Online Tutor

Online Tutor
Online Tutor Logo
Goal of this Application

Inspiration

Due to COVID-19, people around the world are struggling to "connect" with their friends, families and teachers. As high school students, we have faced difficulties with online learning in a new virtual environment. Therefore, we firmly believe that we can positively impact education, using our knowledge and skills so that every student can become confident with their course materials without anxiety and isolation. Our goal of this application is to support and help students who are passionate about learning and expanding their knowledge. Also, this application will provide community service opportunities and volunteer hours for mentors. Furthermore, during challenging times, we wanted to help reduce students' stress levels and improve their mental health.

What it does

Online Tutor is a beneficial application that effectively connects mentors and mentees during COVID-19. Mentees can easily reach out for help on specific course materials using the Support page. Mentors can also gain community service hours and mentor points (proof of their experiences and skills). In the account tab, users can view their short bio, reminders, mentor points, levels, and community service hours they have earned. The last page, Chat, is where users can freely communicate and connect with each other for any mental and academic support. Overall, this application will provide safe volunteer opportunities for mentors and essential academic support for mentees, developing a stress-free online learning environment.

How we built it

We have built this application using Glide apps, which is a software specifically designed for application developers. Due to the lack of coding experience and knowledge, we have used Glides application to layout and translate our passion into real-life solutions. We have used hardworking skills and spent meaningful time to create exciting application components such as pages, links, and progress bars. Plus, we have used PowerPoint to design cover pictures of multiple icons.

Challenges / Accomplishments

Since UofT Hackathon 2021 is our first hackathon, it was extremely challenging to create a project without any coding background experiences. We have faced countless challenges such as technical difficulties, limited time, complicated programming languages and much more. However, after attending the UofT Hackathon, full of welcoming mentors and supportive workshops, we were able to create a unique project. Besides, we have spent lots of time researching and watching tutorial videos to explore new content, identify the problem and efficiently overcome challenges. As high school students, we are very proud that we have achieved a remarkable accomplishment that can positively impact our society and the world. Moreover, we are glad that we have taken a step further to participate in this unforgettable opportunity to develop our passion and interests in the computer engineering field.

What we learned

Through this valuable experience, we have learned that continuous effort, passion and endless practice can extend our limitations and produce a successful result. Even though our project contained numerous flaws, we have also learned that meaningful projects, whether it is small or big, can influence other people's lives.

What's next for Online Tutor

If it is possible, we would like to introduce this application idea to school boards across Canada. We would also like to add new subjects and make our app available for a broader range of students, like university students. Moreover, we will develop a system to continuously check feedback, fix bugs and regularly update our first application.