HomeLabs

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  A much clearer picture of what John's phone looked like during the Demo

Inspiration

In most modern grading platforms, I feel like there's a missing quality of life perk that many students would benefit from. If there was a way to keep students in-the-loop about when assignments are due, I imagine it would help them stay on top of their work and become inspired to change their study habits. Hence, when I learned about Courier's potential, I thought this would be a good chance to take on a simple but doable project.

What it does

If there's an assignment due soon that accidentally slips your mind, HomeLabs is here to not only remind you of your approaching deadline, but also provide you and your peers an easy-access space to meet up and collaborate on Google Meet. The working version has integrations with email and SMS, but the end-product includes more platforms like Push notifications and Slack.

How we built it

I used the SQLite3 library in Python3 to generate my own database—the finished product would use data from classrooms with actual students—and used my created objects to make calls to the Courier API. These calls would take user information pulled from the database and automatically generate emails to remind users of assignments via email and SMS notifications. In the notification itself, there's a Google Meet link to instantly take users into an existing Google Meet, where they get instant access to a collaborative space.

Challenges we ran into

As a first-time hacker, there were two main challenges I came across. I'd never worked with APIs before, so using JSON structures and learning how all of Courier's integrations intertwined was a hurdle in-and-of-itself. Additionally, I had no prior experience with databases, nor with how to retrieve information from them. I spent a large portion of my time on SQL tutorials and reading the SQL documentation so that I would be able to work with SQLite3 in my program.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud to have gained a somewhat adequate grasp of SQL clauses. I know that in the tech world, it's important to have a solid grasp of databases and information retrieval. Although I'm nowhere close to being proficient, this first exposure to SQL was very educational.

What we learned

I learned how to make API calls and use web-hosted tools to deliver information and updates to others. I learned how to interact with databases and retrieve critical information.

What's next for HomeLabs

Right now I've got no plans to expand on HomeLabs, but the potential is there for anyone that wants to immerse themselves in the world of notification-building. With a larger database, it's definitely possible to reach dozens (or more) users and encourage a more time-savvy classroom.

Built With

• courier
• google-meet
• python
• sendgrid
• sqlite
• twilio