Since classes have moved online during the pandemic, students have struggled in their classes to maintain their grades in an all-online or partial-online environment because they don’t have a proper routine. This affects their day-to-day activities as well as their health overall. Students feel that it is much more difficult to understand the class material just by looking at screens online as a lot is expected from them by their professors. If a student has questions, they are hesitant to ask because they may not feel comfortable speaking up, whereas, they can talk to the professors individually at the end of the class in in-person courses. Another struggle students might encounter are distractions. Some students feel unmotivated to learn through online class environments because they are not used to it.
Our users are students at University of Maryland, College Park who are taking fully online or partially online classes. Many of these students have had trouble maintaining a good work/life balance as well as asking for help when they need it or even just learning online. As a result many students’ grades have dropped since before the pandemic, and we believe a system to assist students in their online courses could help mitigate this issue.