Most schools already use an app or a website to keep families informed of events, provide contact information and allow access to student results. Your task is to design and build a simplified student version, entirely inside PowerPoint, that behaves like a real app when you press play.
STAC will not send actual messages or pull a real timetable from the school system. It is a working simulation, a PowerPoint file that, when viewed in Slide Show mode, looks and feels like a phone app. Every screen is a slide. Every button, icon and image is a hyperlink that jumps to another slide. Your finished file is judged on how convincingly it behaves like the real thing.
Think of your current school app or website as a reference point. Parents use it to check timetables, message staff, and see notices from the school. STAC is the cut-down, student-facing version of that same idea.
A phone screen is tall and narrow, not the wide rectangle PowerPoint gives you by default. Fix this before you build anything else, or every slide you make afterwards will need redoing.
Design in the ribbon, then Slide Size → Custom Slide Size.9 cm and height to 15 cm. This gives you a tall, phone-shaped slide.These are the screens every STAC build must contain. You can add more if you want to extend the app further.
The first screen a user sees when the app opens. Show the STAC name or logo clearly. This is also a good place for your menu icon to first appear.
Tapping the menu icon should reveal an overlay with three options: Timetable, Contact Teachers and Student Services. Build this as its own slide, positioned so it looks like it sits on top of the screen underneath.
A screen showing a student's timetable. You can design a mock timetable yourself, or drop in a screenshot of your own real timetable if you would rather.
List the names of a student's teachers. Include a large text box to simulate typing a message, and a clearly visible Send button.
A simpler screen for contacting student services. A large square can stand in for a text-input field, paired with a Send button.
An optional extra screen shown after Send is tapped, confirming the message was received. A small touch that makes the app feel complete.
Static slides are not enough on their own. STAC only works as a simulation once its buttons, icons and images actually take the user somewhere.
Insert → Link → Insert Link, then choose Place in This Document.F5 or click Slide Show, then click through your app the way a student would. If a tap does nothing, that link is missing.STAC should feel unmistakably like a school product, built from your own school’s palette, but readable and modern rather than dark or heavy. White space is your friend here.
The swatches above are one example set. Find your own school’s colours on its website or logo, then use those hex codes in your build.
Your STAC build will be assessed against two criteria: how it looks, and how it works.
| Developing | Lack of colour, or non-school colours used. Slide size left at the default dimensions or ratio. |
|---|---|
| Consolidating | Clear use of the school colours. Slide dimensions approximately 9cm × 15cm. White space is balanced so the app does not feel cluttered, while elements remain large enough to read clearly on a small screen. |
| Extending | Strong contrast between graphical elements. Alignment and spacing are carefully considered throughout. The overall appearance is neat, tidy and modern. |
| Developing | Static slides have been created, but some required elements are missing. Screens that should be interactive may be partially or fully missing their hyperlinks. |
|---|---|
| Consolidating | All required screens are present: splash/load, timetable, teacher contact, and student services. A menu overlay (or equivalent) has been built. Hyperlinks allow the app to be simulated by clicking through it. |
| Extending | The app is fully working from end to end. Additional features have been added, such as an animated or sliding menu, or embedded video. |