ACE-IT
Find the best tutors in your university
Introduction- what is ace it?
Ace It is an educational application that serves as a gateway between the students and the tutors among every university in North America. It is inspired by Blackboard Learn which is an educational management system used widely in Canada and The States.
THE IDEA
Frustration
It is based on real life: I have experienced the same problem when I was in the university. I had to spend good amount of my time to find a website or an app to search for a tutor.
What is the problem?
A single organized platform does not exist for university students to find tutors for their courses. The existing ones are neither university nor course specific. Students have to go through multiple steps to even access to tutors.
Payment: Majority of the websites requires students to upload credit before start chatting with the tutors.
Response Time: There is no satisfactory notification system to indicate if a tutor is active.
What can i do?
*Create a platform where tutors are accessible and students can filter their tutors according to their courses
*They can pay their tutors through a secure platform
The Interview- What do students think?
Sample Number: 15
Questions that I have asked to students aimed to get more information about how much they needed extra help and their preferred way to reach out for it. Following are some examples of the questions from the interview:
How many times did/do you need a tutor?
If you require extra help do you prefer to use TA/Office hours or do you seek help from outside?
Do you know a specific platform to reach out a tutor for your courses?
MEET THE STUDENTS
David is looking for an internship and knows that it's very competitive out there. He needs help with his grades but university's system is simply not enough. Jacqueline is majoring in communications at McGill and even though she is smiling she is really frustrated when it comes to find extra help. Finally, Sally. She is one of the it-girls. She has high standards and want to attain a certain cGPA however the university and the classes are huge. Not enough TA and office hours
Solution: Ace-it the app
Ace It will allow for students to add their courses manually to obtain a more organized platform.
Payment System
It will lay out a payment system inspired by Uber: During the on boarding process they will choose a payment method (debit/credit/PayPal) which will be linked to their profile. After their session will be ended by their tutors students will receive an online receipts on their e-mail.
Book now
The built-in calendar feature will allow students to either book instantly with their choice of tutors or enter manually a session. This entry will notify the tutors and by accepting it will synch both the student’s and the tutor’s calendar.
Message your tutor
The students can either message the tutors to reserve a time spot which will allow them to share files, notes!
The user flow : few simple steps to ace exams
How it works
Sign-up
Create an account
Add a payment method
Add courses
View tutors list for the preferred course
Book instantly / Message the tutor
Ace It!
STYLE
Organized and simple.
Blue for the trustworthiness.
Yellow and orange for the youth and the energy.
Familiar yet fresh
Logo
OWL
The owl spirit animal is emblematic of a deep connection with wisdom and intuitive knowledge. That's why I wanted to go to that direction. Before showing the final logo, let's see what went wrong:
What did not work: the colours and the contrast did not fit with the owl Icon that I decided to use. So I have chosen something more simple.
Finally
Here is the more simpler, and linear icon. I could apply the colours of the app to the this linear owl while keeping the attached meaning.
Future of Ace It- What's next?
In the future version, I would like to add more features where students can have more engagement with each other. They will be able to form study groups, work with the same tutors and more!
See the full prototype here: