ProgramNexus is an initiative taken by The AS8 Organization. This is a project aimed at connecting all information technology (IT) related clubs of educational institutions across Bangladesh. By giving required support to IT clubs and assuring significant collaboration on occasional events produced by those clubs, the project is designed to make learning resources available to anybody on a single platform.
We will also develop an resources site which will contain all the learning materials (video tutorials, courses, audio tutorials, presentation files, blogs, articles, text-based tutorials, problem-sets etc.) Learners can access all the resources just by signing up in the platform. They can even get certificates if they complete specific problem-set.
We are rapidly approaching a civilization in which knowing how to code is a must-have skill for everyone. Where every student in the country should have a basic understanding of coding from the very beginning, the traditional education curriculum allows students to be introduced to coding at the upper secondary level. By arranging events and seminars to educate students on how to code, a few clubs at various educational institutions play a significant role in increasing the popularity of coding among students. Despite their eagerness, most students do not have access to these groups and hence are unable to obtain help on how to begin their coding careers.
Because each educational club operates independently, they confront numerous challenges when it comes to planning events and workshops. They are also missing out on many chances due to a lack of connectivity.
For that purpose, the ProgramNexus project will focus on partnering with as many IT clubs as possible and developing a web application to keep information and resources generated by those clubs on a single platform. Furthermore, event management will play a significant role in this project. Because most clubs will be connected to a single platform, they will be able to take advantage of a variety of perks, including access to speakers and instructors, increased funding, campus ambassador support, comprehensive marketing, and web development assistance. This project will also assist students in forming an IT club at their institution if one does not already exist.
This project has been officially announced and initial planning has been completed in order to execute this project. The entire project is categorized into three phases.
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During this phase, we will develop a database site where information about existing IT clubs will be collected. This phase will also include data collection and storage. We have started this phase in July and will continue in August.
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Meetings with the president and the authority of various clubs will be planned during this phase in order to carry out the collaboration agreement. Following that, we will establish a resources portal where we will showcase various types of learning materials offered by our collaborators. We'll also start promoting the project on digital media so that more students may get involved and start their coding journey. The phase will start from September and will continue to the mid of November.
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The ProgramNexus project's most essential phase is this one. We will support various clubs to organize events together. This page will start right after the collaboration phase. If we are able to conduct collaboration agreements with a number of IT clubs, we will start working with those clubs in this phase.
We are currently going through the ‘Preparation Phase’. Our database site is being developed and we have completed a preliminary study into our chances of launching this initiative and the current state of IT clubs in Bangladesh. Here are the results of our research work -
The sources of these data are Wikipedia, Unicef and reports of multiple prestigious newspapers of Bangladesh
According to our data, there are over 25,000 high schools and colleges in Bangladesh, yet not every high school offers club possibilities to its students. The majority of students in those institutions do not engage in any extracurricular activities. According to our research, approximately 50 institutions in these criteria have an active informational technology club, implying that IT-related study is not widely practised in the majority of our country's schools and colleges. This is one of the major reasons for Bangladesh lagging behind in the field of technology.
Despite the fact that over 50 colleges have an active IT club, only 20-25 of them hold events and workshops on a regular basis. However, the worrying thing is that most of the activities were unable to take place due to a lack of qualified instructors, adequate money, and efficient promotion. Only 12-15 notable Bangladeshi institutions are capable of launching successful events due to their ability to manage funds. They do, however, have a number of marketing-related concerns.
This report reflects the current poor situation of Bangladesh's IT clubs. Only about 0.12% of high schools conduct IT-related events and workshops. But the excellent news is that networking amongst IT clubs has the potential to substantially alter this situation. A connectivity platform is now a requirement of time. We believe ProgramNexus can play a significant role in this regard.
For this project, We are also gathering public data of IT clubs of some prestigious educational institutions of Bangladesh. We have collected data about their initiatives and resources. Some of them are -
- Rajuk Uttara Model College
- Notre Dame College
- Dhaka Residential Model College
- Adamjee Cantonment College
- Ideal School and College
- Saint Joseph Higher Secondary School
- BAF Shaheen College
- Dhaka College
- Bir Shreshtha Noor Mohammad Public College
- Government Laboratory High School
- Dhaka Commerce College
- Government Science College
We intended to contact these institutions' IT clubs initially. After that, we'll work out a collaborative agreement. We believe it is possible to build a coding culture in many institutions across our country with the support of these existing clubs.
A wide range of technologies has been and will be used in this project. We are using programming tools, languages and frameworks to develop the main web application which will be utilized to develop the resources platform as well as the database site. We are also taking the support of conventional technologies like Facebook Pages to promote our project and Discord for communication purposes. Our technology stack contains -
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Python is the primary programming language that will be utilized to develop this platform. Backend development will be done using the Django framework of Python. Django is a free and open-source web framework that follows model template views (MTV) architectural principles. Its main purpose is to make building complex, database-driven websites easier. It takes security seriously and assists developers in avoiding numerous common security pitfalls.
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HTML5 and CSS3 will be used in the frontend component of this web application. HTML is a markup language that is used to structure and present the content of the website. To facilitate more accessible implementations, it includes extensive processing models. CSS3 is by far the most recent version of the CSS specification, often known as cascading style sheets. It will add several new styling features & improvements to enhance the presentation of our web application.
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SASS is a preprocessor scripting language that is interpreted or compiled into CSS. We're also going to use SASS because it avoids CSS repetition and therefore saves time. Bootstrap is a free and open-source CSS framework for front-end development that is responsive and mobile-first. Because many portions of a typical website are already templated in Bootstrap, we will be able to ensure fast development. All we have to do now is plug them in and customize them according to our planning.
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We'll also integrate JavaScript to make the front end of our website much more engaging and interactive for visitors. JavaScript will be the second major language for developing this site because it is a lightweight, interpreted, compiled programming language with first-class functions. single-threaded, dynamic language. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm,
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Every type of data that will be in our web application will be stored in an SQLite database. SQLite is basically implemented as a small, fast, self-contained, high-reliability, full-featured, SQL database engine. It can be used to create databases, define tables, insert and update records, runs queries and manages an SQLite database file.
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Git is a free and open-source distributed version control system designed to handle projects with speed and efficiency. It is usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code. GitHub, on the other hand, is an internet hosting service for software development and version control utilizing Git. It includes Git's distributed version control and source code management functionality as well as its own. The source code for our web applications is presently hosted on a GitHub repository. To work with that repository, our team uses Git on a regular basis.
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Heroku is a platform as a service (PaaS) that will enable us to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud. We will use Heroku to deploy, host, manage and scale our web application. It will be much easier for us to host our application on Heroku rather than any other PaaS because Heroku supports programming languages like Python and JavaScript. This incomplete web application is presently hosted on Heroku.
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AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. It includes a mixture of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and packaged software as a service (SaaS) offering. We need to use AWS to store large files like images and videos because Heroku doesn't allow this type of storage and recommends that developers should use AWS.
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Discord is a platform that can be used to make homes for communities & friends. Like some other social media, discord also has systems like text messaging, voice chat & video meetings. It also provides server automation using bot support. We will use Discord as the major means of contact with the IT clubs' authorities, speakers and mentors, as well as learners, due to its dynamic features. Discord Stages feature can be used to arrange workshops and discussion sessions. We have a Discord server that we are aiming to populate with additional individuals.
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Facebook page is an initiative of Facebook authority. It allows organizations to develop their brand, grow their audience and connect with people interested in learning more. Facebook is, without a doubt, Bangladesh's most popular social media network. This platform is available to the majority of students and their families. So, to advertise our initiative in the digital arena, we'll use Facebook Pages. This will assist us in promptly sharing updates of our platform across the country. We've also started working on this, and our Facebook page has already reached over 6,000 individuals.
Apart from these technologies, we will use a few other minor tools to build our web application, such as Pandas for data analysis, Matplotlib for accurate Data Visualization on the analytical page, and so on.
We believe this concept will be successful because -
- This concept is feasible to implement and scalable enough.
- Students can access all the resources completely free of cost.
- It is overall an excellent deal for IT clubs as well.
- We have put this concept to the test and received a lot of great feedback.
- We'll use a human-centred design thinking approach to overcome this issue.
- Many students and professionals have faced these difficulties and they have also suggested that we should work on similar solutions.
- There is less competition in this genre and a greater need for platforms like this.
- Moreover, the lockdown has also allowed many pupils to concentrate on their extracurricular activities.
- There are several successful examples of such platforms that work around the world, however, no platform has implemented or planned this solution in Bangladesh before.
The era of the 21st century is completely technology & knowledge-based. We gained independence in 1971, comparatively later than many other countries. As a result, our technological infrastructure also started to develop around 2005 which is also later than most of the developed countries. The good news is that there is a faster development concept known as leapfrogging, which illustrates that if a country falls behind in terms of technology, it can take some practical and sensible actions to catch up to other tech giants. The primary assumption behind leapfrogging is that minor, incremental changes will keep our country ahead of the curve.
We have not constructed a coding culture in our educational system yet, but our next-door country India has already included coding as a fundamental subject of study in their school educational system. As a result, we believe that undertaking such initiatives like ProgramNexus will greatly assist us to advance our country ahead in terms of technological development.
ProgramNexus project’s major goal is to serve as a hub for all coding-related platforms in Bangladesh. We discovered that some of the IT-related clubs at some of the country's most prestigious institutions were financially solid and provided a wealth of resources to their pupils. On the contrary, other institutions around the outlying part of the country may have had similar clubs, but there were insufficient resources and possibilities. Here we will be working as a bridge for coding enthusiasts all over the country and we will make sure that no one is deprived of any opportunity. We aim to resolve the connectivity concerns among IT clubs of various institutions.
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Various renowned institutes hold many events where only their institute’s students take part. However, once that club joins our network, we will share their updates with clubs around the country, thus marginal students can also enhance their skills by joining such events. We will ensure maximum participation from other institutions which will build a convivial atmosphere among fellow programmers.
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Due to funding constraints, numerous institutions across the country are unable to launch IT-related clubs and events. However, after we have integrated the complete system, we will try to organize events and workshops in collaboration with multiple clubs, so there will be increased opportunities and obtaining funding from sponsors will be much easier.
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Since many clubs will collaborate together, we will be able to deliver high-quality resources to the students. We will equip them with world-class instructors, speakers and mentors. We will assist them in growing in a systematic and orderly manner.
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At the first stage, most of the code learners face a lot of hassles regarding how to start and where to start. Many students are willing but they are lagging due to a lack of proper guidance. We will store every possible resource on our resource website so that they can get everything in a bundle and move forward smoothly. This learning platform will be completely free, allowing anyone from anywhere in the country to use it without spending any money.
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When planning an event, most clubs recruit campus ambassadors to help spread the word about the event to numerous schools. This procedure wastes a lot of time and is often ineffective. So, we'll recruit community representatives and campus ambassadors at once so that no other club has to go through this process again. The chosen individuals will represent their institution in all sectors and will be involved in this initiative. Clubs can use campus ambassadors to promote themselves not only at other institutions but also on the digital space and on social media platforms.
We highly encourage you to collborate with us in this project. You don't necessarily need to write code for this project. You can contribute by -
- Reporting Bugs on Issues
- Giving us suggestions and reviews on Issues
- Enhancing our web design on Figma
- Working on the front-end (if you are good at Sass, JS, Vue)
- Working on the back-end (if you are good at Python and Django)
- Working on the operations
- Donating us to host this platform live and buying necessary services
- Ahammad Shawki (@ahammadshawki8) - Team Lead
- Audrija Dhar (@Audrija) - Content Writing
- Arko Chowdhury (@Arko07-quanta) - Database Management
- Md. Muntajim Rahman Saimon (@Muntajim04) - Research & Development
- Al Naheen (@Al-Naheen) - Website Development
Details can be found in LICENSE