The PAL @ OkState

Find and download course materials, assignments, and resources for your OSU classes.

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Inspiration

My main inspiration for creating PAL was that I had access to a similar resource during my time at Texas A&M, and it helped me significantly. Oklahoma State has a great in-person support network, but lacks many online resources.

What It Does

PAL stands for Past Assessment Library.
Think of it as a search engine for exams, quizzes, essays, etc. that professors have given over the years.

How I Built It

PAL is built using Next.js + React, and is connected to a Supabase database where PDF files and metadata are stored.

Stored in Supabase:

  • PDF objects + paths to the Supabase bucket
  • A table for student requests for new classes
  • A table that flags users as admins

There is a hidden admin panel in the site where I can easily upload/delete PDFs.
The main page includes filtering by course code, course number, and professor; along with ordering options (course code, professor, or date). The site queries based on user-defined search settings, displays results as cards, and allows a simple click-to-download experience.

Challenges I Ran Into

The biggest challenge was ensuring security and preventing abuse. Adding login to the admin panel was a start; but not enough. The major solution was adding Cloudflare Turnstile protection. Now, if someone wants to log in or submit a request, they must prove they’re not a bot.

Another challenge was the UI. After the site was functional, making it visually appealing took nearly half the time spent on the project; polishing the design and creating a clean, reliable user experience.

Accomplishments I'm Proud Of

The website is nearly finished and truly shippable; after this hackathon, I could literally approach professors tomorrow and present it as a ready-to-use product. A lot of students who demoed PAL said they would actually use it; and that made the project feel worthwhile. It solved a real problem.

What I Learned

This project taught me how to set up a full website using Next.js + React, how to integrate with Supabase, how to manage auth/admin controls, and how to work with Tailwind CSS to produce a simple but effective UI.

What’s Next for The PAL @ Oklahoma State

The backend is mostly complete; the next steps involve further UI refinement and adding some small additional features. The main upcoming milestone will be taking this to professors to gain support; with the goal of making PAL a fully adopted and “officially supported” resource for OSU students.

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