Skandalaris Internship Spotlight: Pivto Better Learning

Over the past 10 weeks working at Pivto Better Learning, we gained hands-on experience in developing a personalized e-learning creation product in the healthcare space. Pivto is an e-learning healthcare company that partners with institutions and businesses to curate customized learning experiences aimed at improving the accessibility and efficiency of healthcare education. They utilize a variety of platforms and tools to streamline and personalize content creation for their clients.

This summer, we had the opportunity to build CourseAid, an e-learning product that leverages generative AI to automate the content creation process. With simple user input, like course goals, target audience, and subject matter, CourseAid can generate structured course modules, which drastically reduces the time and effort required to build content from scratch. Our goal was to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) to be presented to Arch Grants for further support and potential funding at the end of the summer.

Beyond development, we also learned more about Pivto’s mission and connected with other team members who shared insights into the company’s broader efforts to streamline the efficiency of healthcare e-learning content creation.

Ashutosh:
As the Technical Lead and co-founder for CourseAid this summer, I was responsible for designing and building the core infrastructure that powers the product. This included everything from architecting the database schema and setting up secure PostgreSQL tables to writing the backend logic.

I also led the integration of multiple APIs including OpenAI, Unsplash, and YouTube Data V3 to power our generative content features, allowing users to input minimal information and receive full course outlines, quizzes, and interactive slide templates. My work spanned backend services, and shaping how our templates could be populated dynamically by AI.

A major part of the experience was defining the product structure itself. Collaborating closely with Tiffany, we ensured that the frontend and backend remained in sync as we iterated quickly across multiple prototypes.

Working at Pivto helped me appreciate the complexity and value of end-to-end product development, particularly in a high-impact industry like healthcare education. It also pushed me to think not just like an engineer, but like a founder, balancing speed, usability, and long-term scalability.

Tiffany:
Over the past few weeks at Pivto Better Learning, I had the opportunity to work as a UI/UX developer, building the front-end interface for CourseAid. From designing wireframes in Figma to coding with JSX and CSS in React, I was able to apply what I’ve learned in the classroom to a real-world product with real users in mind.

I also had the chance to collaborate closely with Ashutosh, the technical lead for CourseAid and fellow Skandy Intern. While he led the backend development for the product, structuring databases, integrating our GenAI structures and such, I worked alongside him to ensure the front-end implementation aligned seamlessly with the backend logic. Through our collaboration, I got to learn and understand how different parts of a full-stack application are integrated and it allowed me to build a more functional and responsive user interface.

Beyond technical skills, my internship experience at Pivto Better Learning alongside the Skandalaris Center taught me the importance of clear communication and teamwork. I learned how to adapt quickly to shifting project priorities, receiving and applying feedback in real time, and thinking critically about design and developing decisions from both a user-centered and technical perspective.

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The Skandalaris Internship Program (SkIP), is an initiative designed to connect innovative local startups with a pipeline of WashU students to help drive the growth of their venture and nurture talent development in St. Louis during a 10-week summer program. Intern stipends are made possible thanks to the generous support of Skandalaris Center donors.