Zipper (Formerly Office Hours)
Photos of Dashboards
Calendar Auto Link
Upcoming Office Hours & Meetings
Settings & Alerts
View Classmates & Chat
Vision
Problem
While in college, I noticed how fragmented communication was between students, teachers, and administrators. Most platforms were never built by actual students and understanding their workflows. Assignments lived in one system, announcements in another, and messaging often happened through chaotic email threads or GroupMe groups. This disjointed approach led to missed deadlines, poor organization, and a sense of disconnection across school communities.
Technical Stack
I built the platform end to end using the MERN stack:
MongoDB to store structured user data, assignments, messages, and school events
Express.js and Node.js to build RESTful APIs and manage backend logic
React for the frontend interface, with component-based dashboards for students and teachers
JWT authentication and RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) to separate teacher vs. student permissions
Heroku for deployment, with GitHub for version control and collaboration
Objective
My goal was to build a centralized platform that allowed students and teachers to communicate, share tasks, manage class calendars, and receive updates all in one place. The vision was to create a digital “home base” for school life that simplified workflows, encouraged engagement, and supported both individual accountability and collective planning.
Impact
The platform was adopted by multiple classrooms and served hundreds of students and teachers.