Product Definition
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Project Overview
1.1 Description of the problem and its software solution
1.2 People and project roles
1.3 Target audience and context
1.4 Description of the interaction process
1.5 Glossary of terms -
Determining Needs
2.1 Functional requirements
2.2 Background exploration
Problem
EAFIT University lacks a digital platform that centralizes and provides complete access to the academic and professional information of all professors.
This creates a significant information gap that affects students’ academic decision-making, such as:
- Making informed choices about courses and instructors.
- Finding mentors in specific research areas or fields of interest.
- Establishing professional connections starting from the undergraduate level.
Solution
We propose the development of a web application called “Shifu EAFIT – Academic Faculty Platform”, designed to provide an accessible, dynamic, and constantly updated database of all university professors. The platform aims to give students a deeper understanding of their professors by presenting information such as their academic background, degrees, research interests, courses taught, class schedules, and evaluations or feedback from other students.
By centralizing this information in one place, the platform will support students in making informed academic decisions, choosing courses and instructors that align with their goals, and fostering meaningful academic and professional connections from the undergraduate stage onwards.
Student:
-View, filter, and search professor profiles using natural language.
-Receive information: profiles and automatically generated summaries.
Professor:
-Create and edit their academic profile with subjects, experience, links, type of subject, etc.
-Information stored in the database.
Administrator:
-Access the dashboard with statistics: most viewed profiles, frequent searches, information gaps, etc.
Students
- Sign in to the platform with their university credentials.
- Search for professors by name, subject area, academic program, or keywords.
- View each professor’s profile, including academic background, degrees, experience, courses taught, schedules, and reviews from other students.
- Save favorite profiles for future reference.
- Share feedback about courses they have taken, following university guidelines.
Professors
- Sign in with their university credentials.
- Update their professional and academic details (education, degrees, experience, publications, research areas).
- Publish the list of courses they teach, with schedules and delivery methods (on-campus, online, or hybrid).
- Receive contact requests for mentoring or academic collaboration.
Administrative Staff
- Sign in with special management access.
- Review and approve professor information to ensure it is correct.
- Manage the professor database by adding or removing profiles as faculty changes occur.
- Generate reports on platform usage, popular courses, and interaction statistics.
- Oversee usage policies, comment moderation, and information updates.
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User: A person who interacts with the platform to consult, register, or manage information, according to the permissions and functions assigned to them.
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Student: A member of the academic community enrolled in a degree or training program at the university.
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Professor: A professional who teaches courses and engages in academic and research activities within the university.
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Administrative Staff: A person responsible for managing internal processes, validating information, and overseeing the university’s data and resources.
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Student User: A platform role assigned to students, allowing them to search for and access information about professors, courses, schedules, and evaluations, as well as provide feedback.
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Professor User: A platform role assigned to professors, enabling them to register and update their professional information, publish courses, and receive academic contact requests.
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Academic Platform: A digital system that centralizes and organizes information related to the academic environment, allowing different types of users to access, search, and manage data.
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Professor Profile: A set of data describing a professor’s academic, professional, and teaching background, including degrees, experience, publications, research areas, courses taught, and available schedules.
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Professor Evaluation: Feedback provided by students regarding a professor’s performance in delivering courses, based on criteria such as clarity, teaching methodology, punctuality, subject knowledge, and willingness to answer questions.
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Institutional Credentials: Username and password assigned by the university to members of the academic community (students, professors, and administrative staff) for accessing internal services and platforms.
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Academic Database: A structured digital collection of information that stores and organizes data related to professors, their courses, schedules, and evaluations, enabling efficient search and retrieval.
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Administrative User: A person responsible for managing, validating, and updating information on the platform, as well as overseeing compliance with usage policies and moderating user interactions.
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Advanced Search: A tool within the platform that allows users to filter professors based on specific criteria such as name, field of expertise, academic program, or keywords.
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Academic Mentorship: A relationship in which a professor guides and advises a student in research, professional development, or specialized academic training.
- RateMyProfessors (RMP): is a website where students can rate and comment on their university professors. It allows anyone — not just students — to post anonymous opinions about the quality, difficulty, and teaching style of instructors. It is very popular in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with more than 1.7 million professors evaluated and 19 million ratings.
How we differ: Unlike RateMyProfessors, our platform focuses exclusively on one university (EAFIT), ensuring that the information is centralized and highly relevant. The parent organization controls the platform, allowing sensitive information in each review to be monitored and approved. Reviews remain 100% anonymous, but with oversight to maintain accuracy and respect. In addition, our platform serves both academic and professional networking purposes, and is accessible globally, not limited to one country.
Link: https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/
- RegCourse: A digital platform (website and mobile app) developed mainly in Hong Kong that allows university students to share their learning reflections and build a mutual support community. It includes features such as course discussions, experience sharing, buying and selling personal items, and forming student interest groups.
How we differ: While RegCourse is a broad student community platform, our system is specialized in providing detailed, verified academic and professional profiles of professors from a single institution (EAFIT). The platform is fully managed by the university, ensuring sensitive information in reviews is moderated, and maintaining 100% anonymous feedback. Unlike RegCourse, our tool is also designed for academic and business purposes, and is open to a global audience beyond Colombia.
Link: https://regcourse.com/
- Profesores universidad de los andes: The Law School's mission is to consolidate a diverse academic community and recruit faculty members to contribute to the quality training of competent and ethical lawyers.
Link: https://derecho.uniandes.edu.co/profesores/?_sft_tipo_de_profesor=profesores-de-planta
How we differ: We are different in that the Andes professor platform does not have access to the profiles of full-time professors, only to full-time professors.
Full-time professors:
Professors:
Available at: Miro Board Link
Available in Projects section and at: Miro Board Link
Available in the Planning window inside the Projects section.