Student Skill-Swap: Project Documentation Draft

This document outlines the core and extended functionalities of the "Student Skill-Swap" web platform, a college-level application designed to facilitate skill exchange among students without monetary transactions.

1. Introduction

The Student Skill-Swap platform aims to create a vibrant community where students can leverage their diverse talents by offering to teach skills they possess and learning new ones from their peers. This system promotes collaborative learning and resource sharing within the university environment.

2. User Features

This section details the functionalities available to all registered students on the platform.

2.1 Account Management

• Registration: Students can create an account using their university email address.
• Login/Logout: Secure access to the platform with username and password.
• Profile Creation and Management:
  • Personal Information: Students can add their name, department, year, and a short bio.
  • Skills Offered: Students can list skills they are proficient in and willing to teach.
  • Skills Desired: Students can list skills they wish to learn.
  • Availability: Students can set their general availability for skill-swap sessions.

2.2 Skill Discovery and Interaction

• Browse Profiles: Students can view profiles of other students, including their offered and desired skills, and availability.
• Search and Filter: Ability to search for specific skills or students.
• Send Skill-Swap Requests: Students can initiate requests to other students for a skill exchange.
• Manage Requests: Students can view incoming and outgoing requests, and accept or decline them.

2.3 Session Management

• Schedule Sessions: Once a skill-swap request is accepted, both parties can schedule a session based on mutual availability. The platform will facilitate finding suitable time slots.
• Session Details: View details of upcoming and past sessions.
• Session History: A log of all completed learning and teaching sessions.

2.4 Feedback and Communication

• Reviews and Ratings: After a session, students can leave reviews and ratings for each other based on their experience.
• Notifications: Students receive real-time notifications for:
  • New skill-swap requests
  • Accepted/declined requests
  • Upcoming scheduled sessions
  • Session reminders
• In-App Messaging (Optional): A private messaging system for students to coordinate details about their skill-swap sessions.

3. Admin Features

This section outlines the functionalities available to platform administrators.

• User Management: Ability to view, edit, or deactivate user accounts.
• Content Moderation: Tools to monitor and moderate inappropriate content in profiles, reviews, or messages.
• Reporting and Analytics: Access to basic reports on platform usage, popular skills, and user activity.
• System Configuration: Ability to manage system settings and parameters.

4. Matching System

The platform will incorporate a matching algorithm to facilitate skill-swap connections.

• Skill Matching: Identifies students who offer skills desired by others, and vice versa.
• Availability Cross-referencing: Considers mutual availability when suggesting potential matches or scheduling sessions.
• Proximity (Optional): May consider geographical proximity if students prefer in-person sessions within the Student.

5. Notifications

The notification system ensures timely updates to users.

• Real-time Alerts: Instant notifications for critical events.
• Notification Preferences: Users can manage their notification settings (e.g., email, in-app).

6. Time Tracking and Session History

• Session Logging: Automatically records the date, time, duration, and participants of each completed session.
• Personal History: Each user has a dedicated section to view their complete history of skills learned and taught.

7. Future Feature Ideas

This section provides optional enhancements for future development.

• Gamification:

  • Badges: Award badges for completing a certain number of sessions, teaching diverse skills, or receiving high ratings.
  • Leaderboards: Display leaderboards for most active learners/teachers or top-rated profiles.

• Skill Trees/Learning Paths: Suggest learning paths for specific skills, breaking them down into smaller, manageable topics.

• Group Sessions: Enable multiple students to learn a skill from one teacher in a group setting.

• Event Creation: Allow students to create and announce skill-swap events or workshops.

• Integration with University Calendar: Synchronize session scheduling with existing university calendar systems.

• Public Profile Sharing: Option for students to share a public link to their profile for external visibility.