STEMpump

STEMpump

An edtech nonprofit creating a student-driven learning platform

Web Development
Nonprofit Work
Education
Social Impact

STEMpump is a nonprofit dedicated to creating a global learning platform for contribution, collaboration, and expression. I founded it in 2019 as a way to bring more free and student-made STEAM-based content to students across the world.

Being 100% online, we utilize STEMpump.org for our content and learning technologies. It's been through many different iterations, and the current one was redesigned with the student and learning process in mind. In my role, I led the design and development of STEMpump.org, STEMpump Camps, and STEMpump for iOS. I also designed PacificUI, our cross-platform design language.

  • Role

    Founder, Director of Technology

  • Dates

    August 2019 - September 2022

  • Links

Big Question

How do we develop a web experience that's both appealing to students and the way(s) they learn?

The evolution of STEMpump

Founded in 2019, STEMpump has seen its share of updates and redesigns to its website and brand. The site has been updated accordingly and has been a great way to see STEMpump grow and myself.

The evolution of STEMpump

Goals

  • Build a brand

    With the scale of STEMpump, it's important that we build a brand that is consistent across our content and technology. The new website should be designed with a unique design and style in mind, yet still familiar to previous iterations.

  • Develop sustainable infrastructure

    With 140k+ students using STEMpump worldwide, it's important that we build infrastructure that is sustainable and fast. We want an infrastructure that performs the same, whether you're in New York or Japan.

  • Platform Parity

    Making sure that STEMpump content and features are consistent across different platforms (website and app) is important in providing students with convenient ways to use STEMpump.

Quizzes and Projects

Quizzes and Projects

To reinforce the content available in lessons, we added Quizzes and Projects. Students can take quizzes that involve multiple choice and text-based questions to test their knowledge. They can also build projects for hands-on learning based on what they previously learned.

Hints are available, along with a "quick glance" of the solution, to see if you're on the right track. (Similar to flipping the page really quickly.)

STEMpump's Mission

To provide the world with free education and give students a platform to create and share.

Universal Search

Universal Search

A brand-new search bar built into the navbar allows students to search across STEMpump from anywhere. Built with Algolia, our Universal Search system uses ML and NLP to search courses, camps, and subjects.

Don't worry about misspelling or using similar phrases — AI Dynamic Synonym Suggestions help everyone find exactly what they're looking for. This system is used in the STEMpump App, with the same search capabilities.

Algolia Website

The Library

A brand-new Library helps students see everything we have to offer, along with automatically updated suggestions. See our featured course, latest camp, lesson of the day, and more! It's super easy to see individual subjects and camps with filtering options.

The Library

Additional pages

  • Support

    With STEMpump Support, you can find answers for questions about STEMpump, its programs, and its platforms. You can also submit questions and comments, in case you need help with something.

    Visit STEMpump Support

  • Releases

    Releases show all our major and minor version updates across STEMpump. Users can also see if STEMpump and its systems are operational via Atlassian Statuspage.

    Visit Releases

  • Blog

    With our Blog, students can be up to date with new updates to the STEMpump Organization, platforms, and more. It's the main source of new information from us.

    Visit the STEMpump Blog

PacificUI

PacificUI is our in-house design system, as a conglomeration of modern design and our organization's past. As a result, our design sense was simplified and emphasized learning more strongly. We used TailwindCSS to establish the website's design and adaptation for the app.

While they both share a similar system, each platform is built around the context it was designed for.

PacificUI

Technologies used

  • Next.js

    Next.js is a React Framework for building performant and server-focused web applications. We used Incremental Static Regeneration to handle large data over time. Next.js Edge functions allowed us to develop custom APIs.

    Next.js Website

  • Sanity.io

    Sanity.io is a unified content platform that enables us to manage and organize all content available on STEMpump. With using Sanity.io as our CMS, students benefit from our global CDN and data pipeline.

    Sanity.io Website

  • Algolia

    Algolia powers our Universal Search system for STEMpump.org and the STEMpump App. We integrated it into our Sanity.io pipeline, so new content is indexed directly from Sanity.io to Algolia.

    Algolia Website

Other STEMpump Platforms

  • STEMpump Camps

    Learn live with STEMpump Camps. Join free STEAM-based video bootcamps, ask questions, and discover something new.

    Learn more

  • STEMpump for iOS

    Learn from STEMpump anywhere, anytime. Learn from courses, watch camps, take quizzes and projects, save your progress, and more.

    Learn more

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