Team Blue - CommTogether

Inspiration

With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, countless people have lost the spark of social interaction and communication. Individuals are now constantly stuck behind a screen, unable to directly connect with their family and friends, and individuals from other communities. Furthermore, the harsh transition from in-person learning to digital learning for many students has made learning a language far more difficult because individuals are not receiving the direct help and resources needed to effectively learn a new language. For instance, teachers are frequently unable to individually converse with students one-on-one in a virtual setting compared to an in-person setting. That combined with students' lost incentive to pay attention during class due to the increase in distractions and stress results in a rather unhealthy balance of communication and learning.

In addition, communication in person can be very different and uncomfortable for various individuals. Our app entirely changes that perspective by creating an easy, fun, and interactive way for people to connect and communicate, while also learning something new!

Communication and learning should be stress-free, effective, and impactful. Research shows that having a strong network of community bonds fosters crucial growth in both knowledge and health! This is why we must strive to create a strong generation of leaders, innovators, and creators through the fostering of communication and language in an accessible digital way.

What it does

CommTogether, as demonstrated by its name, brings individuals together as one regardless of language, location, gender, culture, or background. With our app, you can learn a new language and gain a new friend! Our app is designed so users can meet, communicate, and learn from someone either internationally or next door to whom you can talk or text with. CommTogether also has personalized lesson plans, practice problems, and tutoring services for users to learn a new language. In addition to these factors, the most innovative method by which our users learn is by communicating directly to other individuals from different countries, with different cultures and ethnicities, with different lifestyles, and with a different language all over the globe. With our app, you discover your next best friend through the pen pal feature and by communicating with tutors, other users, and teachers.

Moreover, CommTogether has a distinct personalization feature in which users can find content and individuals who perfectly fit their likings. When users enter into the app, they are asked to complete a questionnaire that personalizes their profile page and feed. Not only can they share their personal interests, but they can even upload posts to your own account and change the introduction biography to make their page very personal and engaging.

How we built it

Our app was built using the design application Figma.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest obstacle was the limited time. We only had a couple of hours to innovatively think of an idea, decide whether or not to code it, build it on Figma, script the pitch, film the pitch, and ultimately edit the video. It was a rather rapid process that quickly passed before our eyes, from start to finish. We, therefore, would have liked to have more time to thoroughly discuss and further implement our ideas to create an innovative project that exceeds any average standards.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One accomplishment we are proud of is the creation of our digital pen pal system. The system allows users to interact and talk to each other in a comfortable way which was one of the main goals of our app. A digital pen pal system also collects stamps after users reach specific goal numbers of penpals. This reward system creates an incredibly fun and interactive activity for all of our users. just to give a little motivation and kind of seem like a reward for reaching out and broadening one’s views. These stamps are from different countries all over the world and users can also send stamps to their pen pals.

Furthermore, as opposed to current language websites or apps that only exclusively offer one feature, CommTogether has all of the most useful educational and communication features in one place for easy accessibility. We created CommTogether so that people would feel welcome to broaden their horizons to learning from and meeting new people. We found that currently there are no programs have all the features we have -- that help individuals learn and teach a new language, have a pen pal and tutoring service, and have a place for posting specific personalized information!

The app provides features that enable students to closely engage with other users through media posts, Q&As, pen-pals, and working one on one with other learning individuals and tutors. Simultaneously, CommTogether also allows students to exponentially expand their knowledge in a way that is fun and engaging. Rather than the boring lectures or classes, CommTogether offers clear and concise resources and direct communication accessibility to fluent speakers and tutors, and individuals who share the same interests.

What we learned

We learned how to work under pressure, which proved to be reasonably helpful because we were able to quickly innovate a product that could help people interact digitally without sacrificing the integrity of in-person communication. Our app also effectively enables individuals to learn about different languages and cultures from individuals across the globe, an experience that not only furthers the deep communication and bonds between people, but is also an experience that is not commonly seen and, thus, something that has never been seen before. We also learned a lot from the speakers and the mentors at the workshops and we learned how to use Figma, which proves to be an incredibly digestible, accessible, and innovative platform to display designs and ideas!

What's next for Team Blue - CommTogether

The future for CommTogether remains uncertain, but we hope to continue to spread the message of innovation, learning, inclusivity. Our goal with this app was to create a platform that brought people together in a way that has never been done before. With this hackathon marking just the beginning of our inquiries with implementing real-world changes that positively benefit the wellbeing of our community, we believe that we have much more we can do, and we find that quite exciting!

Built With

• canva
• figma
• zoom