Interview with Oluwatoba Abraham – Developer of the Interactive Student Feedback Portal
Oluwatoba Abraham, a Master’s student and software developer, has built a platform that could redefine how universities respond to student feedback. His project, the Interactive Student Feedback Portal, bridges the long standing gap between students and lecturers, offering a real time system that allows academic institutions to act on feedback while courses are still in progress.
Preview the project: Visit the Interactive Student Feedback Portal
We sat down with Oluwatoba to discuss how the idea began, the technology behind it, and what comes next.
A vision that started in Nigeria
Interviewer: Oluwatoba, congratulations on your recent work. Could you tell us a bit about the project you have been building?
Oluwatoba: Thank you. The project is called the Interactive Student Feedback Portal, and I recently completed it as part of my MSc programme. The idea first came to me back in 2021, during my undergraduate studies in Nigeria.
At that time, I noticed that student feedback rarely influenced teaching methods. Students often raised issues about lecture quality or course materials, but those concerns were usually buried in bureaucracy. I wanted to change that by creating a system that could give students a real voice, one that lecturers could hear and respond to immediately.
When I began my MSc in the UK, I finally had the structure, mentorship, and technical resources to turn that early idea into a working system.
How the platform works
Interviewer: So, what exactly does the Interactive Student Feedback Portal do?
Oluwatoba: It is a real time anonymous feedback system designed for universities. Students can share their learning experiences during a module, and lecturers receive instant analytics that help them adjust their teaching.
It closes the feedback gap by turning what used to be end of semester surveys into ongoing conversations.
Building from the ground up
Interviewer: What was your role in developing it?
Oluwatoba: I was the lead developer, handling everything from design to deployment. The system is built on the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js) which allows for flexibility and scalability.
I designed the database architecture to ensure strict separation between student identities and their feedback submissions, making it fully GDPR compliant while maintaining complete anonymity.
The platform includes three main dashboards:
- Students have a simple feedback interface.
- Lecturers view real time insights on teaching performance.
- Administrators monitor overall trends and cross department comparisons.
The design keeps each user experience clear and efficient without unnecessary complexity.
Challenges behind the code
Interviewer: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced?
Oluwatoba: The hardest part was balancing anonymity and usefulness. Students needed to feel safe being honest, but lecturers still needed actionable data. It took several iterations to achieve that balance.
Time management was another challenge. Balancing coursework with system development required discipline and structure. It taught me how to prioritise tasks, test effectively, and write cleaner, more maintainable code.
Impact and recognition
Interviewer: How has the project been received so far?
Oluwatoba: We piloted the system with postgraduate students and lecturers at the University of Greenwich, and the feedback was incredible. More than 70 percent of students engaged with it in the first week, and lecturers said they were able to adjust their teaching almost immediately.
The portal achieved an SUS (System Usability Scale) score of 82, which is classed as excellent. One lecturer told me, This is the first time I have been able to improve my course while it is still running. That meant everything to me.
Interviewer: Has your work been officially recognised?
Oluwatoba: Yes, my supervisor commended it during my dissertation review earlier this year, describing it as an innovative and practical contribution to student engagement. That recognition was deeply meaningful, especially knowing the concept began several years ago in Nigeria.
Lessons learnt and what is next
Interviewer: Beyond the technical side, what personal lessons have you learnt through this project?
Oluwatoba: I have learnt that simplicity often drives the greatest impact. The project reminded me that innovation is not just about complex systems but about solving real human problems.
It also reinforced the importance of persistence and adaptability. There were many difficult moments, debugging, database redesigns, usability testing, but those challenges helped me grow as both a developer and a problem solver.
Finally, I realised how crucial environment is. I had the idea in Nigeria but brought it to life in the UK, where the academic ecosystem supports experimentation and innovation. That experience motivates me to help create similar environments back home.
Expanding the vision
Interviewer: And what is next for the Interactive Student Feedback Portal?
Oluwatoba: I plan to evolve it into a SaaS platform that universities in Africa and other developing regions can easily adopt.
Long term, I want to focus on education technology that amplifies voices and improves communication within learning institutions. If this system can help make education more responsive, whether in the UK, Nigeria, or beyond, then it will have achieved its goal.
