iSchool Capstone

2021

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Is that 'loopy' or 'floppy'? Join Strawberry the Harbor Seal to learn about the impacts of marine debris and contribute to marine science research

Learning science is hard: active learning in science class is rare. Few parents are confident teaching their kids at home, and there are minimal opportunities for kids to engage in the science community. Marine Rescue provides a fun way for kids to learn about marine animals and debris through interactive stories and minigames. Players learn research vocabulary and practice contributing to citizen science by classifying real marine debris photos from Washington beaches. Our content was developed following child-centered design and in collaboration with COASST researchers. Marine Rescue has been well-received and is an effective platform for kids to learn science at home.
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Leaf

Our earth is at a critical stage where everyone of us should contribute to protect our land. In the U.S., 28% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by transportation, and 40 million tons of food are wasted every year in the states. LEAF, a web application that offers three main features, would make real differences. Record, analyze, and off-sets your carbon emission. Every step you take to offset your carbon footprint would be resulting in a tree in real life. We hope to build a community for people to do something real to help the environment.
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Leafy: A Journaling App for Mental Wellness

Improving and maintaining our mental wellbeing is a constant uphill battle that is often overlooked. After a difficult year, many are recognizing the importance of mental wellness and the effort needed to maintain it. Research shows that although many are becoming increasingly aware of its importance, few know where to start. For some, reflection can be an important first step. Leafy uses a gamified approach to mental wellness through reflection and journaling. Although everyone approaches their own wellbeing differently, we hope that Leafy will encourage users to be mindful of their mental wellness through journaling and intentional reflection.
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Mapping COVID-Related School Operations in the US

Students and parents had to make challenging decisions regarding education during the COVID-19 pandemic. School districts across the US implemented varied school operation plans and the federal government did not create a centralized source for operational statuses at the national level. Data at the state level differs greatly in availability, verbiage, and format. This project aggregates and tracks district-level school operational statuses state-by-state, as well as school-related COVID-19 cases. It accounts for 6,800 out of 10,000 US school districts across 33 states. With this data, K-12 parents and children have a tool to make informed decisions regarding education and health.
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MIRRO: your go to personalized entertainment hub

Have you ever had the experience that you unlock your phone, scroll through a few pages of the home screen and don’t know what to do or which app you are going to use? This is the gap we are trying to fill in with MIRRO. Thanks to its recommendation algorithm, MIRRO will help you locate your preferred content, music, news, games, shows and faster. What you need to do is telling MIRRO how much time you have, and it will take care of the rest. With MIRRO, great content has never been easier to find!
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Portable Air Cleaner Calculator

Portable air cleaners can provide additional protection against the spread of COVID-19 in small businesses, but it’s difficult for business owners to determine if an air cleaner will effectively ventilate their space. PACC is a web application based on research from air quality experts at Harvard University and University of Colorado Boulder that helps users find affordable and effective air cleaners. Sponsored by the Washington State Department of Commerce, our application lessens the burden on small businesses by providing a user-friendly website with a simplistic design. Our tool helps businesses operate safely and protects the health of employees and customers.
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PowBility: Accessibility Checker for Power BI Visualizations

With more than 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, we believe that accessibility is essential and should not be left as an afterthought. Data visualizations are one area where accessibility lags behind. This is especially important for Power BI, a growing platform with over 5 million subscribers. Power BI creators have difficulties building accessible reports due to a lack of accessibility tools & standard guidelines on how to make visualizations accessible. Thus, we developed PowBility: a chrome extension that enables Power BI report creators to design accessible visualizations. PowBility aims to enable everyone to utilize visualizations to their full potential.
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Project Perception

With 35,500 species being threatened with extinction around the world, the endangered species crisis is becoming severer each day. By educating high school and college students, they can be the leaders of change needed to protect our ecosystems. Project Perception is a website designed to push these students to learn more about endangered species by engaging in interactive stories that focus on overlooked species in different regions. With this project, we strive to help people realize the urgency of species decline and make sustainable lifestyle changes to positively impact our ecosystems.
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Project Upskill - Bridging the Soft Skill Gap Between First-Generation College Students & Employers

A soft skill gap is growing between college grads and future employers, disproportionately affecting first-generation college students. We aim to close this gap by providing two workshops student organizations can use targeting key areas in supporting the growth of student's soft skills. Each workshop can be completed individually or through a cohort and includes pre- and post-lesson exercises, written instructions to complete the lesson, a slide deck, and more.
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Reimagining the iSchool Capstone Archive

Currently, the iSchool capstone archive is stagnant and fails to facilitate connections with industry partners and showcase students’ work beautifully. It is difficult to navigate and find interesting projects, and the project pages show a limited view of the team’s work. We decided to redesign the navigation to allow users to excitingly explore projects, and make an individual project page that gives students flexibility in displaying content. With our redesign, audiences and potential sponsors can find projects easily and students are able to show projects in a richer way, which allows the website to be more accessible and useful.