OnPace: A Timeline Students Can Actually Use
TL;DR
Built OnPace after hearing students repeatedly ask "Where should we be up to by today?" — a scaffolded timeline view to make assignment progress obvious at a glance.
Benjamin Hyde
Education Leader & AI Builder
This week I shipped **OnPace** — a simple classroom tool that gives students a quick visual of where they should be up to in an assignment timeline.
The origin story is very real: over the last couple of weeks I kept getting the same question in class — "Where should we be up to by today?" Good question, repeated a lot. So instead of answering it student-by-student every lesson, I built a scaffolded timeline that makes progress checkpoints obvious. The idea was simple, I could put this on the projecter at the start of the lesson and the students could see where they should be.
During the build I got some feedback from my students about if they would find it useful. One thing that a boy told me would be a useful addition was if they could also see it at home, so rather than just being a local tool I project onto the screen, I thought I'd just tack it onto my web server.
Another student then jumped in and said, "Do you also think you could add a quick summary of what that step means.", so I dropped a prompt back into the agent and got the scaffolding tips feature added too.
What shipped
OnPace gives students a clean timeline view of key assignment checkpoints so they can quickly tell if they are behind, on track, or ahead.
The interface is intentionally lightweight: open it, look for the redline, and check your current position against what should already be completed.
Why I built it
In project-heavy classes, momentum drops fast when students are unsure what "on track" actually looks like. The repeated "Where should we be up to by today?" question was the trigger to find something new because I'd just get annoyed with answering it over and over.
OnPace is that scaffold: a simple timeline visual that reduces uncertainty and helps students self-correct earlier, without needing constant teacher instruction.
What this changes in class
Students can independently check pace before they ask for help, which makes support conversations more focused and less about basic orientation.
For me, it frees up lesson time for deeper feedback (quality of work, not just timeline reminders).
Build Notes
Approach
Start from a repeated classroom friction point and ship the smallest useful visual scaffold for assignment pacing.
Tools Used
Web app stack (OnPace), timeline UI patterns, classroom assessment checkpoints
What Worked
Students get immediate clarity on progress expectations; less repeated timeline clarification during lessons.
What Failed
Early versions were too text-heavy; simplifying to a visual-first timeline made it clearer.
What's Next
Add clearer milestone labels and optional class-specific timeline presets for different tasks.