Project Story

About the Project

Our project, uCollab, was born out of the need to enhance online learning by fostering collaboration among students. As a team of four computer science and software engineering students in 2nd and 3rd year, we were inspired by the push to integrate social elements into online education. We aimed to replicate the dynamic environment of a study hall, where students can study together, chat, share insights, and ask questions, much like Discord and Reddit.

Problem statement

Discovering the existence of a class Discord group chat well into the semester, especially after midterms or, worse, after finals, poses a significant challenge for students. This lack of awareness may lead to missed opportunities for collaboration, resource sharing, and community building within the course. Our aim for uCollab is to automatically enrol students to the classes they registered to, all by utilizing the Brightspace API.

Inspiration and Learning

Throughout the development process, we learned valuable lessons about the importance of communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. We also delved into event-driven architecture (EDA) and explored how to leverage Solace Event Broker for seamless application integration.

Building the Project

We started by brainstorming ideas and sketching out the user interface. From there, we divided tasks among team members based on our strengths and interests. Using React for the frontend and Node.js for the backend, we built the core features of uCollab, including real-time messaging, audio chat, and content sharing. Integrating Solace Event Broker was a significant milestone, requiring careful planning and coordination.

Challenges Faced

One of the main challenges we encountered was ensuring smooth communication between different components of the application while maintaining scalability and reliability. We also faced technical hurdles during the integration of Solace Event Broker, but with perseverance and collaboration, we overcame them.

Overall, uCollab has been an exciting journey for our team, pushing us to think creatively and innovate in the realm of online education. We are proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to presenting our project at uOttaHack and contributing to the future of learning.