Final Project Idea

01 Apr 2025

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Final Project Idea

Proposers’ Names

Andrea Murillo, Milan Bukovics, Landon Kihe, Catalina Barnes

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Overview

At UH Mānoa, students rush to take notes, struggling to keep up with lectures. Alexa took great notes, but her friend Noah often missed key details. Before an exam, he searched Laulima and group chats, only to find scattered, incomplete notes.

“What if there was one place where UH students could share notes for every class?” Tokyo wondered.

That idea became NoteHub-Mānoa, a website where students can:

• Upload and access notes for any UH course.
• Rate notes based on clarity and usefulness.
• Comment and discuss with classmates.

No more last-minute panic. No more missing details. Just a growing library of knowledge, built by UH students, for UH students.

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The Problem

Students looking for class notes prefer those taken by peers who attended the same class. Unfortunately, these notes are often hard to find, scattered across different platforms, or hidden behind ads and paywalls, making it difficult to access reliable study materials.

The Solution

A dedicated platform where students can upload and access class notes, categorized by:

• Course
• Professor
• Semester

This ensures that students get the most relevant and high-quality notes tailored to their specific course.

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Mockup Page Ideas

• Designer: Cat
• Figma Link: View Mockup
• Design Theme: Mānoa colors + orange

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Use Case Scenarios

1️ Students Uploading Notes

1. Student visits the landing page.
2. Student logs in or creates an account.
3. Student clicks “Upload Notes” on the navigation bar.
4. Student fills out the following details:
   • Owner Email (defaults to anonymous)
   • Title
   • Department → Class
   • Semester
   • Professor
   • Description
   • Homework/Class Notes (e.g., Google Drive link, GitHub link)
5. Student uploads the information, and the notes appear on the “View Notes” page.

2️ Students Editing Their Notes

1. Student logs in.
2. If they have uploaded notes, the “Edit Notes” tab becomes visible.
3. Student clicks “Edit Notes” in the navigation bar.
4. Student sees a list of their uploaded notes and selects one to edit.
5. Student updates any of the following fields:
   • Title
   • Department → Class
   • Description
   • Semester
   • Professor
   • Owner Email (defaults to anonymous)
   • Homework/Class Notes (e.g., Google Drive link, GitHub link)
6. Updated notes are saved and reflected on the “View Notes” page.

3️ Students Searching for Class Notes

1. Student visits the landing page.
2. Student logs in or creates an account.
3. Student clicks “View Notes” on the navigation bar.
4. Student filters notes by course, professor, or semester using a search bar.
5. Available notes are displayed with the following details:
   • Owner/Author
   • Link to Document
   • Department/Class
   • Semester
   • Professor
   • Description

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Beyond the Basics

** Comment Section**

Students can discuss notes, ask questions, and provide additional explanations. The original uploader can also clarify any doubts.

** Star Rating System**

• Students must rate notes after accessing them.
• Rating Scale: 1-5 stars (1 = Not Useful, 5 = Very Useful).
• Average ratings are displayed on the viewing page.

** Points-Based System**

• Users earn points based on the star ratings received on their uploaded notes.
• Unlocking notes requires points: The higher the rating of a note, the more points it costs to unlock.
• This incentivizes students to contribute high-quality, readable, and accurate notes.
• Students who don’t contribute notes will have fewer points to access high-rated notes.

There are a couple special features of the page. First, there is going to be a comment section implemented, where the owner and the user will be able to leave comments about the given note. The second extra feature will be a required component, where users, who are looking for the notes will have to rate the person’s notes that were opened. The scoring range will have a 1-5 star scoring system: one star means that the note is not useful, 5 star rating means the opposite. Average rating will be shown on the viewing page. Last but not least, based on star ratings one receives on your notes, will result in a certain amount of points: the better the rating, the more points the given person gets. These points can be used to unlock other people’s notes. The higher rated the given note, the more points it will cost to unlock it. This should motivate people to take good, readable, and correct notes. On the other hand, if people don’t post notes, they will not have points to unlock other people’s notes. As a concussion, the more and correct notes someone takes, the more options he/she has to unlock other notes.

Final Thought

The more and better notes a student takes, the more access they get to others’ high-quality notes. This fosters a collaborative and enriching learning environment at UH Mānoa.