Owl Tutor

login screen
home screen, todo list
post and comments
forum discussions
manage appointments
forum screen (course list)
database

Inspiration

Team O noticed the inefficiency in Foothill's current LCR Learning Resources Center). We all have experienced that feeling of being stuck in a homework question. It would be absurd to book a 30-minutes appointment to resolve this problem. Even the drop-in session can feel very awkward if we only ask a single question. Most of the time, we ended up guessing or searching the answer online without fully comprehending the topic. Owl Tutor aims to resolve this problem by connecting the Foothill community and enable these questions to be answered in a community-driven discussion forum.

What it does

The app has 3 main features: dashboard, appointment, and forum. The dashboard is presented in the main page and acts as a to-do list for the students. The dashboard allows students to get an overview of their days/weeks. The appointment features presents a user-friendly and easy-to-use interface that connects students with tutors pertaining to a particular subject. Lastly, the forum is a discussion space where students and tutors are able to answer course-specific questions. The app is personalized for each user as it utilizes Canvas API integration that provides almost all the data we need.

How we built it

Owl Tutor uses React Native (frontend) and Firebase (backend) as well as Canvas API. Additionally, presentation video is made through canva.com

Challenges we ran into

There are a lot of problems that we ran into such as Canvas API implementation. Canvas API documentation was vague with some of its components not working properly. One major problem, however, was the authentication system. In order to access the OAuth2 system, it requires a devkey which can further complicate the data structure and implementation. Another problem we ran into is processing data format output. The user ID for canvas students has more than 16 digits of number and is outputted as an integer. As a result, an integer overflow occurs and the user id outputted does not match the actual one. Other challenges include UI/UX design, presentation, and time managements as Team O only consists of 2 members. A less technical challenge include academic integrity for app usage.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Owl Tutor was able to circumvent the OAuth2 problem by utilizing access token. This allows us to retrieve the data we need without invoking any devkey/ Canvas admin panel from the institution which increases feasibility and efficiency of the app. Here is a link that guides the user for access token retrieval: Click me!

What we learned

This project has taught us a lot about UI/UX production and data structures.

What's next for Owl Tutor

We aim to implement Owl Tutor in MyPortal. We also want to implement more features given the time which include a profile viewer and friend lists, allowing users to better connect with others. We also aim to address the academic integrity concerns by implementing more moderation features.