With most classes online this semester, students might struggle to connect with each other. UM alum Nicholas Neilson-Slabach and senior Kyle Herbert plan on changing that with their new app DaisNotes.
Neilson-Slabach and Herbert designed DaisNotes with the intent to combine the academic and social aspects of college.
To use DaisNotes, students would type in their name and other information about themselves, and select their classes. The app has a database that includes all of the classes and their section numbers at the university. Once the user selects their classes, the app automatically groups together students in the same classes and puts those students in a group chat so they can communicate with each other.
“(It’s) very similar to GroupMe. (Students) can share notes and files — things that are study materials that might help people with their tests or whatever projects are going on,” Neilson-Slabach said. “We have it in there so that you can like notes so that the best, the most-liked ones will filter to the top, basically giving people the best resources for studying. It’s really about giving people the most relevant information.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most classes are online this semester, and Neilson-Slabach said he thinks DaisNotes will allow students to connect to their classmates without having to see them in person.
“We think that right now there’s going to be an even greater need for people to connect with each other. If people are all at their homes — whether that be in Oxford or around the country — people are going to want to be able to talk to each other, just for that basic social interaction,” Neilson-Slabach said.
The idea for Daisnotes originated around the end of Neilson-Slabach’s sophomore year. Despite being in large classes, he felt like he was on his own. Then, he decided that there should be a better way for students to connect, and taking inspiration from GroupMe and Blackboard, he began to develop DaisNotes.
As the pair developed DaisNotes, they received a total of $14,000 in seed money from the Rebel Venture Capital Fund and the Gillespie Business Plan Competition.
“It’s definitely nice to have some of the validation that goes along with (winning the Gillespie Business Plan Competition). I mean, we’re definitely not quite done with everything yet, and the real pressure is when it comes to actually testing it out on everyone,” Herbert said.
Clay Dibrell, the co-director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said he’s been helping Neilson-Slabach and Herbert since last fall to develop a storyboard and refine their business model in his venture acceleration class.
“We talked about doing all these other things like Rebel Venture Capital Fund, and to Nicholas’s credit and Kyle’s credit, they’ve done the hard work and so this is hopefully getting closer to pay off for them,” Dibrell said.
Neilson-Slabach said that there is also a section in the app for setting up events with classmates.
“For example, the one we’ve used a lot is after a midterm, someone created an event that says, ‘let’s all go to Round Table tonight,’ or something so it’s a fun social event,” Neilson-Slabach said.
One setback in the development and testing of DaisNotes has been miscommunication between teachers and developers over the app’s intended purpose.
“We had an incident with a person that connected us with teachers to help us (with) a test group, and then they said, ‘Oh this is an app for cheating.’ That’s not at all what this is for,” Herbert said. “People just make assumptions about it and don’t make sure that’s what we’re actually talking about, like the teacher.”
On commonly used platforms like Zoom and Blackboard, the teacher is included in all discussions and classes. Herbert said that a highlight about DaisNotes is that it’s exclusively for students, so they can have more privacy and feel more comfortable asking questions and connecting with their classmates.
“We’re trying to create an environment that’s healthy for students, just to vent or help each other,” Herbert said. “Some things focus on just the academic or social. We’re trying to bring it all together to really enhance the college experience.”
Neilson-Slabach and Herbert plan to publicly launch a beta version of DaisNotes in the next few weeks.
