About HelpMe

Changelog v1.9.0Privacy PolicyTerms of Service

Overview + Mission

HelpMe is an open-source research project created with the goal of making it easier for professors to manage their courses and students to get course help.

It is used in dozens of courses each semester with a userbase of thousands of students.

For a list of features and showcase videos, please see the Home Page.

Privacy + Data Safety

HelpMe is deeply committed to protecting student data. All data is stored on UBCO servers and is not shared or sold to any third-party services, including our AI Course Chatbot which uses local UBCO hardware. We also deeply value student anonymity, where students' identities are hidden from other students and course staff unless absolutely necessary. We also aim to be as transparent as possible in what data we collect, what we use it for, and how we collect it, which you can find more information about in the Privacy Policy at the top of the page.

HelpMe has completed a UBC Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), ensuring security and data practices meet institutional requirements.

Who funds HelpMe?

HelpMe has been funded through UBC funding from ALT-2040 grants and Dr. Ramon Lawrence. This means that HelpMe is completely free to use.

Github Link

HelpMe's code is open-source under a GPL-3.0 license, which you can find on the Github repository. Though the Chatbot-specific code is currently on a private repository and only given on request.

Meet the Current Team

Supervisor

Dr. Ramon Lawrence

Dr. Lawrence is a Professor and Department Head of Computer Science. His research on database systems and AI resulted in the development of HelpMe. Dr. Lawrence has supervised many students in the construction of HelpMe and directs project development.

• ramon.lawrence@ubc.ca

Developer and Project Lead

Adam Fipke

Initially worked on the project as part of his Honours Thesis to improve the User Experience and Accessibility of the system. Now hired for 8-20 hours/week as developer and project lead. Responsible for dozens of features and the maintenance of the vast majority of the system.

• adam.fipke@ubc.ca

Developer and Project Lead

Bridgette Hunt

Also initially worked on the project as part of her Honours Thesis investigating student sentiment towards HelpMe's Chatbot compared to chatbots outside of HelpMe. Now working on it as part of her masters program. Responsible for many features, including Chatbot improvements, the Canvas integration, and the Insights feature.

• bridgette.hunt@ubc.ca

Other Contributors

Other UBC + UBCO Students

Over the years dozens of students have worked on the HelpMe system to contribute bug fixes and features. They come to work on HelpMe as part of their Honours Thesis or Directed Studies for course credits, gaining experience working on a modern tech stack in an actively-used system.

Additionally, HelpMe initially was forked from Khoury College's Office Hours system, so shout out to the students that worked on the original system too!

• Full list of contributors on the Github

• More can be found on the old repo