🎓 EduConnect

We have developed a secure, multi-role web/mobile application tailored for college environments that will serve as a centralized platform for college students, professors, and administrators.

Table of Contents

• Core Features
  • Authentication and Security
  • Student-Centric Learning Management
  • Efficient Academic Management
  • Intelligent Administrative Control
• Our Solution
• Tech Stack
  • Why MERN Stack with React Native?
  • AI Components
• Installation and Setup
  • Prerequisites
  • Backend Setup
  • Frontend Setup
  • EduConnect Chatbot Setup
  • PDF-to-Quiz Generator Setup
• Key Features Explained
• Architecture
• UI/UX Mockups
• Contributors

Core Features:

🔒 Authentication and Security

• Using multi-factor authentication (2FA) during login
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for each user type

📚 Student-Centric Learning Management

• Comprehensive Academic Dashboard (Curriculum, Marks, Attendance)
• Database-Augmented LLM chatbot for personalized student assistance
• AI-powered quiz generation from PDF or text prompt
• Seamless Offline Mode

📊 Efficient Academic Management

• Easily update marks and attendance through the app in real-time
• Evaluate assignments and give instant feedback for better learning

⚙️ Intelligent Administrative Control

• Dynamic User Role and System Configuration Management
• Controlled Temporary Role Escalation

💡 Our Solution

EduConnect is a comprehensive college management system built with the MERN stack and React Native, providing a seamless experience across web and mobile platforms. The application integrates advanced AI features including a personalized chatbot for students and automated quiz generation from educational materials.

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Tech Stack

🤔 Why MERN Stack with React Native?

• MongoDB: NoSQL database that provides flexibility for handling various data structures required in an educational platform
• Express.js: Minimalist web framework for Node.js that simplifies backend API development
• React: Frontend library that enables building interactive user interfaces with reusable components
• Node.js: JavaScript runtime that allows for efficient server-side operations
• React Native: Framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using React
• TypeScript: Adds static typing to JavaScript, improving code quality and developer experience
• Expo: Toolkit for React Native that simplifies mobile app development

AI Components

• OpenAI API + Database-Augmented LLM with LangChain: For creating a student-specific chatbot that directly queries academic records
• OpenAI API: Powers the quiz generation feature, converting PDFs and text into educational quizzes

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Installation and Setup

✅ Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14.x or higher)
• MongoDB (v4.x or higher)
• Python (v3.8 or higher)
• npm or yarn
• Expo CLI

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⚙️ Backend Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/hazraChandrima/EduConnect.git
   cd EduConnect/

2. Install backend dependencies:

   cd backend/
   npm install

3. Create a .env file in the backend directory with the following variables:

   MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
   PORT=3000
   
   JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
   
   EMAIL_USER=your_email
   EMAIL_PASS=your_email_password
   
   IP_ADDRESS=your_local_ip_address
   
   

4. Start the backend server (using nodemon):

   npm run dev

   The backend will be available at http://127.0.0.1:3000/

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⚙️ Frontend Setup

1. Install frontend dependencies:

   cd frontend/
   npm install

2. Configure environment variables:

   Create two configuration files in the root of your frontend project (cuz Expo with Typescript doesn't support .env fr some reason) :

   a. app-config.ts

   // app-config.ts
   // This file contains API URLs for different services
   
   const IP_ADDRESS = "YOUR_LOCAL_IP_ADDRESS"
   
   export const APP_CONFIG = {
     API_BASE_URL: `http://${IP_ADDRESS}:3000`,
     API_CHATBOT_URL: `http://${IP_ADDRESS}:5000`,
     API_PDF_QUIZ_URL: `http://${IP_ADDRESS}:8000`,
   };

   b. firebase-config.ts

   // firebase-config.ts
   // This file contains your Firebase configuration
   export const FIREBASE_CONFIG = {
     apiKey: "YOUR_FIREBASE_API_KEY",
     authDomain: "YOUR_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN",
     projectId: "YOUR_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID",
     storageBucket: "YOUR_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET",
     messagingSenderId: "YOUR_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID",
     appId: "YOUR_FIREBASE_APP_ID",
     measurementId: "YOUR_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID"
   };

   Note: Add these configuration files to your .gitignore.

3. Start the React Native development server:

   npx expo start

   The frontend will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

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⚙️ EduConnect Chatbot Setup

1. Install Python dependencies:

   cd edubot/
   pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Set up environment variables by creating a .env file in the edubot/ directory:

   OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
   SERPAPI_API_KEY=your_serpapi_api_key
   MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
   

3. Run the chatbot API:

   python app.py

   The chatbot API will be available at http://127.0.0.1:5000/ask

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⚙️ PDF-to-Quiz Generator Setup

1. Install Python dependencies:

   cd PDF-text_to_quiz/
   pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Set up environment variables by creating a .env file in the PDF-text_to_quiz/ directory:

   OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
   

3. How to Run the API

You have two options for running the application:

Option 1: Run Everything on a Single Port (Recommended)

uvicorn main:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000 --reload

This runs both services under a single server:

• PDF to Quiz: http://127.0.0.1:8000/pdf_to_quizz
• Text to Quiz: http://127.0.0.1:8000/text_to_quizz

Option 2: Run Services Separately

Navigate to the src/api directory first:

cd src/api

Then run each service on its own port:

PDF to Quiz API (Port 8000)

uvicorn api_pdf:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000 --reload

Access at: http://127.0.0.1:8000/pdf_to_quizz

Text to Quiz API (Port 8001)

uvicorn api_text:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8001 --reload

Access at: http://127.0.0.1:8001/text_to_quizz

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🛠️ Key Features Explained

Authentication and Security

• Implemented multi-factor authentication using speakeasy and qrcode libraries, and nodemailer for sending OTP via mail.
• Secure password hashing with bcrypt
• JWT-based authentication with role-based access control
• Context-aware authentication analyzes user behavior patterns

AI-Powered Chatbot

• Implements a Database-Augmented LLM architecture that translates natural language into MongoDB queries
• Intelligently classifies queries to determine when to access personal student data
• Maintains a semantic similarity cache for efficient responses to common questions
• Features a fallback system for general knowledge questions not requiring personal data

PDF-to-Quiz Generator

• Automatically generates quizzes from PDF documents or text prompts
• Uses OpenAI API to extract key concepts and create relevant questions
• Helps instructors create assessment materials efficiently

Academic Dashboard

• Comprehensive student performance tracking
• Real-time attendance and grade updates
• Personalized learning analytics

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Architecture

🧩 Monorepo Structure

This repository follows a monorepo architecture — all four core modules of EduConnect are maintained within this single repository:

• Backend API Service (/backend)
• LLM Chatbot Service (/edubot)
• Quiz Generator Service (/PDF-text_to_quiz)
• Frontend Web & Mobile App (/frontend)

The Architecture diagram above visually highlights how these modules interact.

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UI/UX Mockups

🤝 Contributors

• Ananya Goyal
• Chandrima Hazra
• Isha Jayal
• Rishika Aggarwal