Aggie Archive

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Inspiration

The inspiration behind Aggie Archive stems from the belief that education is a transformative force that should be accessible to all. Recognizing the challenges and limitations faced by students in obtaining quality educational resources, we were determined to create a solution that would level the playing field and empower learners at UC Davis.

As students ourselves, we experienced firsthand the frustrations of spending countless hours searching for relevant materials, often ending up with outdated or unreliable sources. We saw the need for a centralized platform that would not only streamline the search process but also foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing among peers.

Moreover, we were inspired by the power of community and the collective wisdom it holds. We firmly believe that when students come together to share their insights, experiences, and resources, everyone benefits. We wanted to harness this potential to create a dynamic and interactive platform that would enhance the learning experience for all UC Davis students.

What it does

Our project creates a platform for UC Davis students to search for educational resources, contribute their own materials, collaborate with peers, and engage through commenting and voting. It enhances the learning experience by providing a centralized hub for resource sharing and interaction.

How we built it

This project combines various technologies and aspects to create a full stack application. A MongoDB database was used to store information about courses, users, and resources. JSON files were cached locally from MongoDB database to increase app loading speed.

Front end was built on React.js, and the middleware consisted of express.js and mongoose.

Non term-specific data was obtained in a headless chrome driver browser through the use of selenium on python, parsing through over 10,000 courses.

Challenges we ran into

While developing Aggie Archive, we encountered challenges in web scraping data, managing time effectively, and implementing user file uploads.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating an immersive user experience was one of our proudest achievements. Along with that, we were able to make a low resource and easily scalable backend, which allowed us to load our pages fast. Finally we're also proud of how far we came as a team. We came in with not many expectations, but came out with a great product and amazing experiences.

What we learned

Through the development of Aggie Archive, we gained valuable insights and learning experiences. On the organizational front, we honed our time management skills and discovered the importance of effective collaboration. On the technical side, we delved into the fundamentals of the MERN stack, gaining expertise in both frontend and backend development. These learnings have equipped us with a solid foundation to tackle future challenges and continue delivering innovative solutions.

What's next for Aggie Archive

Our next steps involve expanding the platform's features and functionality to further enhance the user experience. We plan to implement advanced search capabilities, personalized recommendations, and improved user interface for seamless navigation. Additionally, we aim to forge partnerships with academic institutions and organizations to broaden the range of available resources. Our vision is to create a thriving global community where students from different universities can connect, share knowledge, and collaborate. Furthermore, we will continuously gather user feedback to refine and optimize Aggie Archive based on the evolving needs and preferences of our user base.