BetterD2L

Calendar
Quizzes
Shell Configuration
Checklist
Dropbox

Inspiration

Our biggest inspiration for making this application is the lack of centralization on the D2L platform. In order to keep track of all of your deadlines/quizzes, you have to go to each individual shell for every class, many of which are organized differently from others. This issue inspired us to create this app, in order to aid students with organization and ease of use when keeping track of their D2L courses.

What it does

The application automatically pulls your assignment deadlines/quiz dates from all of your D2L shells and groups them into one place. You can easily keep track of everything you have to do, further aided with a built in calendar and checklist application, both of which are automatically integrated with your D2L shells.

How we built it

We utilized the Brightspace API to pull up-to-date data from the D2L shells. The front end was built with Vue.js and the backend server was made with Flask. We also utilized an SQLite database to store the items for the checklist.

Challenges we ran into

The documentation for the Brightspace API was quite difficult to navigate and understand. Furthermore, we had to spend a lot of time setting up our own custom D2L shell in order to create and test all of the functionality.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We created a full-stack web application in under 24 hours, with a responsive, multi-featured frontend and a robust backend server to go along with it. We are proud of the amount of functionality that we were able to include in such a short period of time.

What we learned

We learned a lot of new technologies in a very short amount of time. Going into this project, many of us did not know Flask and Vue.js, so while creating this project we all gained very valuable information and skills that we can apply to all of our further projects.

What's next for BetterD2L

More API integration, allowing the user to submit assignments directly from our application and also implementing other features such as discussion boards and grade books for all of your classes in one place.