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Doubts

A student gets stuck on something, opens the Doubts page, picks a subject, types or records the question, attaches images / PDFs if needed, and routes it to a specific teacher. The teacher gets a notification, opens the doubt, writes the solution (with their own attachments), and replies. The student listens / reads, then marks it resolved.

At a glance​

Who can do thisStudents post · Teachers answer · only the assigned teacher and the student see the thread
Where it livesStudent app /dashboard/doubt (Ask + History tabs) · Teacher app /dashboard/doubts (list) → /dashboard/doubts/:doubtId (solution view)
Triggers notifications?Yes — teacher gets notified when a doubt is assigned to them; student gets notified when the teacher answers
Related featuresNotifications · AI Tutor (a separate, instant alternative) · Notice Board & Alerts

How it flows​

Status lifecycle​

Pending and Answered are both "open" from the student's point of view — both show a "Mark Resolved" button. Rejected is terminal and no further action is offered.

Step-by-step​

1. Student composes the doubt​

  • App / route: Student app → /dashboard/doubt, Ask tab (default).
  • The page loads:
    • The student's profile (to know schoolId + sectionId).
    • Subjects assigned to the student's section.
    • Teachers — initially all teachers in the school; once a subject is picked, the list narrows to teachers who teach that subject in that section.
  • The student fills in:
    • Subject — required, single-select chip list.
    • Doubt text — typed in the textarea.
    • Attachments (optional) — images, PDFs, .doc / .docx, multi-select via paperclip icon.
    • Voice note (optional) — record via the mic button. While recording, the mic button turns red, pulses, and shows "Recording... Tap stop to save". The recording becomes a voice-doubt-<timestamp>.webm file. Recording requires microphone permission.
    • Teacher — exactly one teacher must be selected (the chip toggles single-select).
  • The summary strip at the bottom always shows: subject name, teachers selected, attachment count.
  • Either typed text or a voice note is required. If text is empty and a voice note is attached, the doubt content is recorded as "Voice Doubt Attached".

2. Send → upload → create​

On tapping Send Doubt Request:

  1. Validates: subject picked, text or voice present, at least one teacher picked.
  2. Uploads each regular attachment in parallel (S3 via the upload service).
  3. Uploads the voice note (if any) as a separate attachment.
  4. Creates the doubt with the uploaded attachment IDs and the picked teacher.
  5. Toasts "Doubt request sent successfully!" and opens a success modal.
  6. Resets the form (subject, teacher, attachments, voice note all cleared).

3. Student tracks history​

  • App / route: Same page, History tab.
  • Lists the student's last ~20 doubts, ordered:
    • Resolved doubts pushed to the bottom.
    • Within each group, latest updatedAt first.
  • Each card shows: subject, status badge (Pending / Answered / Resolved / Rejected), the question (italicised quote), assigned teacher chip, and a count of total attachments (student + teacher combined).
  • Tapping the attachments chip expands the card and lazy-loads:
    • Student's voice doubt (audio with play/pause).
    • Student's file attachments (open in new tab).
    • Teacher's written solution (if status is Answered or Resolved).
    • Teacher's voice solution.
    • Teacher's file attachments.
  • A Mark Resolved button is shown when status is Pending or Answered.

4. Teacher inbox​

  • App / route: Teacher app → /dashboard/doubts.
  • Filter pill bar across the top: All Doubts · Pending · Answered · Resolved · Rejected. Default is All, fetching the latest 50 doubts assigned to the logged-in teacher.
  • Each card shows: status icon + colour-coded badge, student name, the question (line-clamp 2), subject pill, and creation date.
  • The teacher tracks pending doubts here. Empty filter shows a friendly "You're all caught up!" empty state.

5. Teacher answers​

  • App / route: /dashboard/doubts/:doubtId.
  • The page is split:
    • Top card — student info (avatar, name, subject, asked-at), the question in italics, attachments collapsible (expanded by default). Voice doubts have a play button.
    • Bottom card — solution textarea + attach button + submit button.
  • Teacher workflow:
    • Read the question; play the voice note; open file attachments.
    • Type a solution (required, non-empty).
    • Optionally attach files (images / PDFs) — multiple, previewed as chips with a remove ×.
    • Tap Submit → uploads attachments → submits the solution.
  • On submit: status flips PENDING → ANSWERED. Toast "Solution submitted successfully" and routes back to the list.
  • The textarea, attach, and submit buttons are disabled if status is already ANSWERED or RESOLVED — the teacher cannot edit a solution after sending.

6. Student closes the loop​

  • The student opens History → expands the card → reads / plays the teacher's solution.
  • Taps Mark Resolved → status flips ANSWERED → RESOLVED. Toast "Marked as resolved".
  • After resolved the card stays in history (sorted to the bottom) but the action button disappears.

AI-suggested answers​

Doubts is a human teacher-driven feature — there is no AI auto-suggested answer in the doubt flow itself. Students who want an instant AI-generated explanation use AI Tutor, which is a separate route (/dashboard/ai-tutor) and a separate page in the dashboard. The two features are intentionally side-by-side so the student can choose between "ask a real teacher" (slower, no coins) and "ask the AI" (instant, coin-metered).

Edge cases & things to test​

  • Subject with no teachers: pick a subject that has no teacher mapped to the student's section → list shows "No teacher available for this subject"; Send button blocked.
  • No subject + no teachers loaded: arrive at the page with sectionId missing on the profile → toast "Failed to load initial data" + empty teacher list.
  • Voice-only doubt: leave the textarea empty, attach a voice note → should submit successfully with content = "Voice Doubt Attached".
  • Microphone permission denied: tap mic, browser denies permission → toast "Could not access microphone"; no recording state stuck on.
  • Recording then leaving page: start recording, navigate away → microphone tracks should be released (no red indicator stays on after leaving).
  • Same file twice: pick the same image twice from the file picker — the input is reset on each open so the second pick should still register.
  • Large attachment / many attachments: try multiple PDFs > 10 MB combined — confirm upload errors don't leave the form in a half-submitted state.
  • Network drop mid-send: kill Wi-Fi after tapping Send → expect "Failed to send doubt request" toast, form values preserved so the student can retry.
  • Switching subject mid-flow: pick subject A, pick teacher A, switch to subject B → teacher selection resets to empty (so student doesn't accidentally route to a teacher who doesn't teach the new subject).
  • Teacher offline / never opens: doubt sits in PENDING indefinitely — student can still mark it resolved themselves at any time.
  • Teacher tries to re-answer: open an already-ANSWERED doubt as the teacher → solution textarea, attach, and submit must all be disabled.
  • Empty solution submit: teacher hits Submit with whitespace-only solution → blocked client-side with "Solution cannot be empty".
  • Cross-teacher visibility: doubt assigned to Teacher A — does Teacher B see it in their list? Should not.
  • Student transferred sections: student moves from Section A to Section B mid-thread — does the existing doubt still show in their history? (Existing doubts should remain — they're tied to the doubt record, not the section.)
  • History sorting: post 3 doubts (1 Resolved, 1 Answered, 1 Pending) — Resolved must appear at the bottom; the other two ordered by latest update.
  • Attachment expansion lazy-load: expanding a card the first time should fetch attachments; collapsing and re-expanding should not re-fetch.
  • Notifications — both directions (assign + answer) fan out push + in-app
  • AI Tutor — instant alternative when the student does not want to wait for a teacher
  • Notice Board & Alerts — teachers can also broadcast subject-wide clarifications instead of answering one-by-one