Unified Student Dashboard for University of Arizona

Inspiration

Our journey began with the realization that U of A students are often overwhelmed by the multitude of platforms they must navigate—D2L, Gradescope, UAccess, emails, and more. We were inspired to create a single, unified mobile app that consolidates all essential campus information into one accessible place, enabling students to focus more on learning and campus life rather than juggling disjointed systems.

What it does

The Unified Student Dashboard brings together key academic and campus information in one mobile app. It:

Consolidates Data: Displays schedules, assignments, grades, notifications, and campus resources on one screen.

Timeline Functionality: Offers a timeline where students can add, edit, and check off tasks starting from today, helping them manage daily activities and deadlines.

Real-Time Notifications: Integrates Firebase Messaging to push timely alerts, such as emergency notifications or assignment reminders.

OAuth Integrations: Supports secure logins via D2L, Gradescope, and UAccess, ensuring that students’ information is accessed safely.

User-Friendly Design: Provides an intuitive interface optimized for mobile use, tailored to the needs of U of A students.

How we built it

Front-End with Flutter: We built the mobile interface using Flutter, which allowed us to create a responsive, cross-platform app. Screens were designed for schedules, assignments, grades, notifications, resources, and the new timeline.

Serverless Back-End with AWS: Our back-end leverages AWS Lambda and API Gateway. We built serverless functions that fetch data from various campus systems and integrated Firebase Messaging for real-time push notifications.

Timeline Feature: We implemented a timeline functionality where users can add tasks with a title and due date (starting from today), edit entries, and mark tasks as completed. This was initially managed via local state in the app.

OAuth & API Integrations: Integrations with D2L, Gradescope, and UAccess were implemented using OAuth flows, enabling secure and seamless logins directly from the app.

Challenges we ran into

Integration Complexity: Each campus system uses different protocols and APIs, which required creative workarounds and extensive documentation review.

Serverless Deployment: Deploying and managing AWS Lambda functions, particularly handling dependencies and configuration, presented a steep learning curve.

Real-Time Notifications: Configuring Firebase Messaging for consistent, reliable push notifications proved technically challenging.

User Experience Balancing: Combining multiple data sources and features into one cohesive, user-friendly interface took several iterations and user testing.

Data Persistence: Initially, our timeline tasks were only stored in memory. Implementing persistent storage (like using SharedPreferences or a cloud database) is an ongoing challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Unified Platform: Successfully consolidating various disparate campus systems into a single, accessible app.

Innovative Timeline Feature: Adding a dynamic timeline that helps students plan their days, manage deadlines, and visually track progress.

Scalable Architecture: Leveraging AWS Lambda and serverless technology to build a scalable, cost-effective back-end.

User-Centered Design: Creating a clean and intuitive interface tailored specifically for the needs of U of A students.

Rapid Iteration & Learning: Overcoming technical and integration challenges, leading to a much deeper understanding of mobile and serverless development.

What we learned

Cross-Platform Development: Flutter’s framework makes it possible to build a powerful, responsive app for both Android and iOS with a single codebase.

Serverless Best Practices: Building and deploying AWS Lambda functions taught us about scalability, cost-effectiveness, and the importance of proper configuration.

Effective API Integration: Working with multiple OAuth flows and disparate campus systems highlighted the need for robust error handling and data management.

User Experience Design: Continuous testing and iteration with real users helped refine our design and improve overall usability.

Collaboration & Adaptability: The project reinforced the importance of teamwork and the willingness to adapt as new challenges arose.

What's next for Unified Student Dashboard for University of Arizona

Data Persistence & Sync: Implement persistent storage for timeline tasks (e.g., using SharedPreferences or integrating a cloud database) to retain data across sessions.

Expanded Integrations: Explore additional campus systems and services to further centralize student information.

Enhanced Personalization: Introduce features like personalized study recommendations, notifications based on user behavior, and customizable dashboards.

User Feedback Loop: Launch a pilot program at U of A, gather user feedback, and iterate on the design to continuously improve the app.

Scaling & Security Enhancements: Further optimize the serverless back-end, improve security measures, and ensure compliance with university data policies.

Community & Collaboration: Collaborate with student organizations and university IT departments to expand the app's reach and impact.

Built With

• api-gateway
• flutter
• lambda