yuConnect

Improving the connection between mentors-mentees through streamlining the matching process.

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Inspiration

In the Bay Area, over 60,000 young adults are disconnected from employment and education. Nearly 20,000 of them live in Santa Clara County, where the heart of Silicon Valley lies. As college students, we understand the importance of mentorship for improving one's career and success for life. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, we understand how technology can be harnessed to improve our lives. Therefore, we decided to use data analytics and mobile devices to improve the process of a mentor-mentee relationship.

What it does

Our application would simplify the data capture by offering a survey for both the mentor and mentee. This data would be fed into a database that can automate the matching process. Once mentors/mentees reach the “engagement” phase of the lifecycle our app will track the engagement level through a series of feedback surveys that the mentee will be requested to submit.

The frequency of Mentee feedback surveys should be configurable by the Program Administrator through an admin screen. The default would be weekly surveys that would generate ~24 data points during the 6-month engagement phase. If the weekly feedback surveys reveal low engagement by the mentor then an alert will be raised to the Program Administrator to intervene. Intervention could be coaching the mentor/mentee on how to engage or it could be a rematch of the mentee with a more compatible mentor.

How we built it

We used the InVision Studio computer application to create the main wireframe. To build the mobile iOS application, we use development tools such as Swift, Firestore, Firebase, and X-Code.

Challenges we ran into

We had a bit of trouble collaborating through GitHub. Since it was our first time coding on the same projects, it was difficult to fully understand the concepts of branching, merging, and conflicts.

Accomplishments that we are proud of

We are proud of the wireframe that we made for our mobile iOS application. But most of all, we are proud of laying the foundations for improving human-centered relationships through data analytics. Benefits of yuConnect:

  • Easier to register, pre-match, match and intervene
  • Ability to collect feedback both during and after the engagement phase
  • Ability to track engagement levels between mentor and mentee
  • Ability to rank the quality of mentor engagement.
  • The capability of early intervention (ideally within the first month) if low engagement patterns are detected could result in higher mentee satisfaction with the program

What we learned

We learned how to wireframe a mobile application and how to connect mobile devices to online databases.

What's next for YearUp Connect

We are planning to integrate the ability for the administrator to view the data analytics from the weekly surveys to assist them in improving the mentor-mentee program. Additionally, we plan to finish building out our algorithm to accurately show mentor matches for the mentees on their apps.

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