ScholarX Platform V2 - Meeting Notes and Discussions

Development ScholarX
1

We have started planning the next version of ScholarX, and currently it is in the requirement gathering phase. We will be having weekly meetings on every Saturday at 6.30PM to discuss on this. And this thread will be used for the meeting notes and other discussions.

Meeting Link:

Related Document:

2

2022-08-06T18:30:00Z

Problems with the V1:

  • Users were not technical
    • Some were not using LinkedIn
  • Email address
  • Unhandled edge cases
  • Admin Ux
    • Hard to change pairings
    • Pairing history issue
    • Searching and filtering
      • Mentee/mentor domain
      • Selected/not (mentees)
  • Concurrency issues
    • Need to keep a log of admin actions
  • No one used the comment section
    • No indication of new comments
  • Onboard mentors during the process
  • Need to have demos
  • Need to be self-explanatory
  • Proper user guide
  • Developers were not aware of the big picture
    • Need to document the requirement
  • Conduct evaluations
  • Withdraw mentees during the program
  • Ability to export data
  • Make it easier for mentors to pick the best students
  • Make it easier for mentees to pick the best mentor
  • Health check of a program - statistics
  • Technical
    • Demo data
    • Mobile responsiveness
    • Frontend tests

Plan for the next month

  • Document Existing process of scholarx
    • Program Overview (What? Why? When?..)
    • Process of the program (stepwise)
  • Document Problems faced
    • How it was done using the manual method?
      • Problems with the manual method
    • How it was done with ScholarX V1 platform
      • Problems
  • Identify goals of stakeholders
  • Identify and document scenarios
    • Example: A mentee withdraws, A Mentor dies
3

2022-08-13T13:00:00Z

Meeting Notes:

  • Reviewed the “goals of stakeholders” document
  • Suggestion - Use personas and user stories
  • Get the scholarx team involved
  • Divided the tasks into sub-tasks:
    1. Document the Existing process of scholarx
      1.1. Program Overview (Brief description)
      1.2. Process of the program (Stepwise)
    2. Identify goals of stakeholders
      2.1. Review the existing document
      2.2. Improve by referring to the other documents
      2.3. Identifying Personas
    3. Document Problems faced
      3.1. How it was done using the manual method? and problems faced
      3.2. How it was done with the ScholarX V1 platform? and problems faced
    4. Identify and document the scenarios
  • We will be working on the first 2 main tasks in the upcoming week
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4

2022-08-19T18:30:00Z

Meeting notes:

  • Reviewed the Process diagram created by @Ashen_Hirantha
  • Identified some of the problems that the management team faced while using the ScholarX V1
    • Added to the same document
  • Some suggestions
    • Identify the edge cases
    • Focus on the management when planning V2

Tasks for the next week:

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5

This week’s update:
2022-08-19T18:30:00Z→2022-08-26T18:30:00Z

Feel free to go through the document and leave a comment if there are any suggestions.
cc: @EngTeam @akshika47 @jaye

6

2022-09-03T13:30:00Z

Meeting Notes

  • Reviewed the process section
  • Reviewed the personas
    • Suggesstion: Focus more on the nature and the intention of the user
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7

2022-09-04T18:30:00Z→2022-09-29T18:30:00Z Update

Created 2 forms for gathering mentee & mentor feedback

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8

Hi @jaye @Ashen_Hirantha @akshika47,
We are planning to send a google form to scholarx2022 mentees & mentors to gather their feedback on ScholarX platform. So we can use their responses to identify more requirements for scholarx platform V2.

Mentee feedback form: https://forms.gle/rkHNQG8HFjzS2cLu8
Mentor feedback form: https://forms.gle/taYn3wLCfUZiA9Tz6

Each form contains 2 sections. (Problems related to scholarx program, Problems related to the platform)

Could you please go through these forms and provide your suggestions? So we can finalise it soon and share it to the mentees & mentors.

(PS:
There was a suggestion to use

image
image1304Ă—1124 64.9 KB

instead of

image
image1304Ă—564 16.3 KB
.

WDYT?
)

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9

@akshika47 @Minuri_Adasuriya Do you have any inputs on this?

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10

image
image767Ă—173 6.07 KB

Change the title to “Please elaborate on the issues you had so we can understand it better”

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11

image
image749Ă—63 4.3 KB

have a section heading “Overall Program”

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12

image
image768Ă—173 6.13 KB

Should be ScholarX not scholarx

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13

Hi @jaye @Minuri_Adasuriya, Thanks for the suggestions. I updated the forms according to those. By the way, I added you as editors. So feel free to change anything if required.

Mentee feedback form: https://forms.gle/rkHNQG8HFjzS2cLu8
Mentor feedback form: https://forms.gle/taYn3wLCfUZiA9Tz6

@jaye, With that, are these forms okay to be sent to the mentees and mentors within this week?

cc: @anjisvj @Ashen_Hirantha

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14

Since the 30-minute timeslot on Saturday from 6.30 pm to 7.00 pm is not sufficient to discuss the scholarx v2 updates, we thought to extend the duration to 45 minutes. These are a few timeslots I suggest. Please vote for your preferred timeslots. Also, let me know if there are any other suitable timeslots.

  • Friday 6.00pm to 6.45pm
  • Friday 6.30pm to 7.15pm
  • Friday 7.00pm to 7.45pm
  • Saturday 6.00pm to 6.45pm
  • Saturday 8.00pm to 8.45pm
  • Sunday 6.00pm to 6.45pm

0 voters

@akshika47 @jaye @anjisvj @DESIRA @kumuditha_udayanga @YaiyaSam @EngTeam

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15

Updates

  • The requirement-gathering phase is completed
  • Started working on the wireframes
  • Updated the timeline with the tasks
  • Moved the scholarx v2 discussions into the EngTeam weekly call
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16

ScholarX V2 Progress Meeting - 2022-12-23T18:30:00Z

Attendees: @piumal1999 @anjisvj @DESIRA @kumuditha_udayanga

Meeting notes:

  • Primary goal is to effectively match mentees and mentors who are compatible with each other

    • We can setup an algorithm to suggest mentors to mentees based on traits (vice versa)
    • At least by considering the category and main keywords
    • For mentees, we can show a set of suggested mentors when selecting the mentor

  • Reviewed the wireframes

    • Need to add some improvements
      - Login
      - Sidebar (Menu)
      - Settings page for individual user
      - Admin interface for editing the program timeline
      - Email preview/templates for bulk email page

  • Reviewed the extended mentor/mentee applications (Document)

    • Added few more questions during the call
    • Need to contact the scholarx team to get the application forms we used in previous versions

Next steps:

  • Completing the remaining wireframes
  • Arranging a call to brainstorm on the architecture

cc: @jaye @akshika47

17

Created this poll for finding a suitable timeslot for this call:

Please take a moment to cast your vote for the times that work best for you.

@jaye @anjisvj @akshika47 @kumuditha_udayanga @DESIRA

1 Like
18

ScholarX V2 Discussion 2023-01-07T18:30:00Z

Attendees: @jaye @Minuri_Adasuriya @anjisvj @piumal1999

ScholarX 2023:

  • Few changes in the structure:
  • Less admin involvement
  • No wildcard/mentee filtration
  • Mentees can directly apply for a mentor
  • Mentors can directly approve/reject their mentees
  • Possible to run with the existing platform
  • Need. to add Google Sign In

ScholarX V2:

  • Main requirements for future versions:
    • Zero admin involvement
    • No static program timelines
    • Mentees can apply at any time
    • Mentors can review the received applications and choose the mentees on their own
    • Similar to a social network
    • Journal for mentees/mentors for evaluating, taking notes etc.
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19

Hi @jaye @akshika47 @Minuri_Adasuriya @anjisvj What are your suggestions on the following points regarding the future scholarx versions (ScholarX 2024 and future)?

  1. In the previous version there was a condition not allowing the same student to be a mentee twice. Are we going to keep that rule as it is for future versions?

    • If so, what options will past mentees have on the platform?
    • If not, we can allow them to apply for another mentor.
      • Can a person be a mentee under multiple mentors at the same time or in overlapping time periods?

  2. Can a person be a mentee and a mentor at the same time?

  3. How are we going to maintain mentor quality?

    • Will mentors need to re-register and be re-verified after a certain period of time?
    • Or will they remain a mentor indefinitely once they are accepted?

  4. Is this correct regarding the application reviewing process:

    • The mentee selection process will be handled solely by the mentors, with administrators not getting involved. Spam will be rejected automatically.
    • Mentor selection process will involve administrators. Spam will be rejected automatically. Administrators will have the ability to approve or reject mentor applications. (Is it possible to automate this kind of thing while keeping the quality)

  5. Are we going to limit the mentorship duration or track it? If yes, How?

  6. With the new structure, what would be the difference between IRC and ScholarX? Can they be combined?

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20

So far, we have made significant progress on ScholarX V2. Here are the details:

  1. Completed the Wireframes:

  2. Mockups:

  3. Finalized the Tech Stack:

    • Backend:
      • Node, Express, Typescript, TypeORM
    • Frontend:
      • React, TypeScript, Storybook, Ant Design
    • Database:
      • PostgreSQL
    • Testing:
      • Backend: Junit
      • Frontend: React testing library, Junit
      • E2E: Playwright
    • API Documentation: Postman
    • Project management: GitHub projects

  4. Initiated the Github Repositories:

    • We will be using two separate GitHub repositories for frontend and backend.
    • This will allow us easier deployments, releasing, clean git history, and fewer conflicts.
    • Repository links:
    • @janithlahiru is working on setting up the backend.
    • @kumuditha_udayanga is working on setting up the frontend.

  5. Initiated the API Documentation

Next Steps:

  1. Complete the mockups.
  2. Finish the initial configurations of the backend and frontend.
  3. Finalize the APIs

cc: @EngTeam @admin_staff

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