FlashForward

Inspiration

Our team, as students, know all about how difficult it can be to achieve learning goals in today's world full of convenient, addictive, distractions. One thing we found we all struggled with was mindlessly scrolling (through a lot of short-form video content) to put off tasks, or just because the studying we had to do seemed so dauntingly boring. So, we wanted to propose a Chrome Extension that would reduce procrastination, and force users to revise their target material.

What it does

FlashForward allows users to upload their electronic course notes so they can be converted into flashcards as well as to set time limits on websites of their choice. When site limits are exceeded, users are forced to answer three flashcard questions correctly before being able to go back to the site. This should interrupt many students' (and non students') mindless scrolling and help remind users of their learning goals.

How we built it

The backend was done using Python. The flashcards are generated using Flask API. We used Canva to visualize our main design, and used HTML, CSS, and Javascript for the front end.

Challenges we ran into

Using Javascript and connecting the Gemini API to the extension itself. It was very difficult to try to execute our vision in such a short time frame.

What we learned

Through the process of brainstorming and building FlashForward, the two most important things we learned were how to problem solve under pressure and how to work effectively in a team. We saw how great teamwork can be for improving a project as we bounced ideas and suggestions off one another.

What's next for FlashForward

We wanted to have a better UI but were unable to implement it in the time constraint. In the future, we would like to expand to multiple choice questions and We would also love to make FlashForward available as a mobile application since phones tend to be the main avenue for unwanted distracting content. We think this addition would be very helpful for a lot of people.