Mentor U Connect

Mentor U Connect is a non-profit Android Mobile Mentoring Application

The purpose was to develop an application that would serve as the mobile interface of the mentoring program that the program founders wanted to establish at NJIT. The application required an NJIT Authentication system that allowed users with a credible UCID/Password to use. Mentors are able to schedule appointment/meeting check-ins throughout the semester to track the student's progress, evaluate their critical goals to achieve during the semester (set forth by the mentor) and deliver insightful resources provided by the mentor through the application's resource pipeline.

How to complete this?

I was the lead developer in the development process and designed the architecture of the application. Collaborating with a team of 4, I worked in managing our front-end, back-end, production and deployment servers, writing MySQL/PHP scripts to migrate the exchange of data, designing the front-end interface in XML, and class architecture through Java, using REST API to create our network requests, and setting up Firebase's Messaging service for our instant messaging service/notifications for our users.

• Research

  View similar mentoring applications and learn how their features contribute to strengthening student - mentor relationships to incorporate into our app. Research current and modern UX/UI practices into creating a mobile application. Define properties of a student / mentor for backend management. Learn how the university verifies the validity of a student's login info against their DB.

• Design & Sketching

  Create a series of UI concepts and templates for our application that focused on providing resources and communication between these stakeholders with the goal of strengthening their relationship.

• Launch Project

  Start developing the application and the backend database. Build a CURL script to verify if login info exists in university's DB. Build features such as Person to Person Messaging for student / mentor. Provide a cloud scheduler to set up meetings/appointments between them. Create profile activites and fragments, reusable components for UI building, network requests to servers, regularly update devices with latest announcements and notifications using Firebase. Finally, run tests on real android devices and into the hands of users for collect feedback, refine and prepare for presentation.

Project result and summary

Project was completed by the end of Summer' 2019, to a great success. The mentoring program was created at NJIT and ready to kick off for the new year of 2020.

Mentor U were looking to bring this program and its services (website, application, offices) to other universites.