GT1K - GT1000 Mobile Application
A multi-platform mobile application to help connect 2200 students, faculty and team leaders
Screen shots of prototype developed for Android
Background
GT1K is a mobile application under development for the course GT1000 at Georgia Tech taken by around 2000 students with the support from Center of Academic Success. It will help connect students, faculty and administrators by overcoming the several barriers and issues in the current technologies used by Georgia Tech such as T-square, Zimbra and Buzzport. Issues such as inability to send instant notifications to students, absence of chat messaging and comprehensive guide to campus resources will be addressed through this mobile application.
Summary
The development for this application began during a hack-a-thon where my colleague, Tim and I worked on design and implementation of the app after analyzing the requirements given by Dr. Nirmal Trivedi, the director of Freshman Reading Program and GT1000 at Georgia Tech. We both worked for 16 hours and made a working prototype on the mobile platform Android. Before I begin explaining the functionality of this prototype, it is essential to explain how GT1000 is structured/managed using forward arrows.
Program Director -> TLAB (Team Leader Advisory Board) / Instructors -> Team Leaders -> Students. It has the following features which I will discuss briefly below:
GT1K is a mobile application under development for the course GT1000 at Georgia Tech taken by around 2000 students with the support from Center of Academic Success. It will help connect students, faculty and administrators by overcoming the several barriers and issues in the current technologies used by Georgia Tech such as T-square, Zimbra and Buzzport. Issues such as inability to send instant notifications to students, absence of chat messaging and comprehensive guide to campus resources will be addressed through this mobile application.
Summary
The development for this application began during a hack-a-thon where my colleague, Tim and I worked on design and implementation of the app after analyzing the requirements given by Dr. Nirmal Trivedi, the director of Freshman Reading Program and GT1000 at Georgia Tech. We both worked for 16 hours and made a working prototype on the mobile platform Android. Before I begin explaining the functionality of this prototype, it is essential to explain how GT1000 is structured/managed using forward arrows.
Program Director -> TLAB (Team Leader Advisory Board) / Instructors -> Team Leaders -> Students. It has the following features which I will discuss briefly below:
- The prototype has the ability to send push notifications instantly to all the mobile devices and takes care of several privacy issues. It uses Google Cloud Messaging and some basic web based back end developed in php and html to achieve this. Through this feature a person on top of the hierarchy can send instant announcements about latest events, important updates and information to anyone in the bottom of the hierarchy (for example, program director can send messages to students or instructors can release announcements to TLs (team leaders) or students).
- Another interesting feature is creation of chat rooms where any individual can create different kinds of chat-rooms with several options for managing one's privacy. For instance, an instructor can create an open chat-room where all the students in a class and team leaders can interact with each other by asking questions, opening discussions etc. Also, a TL can create a chat-room getting in touch with their students. It works by starting a chat-room and inviting people to the chat-room. After a person who has been invited accepts the request, he/she can view/send messages of/to the group.
- Resources tab has a comprehensive guide to several resources on campus and weekly modules to assist the instructors, TLs and students in their activities.