Pitt Connect

Pitt Connect serves as a hub for the various platforms utilized in online learning. Users can access and modify a personalized home screen that helps them find information about their classes.

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Team: pod55, Track: Student Life

Inspiration

When the world was suddenly thrust into the COVID-19 pandemic last year, it was clear that we were not prepared to transition to online learning. Since then, we have made great strides in improving the online learning experience for students and teachers alike. One issue that we have had as students is inconsistencies across classes regarding accessing different online platforms. Each teacher has approached online learning in a unique way, often relying on different learning software. It can be difficult to remember what classes offer what features and it can be even more difficult to find these features. One great example is Zoom. Zoom links can be found in Canvas, on personal websites, in a syllabus, or in emails. The Zoom passwords can be even more elusive and can only usually be found in an email or Canvas announcement from the beginning of the semester.

What it does

With Pitt Connect, students can search for their classes and add it to their personalized home screen. They can click on any of their classes to see what platforms the class offers and how to access them in an organized and aesthetically pleasing manner. If their class can’t be found in the search, they can create it themselves by filling out a simple form. This newly created class will then be stored in our database and all students can access it. Pitt Connect supports Zoom, Canvas, Top Hat, Gradescope, Discord, GroupMe, Slack, Box, and course websites. This application would be especially useful for students who join a class late during the add/drop period. They can quickly get an understanding of the class structure and access crucial learning resources.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into many issues while trying to implement our idea. As freshmen, we were very inexperienced with much of our tech stack. We learned a lot about frontend and backend programming as well integrating the two together. On the frontend we ran into many issues regarding the positioning and implementation of UI elements. On the backend we ran into problems deciding on the right framework to support our site. Originally, we tried Firebase but ultimately pivoted to Python and Django. We had to learn how to use and implement a backend in Django to support our website. Another issue we had was managing the GitHub repository. We would frequently run into version control issues and struggled with merging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud of the things we were able to accomplish. We put together a visually pleasing website that has features such as a user signup and login, class management, and the creation of new classes. We also were able to get the website to work from a mobile setting.

What we learned

We learned a lot about HTML, CSS, Python, Django, web development and working as a team.

What's next for Pitt Connect

Moving forward we hope to continue adding functionality and making the design even more intuitive. Some features we will add are integrating the login with Pitt’s login, creating a more polished interface, allowing for professors and TA’s to have special editing privileges, and adding more applications.

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