Project Overview
The Chrysalis E-Assessment Platform represents a significant advancement in educational technology for Chrysalis Secondary School in Kampala, Uganda. As the lead developer on this project, I created a comprehensive e-assessment platform tailored specifically for educational environments and enhanced student engagement.
This platform serves as a centralized hub for students and teachers, facilitating seamless assignment submission, resource sharing, and academic communication. The system was built with scalability in mind, allowing for future enhancements and additional features as the school's needs evolve.
Technical Stack
Key Features
Secure Access Control
The platform was designed exclusively for Chrysalis Secondary School stakeholders, with secure authentication for registered students and faculty. Each user type (student, teacher, administrator) has a tailored dashboard and appropriate access permissions.
Online Assignment Management
Students can submit assignments online, eliminating paper waste and creating a more efficient workflow. Teachers can create, distribute, and grade assignments directly within the platform, with automatic record-keeping of submission times and grades.
Resource Sharing
The platform provides personalized access to notes, study materials, and performance reports. Teachers can upload resources by class, subject, or individual student, ensuring targeted learning support.
Communication Tools
Real-time notifications and a collaborative chat feature foster student-teacher communication for academic support. The system includes both one-on-one messaging and class-wide announcements.
Development Process
The development of the Chrysalis E-Assessment Platform followed an agile methodology with regular stakeholder feedback. I began by conducting extensive interviews with teachers and students to understand their needs and pain points with the existing systems.
Django was selected as the backend framework due to its robust nature and excellent support for educational applications. The REST framework facilitated efficient API communication, allowing the frontend and backend components to operate independently.
For the frontend, I initially prototyped with Angular and later integrated React components for specific interactive elements. Tailwind CSS provided a modern and responsive design system that maintained consistency throughout the application.
Student Dashboard Interface
Assignment Submission Portal
Resource Library for Students
Challenges & Solutions
One of the significant challenges was designing a system that could be used by users with varying levels of technical proficiency. To address this, I implemented an intuitive UI with contextual help and tooltips throughout the platform.
Another challenge was ensuring the system would perform well with limited internet connectivity, as some students access the platform from areas with unreliable internet. I implemented progressive loading techniques and offline capabilities for certain features to mitigate this issue.
Results & Impact
Since its implementation in January 2023, the Chrysalis E-Assessment Platform has transformed the educational experience at Chrysalis Secondary School:
- 90% reduction in paper-based assignments
- 35