LOCAL WINNER
Finalists for Beginner Awards: Social impact and Disruptive technology
EduLink
Solution details
EduLink is an application and digital platform that connects students and professors directly, through the use of AI. While it helps students research and develop their knowledge, professors can guide and control the educational content they access. It would be the first AI approved for educational institutions and our goal is to promote ethical, collaborative, and meaningful learning. Our platform will include teacher dashboards, student hubs, and AI tools that help structure research questions and suggest sources responsibly, guiding students through the process without giving direct answers. Overall, EduLink benefits the challenge owner by showcasing how emerging technology can humanize digital education.
Tweet / Slogan
Edulink connects minds, not just screens. Teachers guide and students collaborate ethically - human flourishing through education! #EduLink
Inisightlio's
Resources
Our document presents our strategic foundation of EduLink and a concise business plan outlining our vision, scalability, and our future goals. It also includes a link to our early prototype, which demonstrates EduLink's core functionalities and the experience we aim to give to both teachers and students. (Link: frontend)
Context
Education is increasingly shaped by digital tools, yet many schools still struggle to integrate technology in ways that genuinely support inquiry, critical thinking, and teacher oversight. Students often navigate overwhelming or untrustworthy online information, while teachers lack platforms that allow them to safely curate research pathways and guide meaningful collaboration. This gap limits digital literacy, widens inequality, and leaves emerging technologies underused or misused in classrooms. EduLink responds to this challenge by offering a structured, teacher-led environment where research, communication, and ethical tech use intersect. The platform aligns with the broader push toward responsible digital education by empowering educators to shape learning experiences, protect students, and foster deeper human connection within the digital world.
Who Benefits?
EduLink is planned to primarily serve university students and educators who navigate overwhelming amounts of digital information without any structured support. The benefits given to students would include guided research environments that reduce misinformation, isolation, and unproductive AI use. While the benefits given to teachers would be control over the learning ecosystem and the ability to foster authentic collaboration. EduLink is relevant because it restores clarity and connection in a fragmented digital landscape. We plan to actively engage these groups through user-centered design sessions, pilot courses, and continuous feedback cycles that ensure the platform adapts to real academic needs rather than assumptions.
Impact
EduLink catalyzes a shift from isolated, AI-driven self-learning towards a connected, teacher-anchored digital education. Socially, it strengthens communities of learners, improves dialogue between students, and reduces inequalities tied to digital literacy. Environmentally, it reduces redundant work and optimizes academic resources by centralizing curated content. For example, a student in a media ethics course could collaborate with peers exploring the same topic while guided by teacher-selected sources, minimizing misinformation and increasing depth of understanding. Over time, this model can transform how universities integrate technology and prioritize human connection, ethical inquiry, and collaborative growth.
Team work
Our team is composed of four individuals and engineering students from the ITESM - Campus Chihuahua. We are Alma, and Leonel, who are currently studying engineering in biotechnology, and Alan, and Gerardo, who are studying engineering in computational technologies. Our team combines our educational backgrounds, digital ethics awareness, technical experimentation, and creative problem-solving. We plan to continue the project as it has reflected our shared vision of a responsible innovation and made us want to make it a reality.
Innovativeness
EduLink is original because it centers teacher agency in a market dominated by uncontrollable AI tools and content-heavy platforms. While tools like Perusall or LMS systems facilitate reading and task management, they do not offer structured, teacher-curated content pathways nor shared student collaboration supported by ethical AI. EduLink fills this gap by combining human-in-the-loop AI, curated research spaces, and controlled knowledge ecosystems, making it safer and more relevant. It can also be integrated into any existing educational platforms that universities already use, making it simple and ready to use.
Transferability
EduLink can be applied across multiple disciplines, from engineering to humanities, because it is not tied to any specific content but to structured, guided research workflows. A biology professor, for example, can curate specific papers and lab simulations or a sociology instructor can build discussion pathways on migration ethics. Any subject requiring inquiry, communication, and evaluation benefits can be the perfect fit.
Sustainability
Once we have a fully functional and up and running prototype, our next steps are to include expanding pilot programs to other universities, secure partnerships, and refine EduLink's platform through educator feedback. Mid-term, we are aiming for a regional expansion, multilingual support, and institutional licensing models that can ensure a financial stability. Long-term, EduLink would be able to scale into a global community.