. The web app is designed to create a positive and uplifting community of educators, where they can support and inspire one another.
Impact of Chalk Board
Teachers will be able to diversify lesson plans and support one another, especially in the modern prominence of online learning. Another issue we hope for the web app to mend is the fact 97% of school teachers spend their own money on school supplies every year. The average teacher spends almost 500 dollars. If teachers are able to create a network where no materials go unused, and the best deals can be sniffed out and benefit the masses, it will hopefully suppress the dents educators in America are forced to put into their own wallets.
Our Process
Our team knew we wanted to focus on education for HooHacks, but did not have a set plan. It took a few hours of brainstorming after we started to come up with Chalk Board. We began dividing and conquering, with one side of the team on Figma working on a prototype and the other side working to implement the ideas on Django. There was a vast learning curve; one half of the team has never participated in a hackathon before, and the other has only done one. After creating the welcome page, we realized exporting Figma prototypes as HTML is not an easy task. The team attempted to learn HTML for a few hours, and got a very rough website with all the components, but none of the design. Here, we decided to scrap the website and instead stick with something more familiar: Bootstrap. With Bootstrap we were able to get a website which represents some of the functionality, and paired with the Figma, is an accurate representation of our goals for this web app in the long run.
Our Final Thoughts
We are leaving this experience much better coders than we came in. Our understanding of HTML has grown exponentially, and we are proud of the way we were able to adapt, compromise, and overcome the learning curves we faced.
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