AI Study Companion

Motivation

AI Study Companion (ASC) was developed as my Senior Project at PennWest California and was inspired by my experience as a peer tutor. One of the most common challenges I encountered was finding effective, personalized ways to help students understand material and develop study strategies that worked for them.

While artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, is often viewed skeptically in educational settings, I believe it can be a powerful tool when used thoughtfully. ASC was created to explore this idea by leveraging AI to adapt to a user’s skill level, provide personalized study support, and grow alongside the learner over time.

Tech Stack

ASC is a full-stack web application built with a client–server architecture. Each browser session acts as a client, while a Python-based FastAPI backend manages user data and handles requests to large language models.

While artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, is often viewed skeptically in educational settings, I believe it can be a powerful tool when used thoughtfully. ASC was created to explore this idea by leveraging AI to adapt to a user’s skill level, provide personalized study support, and grow alongside the learner over time.

Design Goals

A key goal of this project was to explore multiple development avenues while keeping the scope focused and intentional. In particular, ASC was designed to gain hands-on experience with a Python-based backend and to understand the trade-offs involved in deploying different parts of an application across separate hosting platforms.

By using a FastAPI backend alongside a React frontend and deploying them on two distinct services, the project provided practical insight into client–server architecture, API communication, and real-world deployment considerations.

Documentation and Links

Below are links related to ASC, including weekly progress reports created during development, design documentation, and a user manual. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out using the contact information available on the homepage.