Earth Prize

The Earth Prize, an annual, global $200,000 environmental sustainability competition for students aged 13 to 19, is a remarkable initiative dedicated to recognizing and empowering young minds with a passion for addressing environmental challenges. The heart of The Earth Prize lies in its mission to inspire, educate, mentor, and empower teenage students from all corners of the world to become environmental sustainability champions.

With a vision to empower and educate young students in their mission to address environmental challenges, The Earth Prize sought to develop a comprehensive Learning Management System (LMS) to further support its mission. Impressed by Brights' track record of delivering custom software solutions and our commitment to socially responsible projects, The Earth Prize selected our team as the ideal collaborator for this critical project. Together, we set out to create an LMS that would seamlessly integrate into The Earth Prize's existing platform, offering students a highly tailored and interactive learning experience.

Creating a comprehensive LMS for the Earth Prize posed several notable challenges, with the primary hurdle being the integration of multiple third-party services. The objective was to ensure a seamless, disruption-free learning experience for both students and administrators. Below, let’s consider the challenges we encountered and successfully addressed throughout the development process:

Integration complexity
The platform requires the integration of diverse third-party services, each with its own unique features and intricacies. The primary challenge was to ensure these services worked harmoniously together, offering a unified and smooth user experience.

Optimizing costs and efficiency
Careful selection of third-party integrations was key to optimizing functionality while managing costs. We needed to eliminate the outdated integrations that are no longer efficient.

Adaptability of content
The LMS had to accommodate evolving content needs, allowing for easy modification of educational materials.

Video quality and security
Video lessons were a crucial part of the learning experience, demanding the solution to get high-quality playback and secure content delivery.

Security and identity protection
Preserving the integrity of user data and upholding best security standards emerged as a formidable challenge. The imperative was to create a secure login and account management system to shield user identities.

Effective communication
Establishing a dependable channel for communication between students and mentors presented a critical challenge. The objective was to foster meaningful interaction, mentoring, and support within the system.

Scalability and stability challenge
Building a system capable of both seamless expansion and unwavering stability was a challenging feat. The goal was to ensure the LMS could adapt to evolving needs while maintaining rock-solid reliability.

The goal for our team was clear: to ensure that a diverse array of services worked harmoniously together, without any disruptions. In the face of this challenge, we devised innovative solutions that not only connected different platforms flawlessly but also optimized functionality, enhanced security, and streamlined operations. Further, we dive into the strategic approaches and solutions that enabled us to overcome the complexities and create a robust LMS for the Earth Prize.

Smart integration selection for efficiency and cost savings
The careful choice of integrations not only optimized functionality but also saved costs for the client. We strategically eliminated outdated integrations that were no longer useful, streamlining operations and enhancing overall efficiency. In addition, at the outset of our journey, we didn't integrate products like Okta, SurveyMonkey Apply, and Incognito Desk right from the beginning. These tools already existed in the client's workflow, and our approach was not to disrupt their established processes but to seamlessly manage and adapt these solutions to their current needs.

Adaptable content management with Storyblok
To address the need for flexible content updates, we crafted the LMS web application using Storyblok (besides, we are Storyblock certified partners). This enabled the Earth Prize team to effortlessly modify the website's content, keeping it in sync with the ever-evolving competition requirements.

Enhanced video learning experience with Vimeo
Incorporating Vimeo into the LMS was key to delivering an exceptional video learning experience. It provided high-quality video playback, secure content delivery, and advanced management features to ensure students could access and enjoy educational videos seamlessly.

The collaboration between Brights and The Earth Prize has not only met but exceeded its goals and expectations. The primary objective was to launch the platform within an exceptionally tight timeframe, a challenge we successfully conquered. But our journey didn't stop there. We believe in providing continuous support to our clients, ensuring the longevity and success of the products we develop. Our team is actively engaged in offering ongoing assistance, guidance, and enhancements to the product, ensuring the client's needs are always met and their goals are continually achieved.

The Earth Prize team was impressed by our team's ability to articulate and execute a cohesive plan, instilling confidence that their project was in capable hands. This successful partnership demonstrates our dedication to delivering efficient, reliable, and bug-free solutions, even under challenging time constraints.