Go Guro Mobile Application Built with Android and Firebase

Abstract

In universities or colleges, most students have control of their class schedule. There's also instances of irregular students, whose class times are different, depending on what's available during enrolment. Hence, there are times a student needs help with a lesson, making a project, or reviewing for exams, but there are no available professors or classmates. To find help, one must roam the campus and ask other students face-to-face. Often, they will be discouraged to ask because of fear of rejection or that they're too shy to ask.

The proposal is Go Guro, a mobile application for students who need help quick. The tutee selects the subject they need help and with a press of a button, the app instantly searches for nearby people who also have the app. The tutors can choose to accept or decline the tutee's invitation. Once accepted, a map shows the location of both which can be used to find each other. Once they meet in-person, the study session can now be started by the tutor.

Mobile devices using Android 4.0.3 "Ice Cream Sandwich" up to Android 8.0 "Oreo" was targeted. Android Studio was used for development with Java as the programming language. Firebase was used to provide backend services.

Testing resulted in satisfactory remarks from end-users, indicating that it is practical to use in their college. They would also like to see it published on Google Play for every student and teacher to use, regardless of school. The application lessened the user's rejection fears by making the invitations anonymous, meaning the tutee cannot see the name and face of the tutor and vice-versa. Only when the tutor accepts the invite will they see each other's names and faces. Go Guro does not show the tutors who have rejected the invite, but only those who accepted.