I had an opportunity to consult with Co.Lab to build a new learning management system for them.
Co.Lab was unique because they were pioneering a peer-based learning model on the web. Prior to the online course starting, you get assigned a peer group and a project. The entire online course is facilitated around your “pod” completing the course together.
However, there was no online system at the time to actually run a “pod” based class on the web. Helen and Sefunmi mostly used Zoom and other smaller tools to create virtual pods and coordinate different student groups.
In fact, as we mapped out the entire chain of actions and interactions, one area of high friction was using Zoom to facilitate groups.
Massive swimlane diagram of everything we figured was happening
The team was manually breaking people into groups and pre-setting times for everyone to meet. Coordinating students was a nightmare.
Product Demo
I led the entire design and implementation for the real-time learning platform. It had one main requirement: allow pods to take a course together. Learners would log in and see content at the same time, and everyone had to finish their step before the group could move on.
I used daily.co for videos, yjs for collaboration, and the UI was built with React/TypeScript.
This demo by Helen is more comprehensive:
The platform consisted of curriculum management, video calling and group submissions.
Since Co.Lab had been running for a few months, it was easy to test our new Co.Learn platform with the existing students.
And just like that, I helped build a new way for people to learn together on the web.
If you’re looking to break into tech and upskill your abilities by working with an actual team, you should consider joining the next cohort.