Inspiration
The inspiration behind Connect2Learn (C2L) stemmed from the observation that existing social platforms offered location-sharing features without a clear academic purpose. Recognizing the potential for a more productive and education-focused alternative, our team set out to create a platform that leverages academic collaboration and connectivity.
What it does
Connect2Learn (C2L) transforms the academic experience by integrating social networking features, inspired off of the D2L framework, with the ability to interact and meet in a safe and modern medium. Unlike conventional social apps, C2L allows users to share their locations with a purpose – facilitating meaningful academic interactions, study sessions, and collaborative projects. Users can (in future versions atm) request nearby "friends" to have a HW session or complete a bus ride with them to a lecture hall.
How we built it
C2L was meticulously crafted using Flutter and Dart, leveraging the powerful Google API framework to enhance the D2L platform. The integration of location-sharing features and the creation of a secure academic social network were achieved through these robust technologies. Additionally, Auth0 was employed to ensure stringent authentication and data security standards, ensuring a seamless and protected user experience within the educational context (with actual implementation being as complete as possible).
Challenges we ran into
Throughout the development process, we faced many challenges in seamlessly integrating location-sharing into the D2L framework while maintaining user interface clarity and overall feature balancing. Ensuring all these aspects worked individually and together required meticulous planning and execution, and it wasn't perfect.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud to have successfully transformed our academic learning platform into a medium that can utilize a dynamic academic social network. C2L's accomplishment lies in creating a tool that enhances student collaboration, fosters academic engagement, and provides a unique value proposition within the educational technology landscape.
What we learned
Building Connect2Learn taught us valuable lessons in adapting and expanding existing platforms for innovative purposes. We gained insights into addressing challenges related to user privacy, security, and creating a user-friendly interface tailored to the academic community. Additionally, we all learned to use many app development languages in such a short time. It may not have been our first hackathon (second), but we faced great inexperience, and we learned to stay determined when things seemed unsolvable.
What's next for C2L | Connect2Learn
The future for C2L involves continuous refinement and expansion. We aim to gather user feedback to enhance features, explore potential partnerships with educational institutions, and ensure that C2L remains a cutting-edge tool for academic collaboration and networking.
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